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| The Illinois state flag, below. Just about anything would be an improvement. |
Social media gets a bad name. But there are wonders to be found. Brooklyn graphic artist Max Kolomatsky started noticing crude handmade signs in his neighborhood, then redesigned them and photographed the vast improvements next to their inferior inspirations, posting the shots on TikTok. Seeing the result is like taking a lungful of sweet air after being underwater too long.
The joy of good design does not get the press it deserves. Thus Illinois, an island of cool blue sanity in a churning red sea of backward-straining discord, should be lauded for holding a contest to find a new state flag. Kudos to Gov. JB Pritzker, who last year created the Illinois Flag Commission, and to Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias, who followed through Wednesday, announcing a contest to find a replacement.
To quote Phil Connors, the TV weatherman trapped in an eternal Feb. 2 in "Groundhog Day," "Anything different is good."
OK, not strictly true — Elon Musk-owned X is different though not an improvement. Fear of making things worse pushes people to prefer errors of omission over errors of commission. We become frozen, nostalgic and change-averse.
The penny was a great idea when the United States began minting the Fugio cent in 1787. Now, pennies are a waste and an embarrassment. Like you, I never use the copper slugs, but, should the United States finally scrap them, I'd leap up and start doing one of those ecstatic Greek dances. Because, if we can finally do that, maybe we can, oh, make the leap into universal health care. Small steps.
Not that Illinois is exactly a pioneer, flagwise. Utah, Georgia and Mississippi are already updating their flags, and Minnesota adopted its new flag in May. Their old state banner looked like someone had set a white dinner plate on a blue carpet and then thrown up on it. An indecipherable mess, replaced by a clean, simple, beautiful standard with two shades of blue and a single star. Illinois should do so well.
As this might be read by someone who saw the story in the Sun-Times Thursday and is already busy with their crayons, a word of advice: Put the work in.
Chicago has a particularly beautiful municipal flag, adopted in 1917 after a contest, albeit one conducted the Chicago way. The winner was a writer named Wallace Rice, who, in classic we-don't-want-nobody-nobody-sent fashion, suggested the competition, wrote the rules, judged the entries and declared himself the winner. Sometimes the best candidate for a job really is the boss' cousin.
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My suggestion would be the outline of the Chicago skyline, with corn stalks & some rail tracks on a new flag.
ReplyDeletechicago does have a great flag. ive often considered a small tattoo . buts its not THAT great.
ReplyDeletechicago is the cool blue oasis not Illinois overall in the sea of red. though we do have a greater MAGA presence lately. especially amongst young African american males.
a new flag ? maybe a wind sock shaped like an ear of corn
For years, people have wanted to change the motto on Iowa's flag from the no longer valid "Our liberties we prize, our rights we will maintain" to "Eat Corn or Die."
ReplyDeleteWhen I worked summers as a tour guide on river/lake cruises, I used to describe our state flag as "your basic state seal on a bedsheet."
ReplyDeleteThe City of Cleveland is replacing its mostly meh 1896 flag, which looks like the flag of France. A contest this summer received hundreds of entries, which have been narrowed down to six finalists, including the current flag.
ReplyDeletePeople can vote online for their favorite. The results will be in very soon, and the flag will be officially adopted in October. Maybe six months, from start to finish. A very democratic process...small D.
Knowing how much Clevelanders tend to resist change of any kind, I think the old flag stands a good chance of survival. But some of the other finalists are pretty bizarre. Seems to be a big fad now...flag revision. Pittsburgh just replaced theirs.
And yeah, Minnesota's flag was really a mess. Been to the state capitol in St. Paul, and it did look a lot like somebody had puked on a dinner plate. Good one, Mr. S.
My suggestion is to not make it Chicago-centric. I'd go more in the agricultural vein. But make it neat...clean in a way that stands out. I do have a small rendition of the Chicago flag as a tattoo...I think it looks neat!
ReplyDeleteThis is peripheral, but with the mention of Mississippi, I just have to give a little context:
ReplyDeleteMississippi kept the Confederate cross as the canton (upper left square) of its state flag for years after every other Southern state stopped. Several referendums were held to change the flag; every time, keeping the existing design won. A majority of voters apparently felt that forcing Black citizens to walk into DMV offices, courtrooms, etc. and seeing a symbol of the rebellion that fought to keep their ancestors enslaved was no big deal.
But finally, the NCAA and other business oligarchs told Mississippi that if they didn't get rid of that Confederate symbol, there would be no more college championships or other business done in their state. So finally, Mississippi held a referendum in which "keep the Confederate cross" was not an option, and long story short, a Confederate-free flag became official in 2020.
As for Illinois, our flag is just a boring seal on a bedsheet. Pretty much anything is an improvement. My favorite state flag is New Mexico's, not that I'm suggesting we try to copy it.
Any money spent on a new state flag is a waste of money. We have so many other things deserving of attention in Illinois.
ReplyDeleteMy small city has a flag we love, grass-roots created and then adopted by the government. In my experience the average person can tell you what every part of it means, and ain't that cool? https://bellinghamflag.bigcartel.com/
ReplyDelete