Gay pride flag on display with the national flag

most days the flags fly in the front yard along this busy street in Grand Rapids, MI

Flags serve many purposes and appear in diverse settings in connection with personal, corporate, local, state, regional, national, and international organizations or events. Like the verb for marking or setting apart a thing, "to flag" draws a person's attention to something important; something that carries significance, often something intangible but present and real.

Searching the past few years of my photo/video uploads and commentary, there have been at least 66 examples with the keyword 'flag' attached. And a few previous blog compositions come to mind, too. Most instances come from USA, but there are other locations and subjects, too:

Shredded USA flag (retired some months later), https://www.flickr.com/photos/anthroview/45577566424/

Fast-food public display, https://www.flickr.com/photos/anthroview/29716417247/

Cemetery dressed for national holiday, https://www.flickr.com/photos/anthroview/42419459411/

International flags at Amway Corp., https://www.flickr.com/photos/anthroview/49543044207/

Shrine in rural Japan, https://www.flickr.com/photos/anthroview/37230805966/

National holiday flag display in Japan, https://www.flickr.com/photos/anthroview/36513232865/

Campus international flags in China, https://www.flickr.com/photos/anthroview/50083306786/

Sandwich packaging in Britain, https://www.flickr.com/photos/anthroview/49542917481/

Flying the flag at home, http://www.flickr.com/photos/gpwitteveen/3985554820/

''Police lives matter" blue flag, https://anthroviews.blogspot.com/2020/07/star-spangled-blue-banner.html

Annual display of flag to commemorate September 11 attacks,
https://anthroviews.blogspot.com/2009/10/flags-and-feelings.html


Today's photo, above, shows a neatly kept lawn with crisp national and gay pride flags flying high. Leaving aside the variety of personal and collective meanings and applications of the national flag, and without polling a variety of responses from the passers-by here and the people who live in the house, let us consider some of the meanings that go along with hoisting this flag alone or together with the national flag.

The pattern of the gay pride flag itself has a history, no doubt, and has come to its widely recognized position after many other local designs had been tried. In general, the average person may associate the rainbow with several meanings: a rare thing of wonder and beauty to brighten one's day unexpectedly, a phenomenon comprised of many distinct colors that forms a larger composite, something non-threatening. Each of these interpretations or associations can transfer to the subject of LGBTQ relationships. As a public statement or declaration the rainbow flag is eye-catching, unmistakable, and attractive. For viewers with strong opinions for or against the lives that the flag references - whether it is sexual orientation of the flag owners, someone among family or friends, or none of the above, but meant as a statement of solidarity -- the recognition of the familiar rainbow can go beyond the characteristics of eye-catching, unmistakable, and attractive, to trigger emotional responses that are strongly positive or strongly negative. Meanwhile, for people in-between who have neither strong opinions for and against the flag and its reference, the most remarkable thing about it may be limited to visual or surface reactions, not any particular emotional response.

Little by little the rainbow design has been adopted here and there, visible in Pride Marches in cities around the world in more and more countries, societies, and languages. As a badge or emblem it appears in many forms besides flags. But the concept of a flag carries particular meanings: conventional aspect ratio and contexts of public display lend it a quality of being official (carrying authority), accepted, and authorized. Flags are associated with boundaries, borderlands, and belonging within a group (in-group versus out-group). And flags by the nature of public, prominent, visible display assert something. They are not quiet or passive. They wave and they are held high so as to be seen at a distance. So the physical qualities, the social context, and the cultural traditions for flags contribute to the Gay Pride Movement. The extent to which "gay" is inclusive of L*G*BTQ may be known to people concerned with making distinctions, but for less informed viewers probably the rainbow flag stands everyone claiming a place among the acronym's five letters.

Seasonal foods for sale - neighborhood grocery store

In most parts of the USA it is the large national chains of food-plus-general merchandise "super" markets that attract most buyers as a one-stop solution to products for sale. Particularly in urban centers there are "food deserts" where there is no place to buy edibles not processed or ready-to-eat. Things designed for human consumption can be bought at convenience stores and gas stations. Fast food restaurants proliferate since profits can be had in urban centers with commuters and other temporary consumers on the ground during the day. But for residents, it is common to find no full service grocery store.

By contrast, this photo shows a store operating for generations in the city of Grand Rapids where shoppers can buy a wide range of fresh foods, knowing that the store's buying team constantly seeks local businesses to source the foods. The price is higher than the mass scale, low-margin business model for the national and regional huge floor plans of supermarkets. But enough people nearby this store are willing to pay for the flavor from freshly harvested produce and locally raised meat animals that this business is sustained.

locally sourced fruit, vegetables, and meat is part of the business model here

The weekly sign changes first thing every Sunday to advertise what is promoted with special pricing for the coming seven days. At the end of July the list includes Michigan cherries, blueberries, tomatoes, leaf lettuce varieties, in addition to chicken (breast). A smaller sign in the corner of the parking lot in the distance can be seen between the uprights of the big sign. It lists sweet corn for sale at 2 ears for $1.

The brick building in the background is one of the fire stations in the city of Grand Rapids. Sometimes the navy blue uniformed fire-fighters can be seen in the checkout line after they walk across the parking lot to buy a sandwich or other things to eat or drink. During the 2020 pandemic most customers readily began wearing masks early on, when trips indoors were recommended to include face-masks. Now there is a statewide order for all retail customers and workers to wear face coverings of some kind, so compliance is 100% by casual survey, looking around the premises.

Outdoor movie night hosted at church parking lot

Summer get-together during Covid-19 pandemic, masks at hand, as needed

Here and there the cars park to face the inflatable movie screen and sound system. The closest space is cordoned off for people to arrange their chairs without any worry about cars being in the way. Before the sky darkened enough for the digital projector to fill the screen, a rock and roll trio of church members played a few sets of pop songs as church members, friends, and members of the general public began to arrive and socialize, either with masks (especially those with their own health problems, or anxious about any risk caused by bringing Covid-19 back home to others or infecting co-workers) or by keeping approximately 6 feet between each other.

As the pandemic overtook this county seat in middle February, the church's liturgical calendar was complicated by the need to close the building. Fairly soon their leadership arrived at a solution involving drive-in worship: people isolate themselves in their car or truck, then tune into the low-power FM signal on their phone or car radio to listen to whoever is at the microphone, sometimes broadcasting from indoors and sometimes from outdoors. Initially things were restricted to outdoor, in-car, gatherings. Then the Michigan governor made incremental changes to the emergency orders and gatherings out of doors up to 100 persons (in masks) developed. At one point limited indoor worship also was permitted with distancing, masking, and limiting the exposure time. These days there are some worshipers who scatter themselves widely among the pews inside and others in their cars at the worship hour on Sunday mornings. The worship leader makes an effort to broadcast from both indoors and outdoors over the course of the service so that everyone has a chance to see him in person, rather than hearing only a disembodied voice.

The logistics of serving the sacrament of communion was a challenge to overcome. Eventually, they created individual serving size packets for each person taking the communion. The commercial ones use grape juice instead of wine (grape juice that has been fermented). So in the interest of conforming to pre-pandemic customs of using wine, the church crew prepares their own individual serving size packets.

This photo is taken soon after the movie began. The wide-angle lens exaggerates the small dimension of the projector screen. In fact it is the size of a very small house side. All together there were  perhaps 50-70 people attending of all ages, mostly adults, many of them retired or nearing retirement age. By way of concessions for sale, a brightly painted and lit up ice-cream truck was open for business to the left of this frame, near the church entrance. A table on the porch of the church had pop-corn and soft-drinks on offer, too. The evening music group with amplified speakers was playing near the corner nearest the church and movie screen.

Everybody seemed especially grateful for the chance to mingle informally in the warm summer evening, either unmasked and keeping their distance from each other, or standing at the pre-pandemic accustomed "personal space" of 3-4 feet apart.

Covid-19 dramatics for (backyard) cabaret

part of "backyard cabaret" hosted by Grand Rapids residents for friends or neighbors

A dozen or two cars lined the quiet residential street to enjoy outdoor, socially distanced snacks and b.y.o.b. drinks ahead of the evening's contracted performance with some of the city's local theater production company actors. Before the pandemic the Grand Rapids Civic Theater performed downtown regularly throughout the year to season subscribers and to one-time ticket buyers. As well, the city had at least one stand-up comedy location. But with public indoor gatherings of more than a handful of people no longer allowed because of the risk of transmitting the virus between asymptomatic spreaders in particular, some of the thespians launched "backyard cabaret" with brief sketches, song, and commentary for private performance at the host's house. Apart from the novelty of professionals appearing at one's home and repurposing the deck as a stage, there is the great satisfaction that comes from supporting the arts locally and engaging peers invited for the evening, too. Perhaps from the performer's point of view, as well, there is some degree of satisfaction in performing on the "small stage," after all. It would be interesting to know how widely this (business) model is happening around the country and indeed around the world.

Star-spangled (blue) banner

National USA flag imitated with no red stripes (downtown Grand Rapids, MI 7/2020)

The black and white U.S. flag with a single blue line in the middle of the field appears in front of people's houses here and there. An early June essay at The Marshall Project discusses this version of the flag with reference to the intensified scrutiny and protest over police abuse of black and brown-skinned people since late May 2020. What originally was imagined as a visual expression of police solidarity is being seen by others as symbol of White Supremacy agitators.

The reason to snap this photo, though, is not to mull over the specific case of the monochrome banner containing a thin blue line, but to reflect on the more general practice of co-opting this national symbol for narrow, sometimes personal, uses. During the 1970s and around the time of the bi-centennial in 1976 , especially, there was a lot of pop art and commercial use of the readily recognized combination of red and white stripes and the white stars that comprise the Star-spangled Banner. Motorcycle helmets, knickknacks, wallpaper, paint schemes on muscle cars, badges, cake decoration, and underwear like this could be bought or made. Now more than 40 years later the splintering of TV channels and (online) news sources and alternative schools has led to the tribal divisions that group people into communities sometimes defined by what they are not and emphasizing difference to others instead of being concerned with commonalities and common cause that everyone shares a stake in.

This black and blue likeness of the USA national flag seems to say that the "thin blue line" (uniformed members of local police departments) is what connects and holds together the halves (and the "haves" and have nots) of the displayed flag and by symbolic extension also the halves of the whole country itself: social order that comes from firmly enforcing laws, no matter if those codes are written well or poorly. Taking a similar approach of appropriating this national (and thus diversely shared and experienced) symbol for public display, school teachers could claim a key role in the life and future of the society. So could tax collectors, farmers, truck drivers, and car repair professionals. Taking a different theme from the occupational one, political factions might want to claim that only their way of seeing the world can be good for the country. A riff on the national flag could then express their own self-appreciation. Maybe most foundational of all, as William Ross Wallace put it in his 1865 poem, "the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world." By that estimation, the national flag should be interpreted to express the abiding presence of mothers and the very most formative child development years.

Seeing the flag in this photo displayed on the top of a pole in downtown residential Grand Rapids could be a private statement of support for friends, family, or neighbors who devote their working lives to the various roles within the police department in this city or elsewhere. Or maybe it is a larger statement about Law and Order as the basis for human relationships in the public arenas of commerce, communication, and cultural expression. Without talking at length with the person displaying the flag it is hard to know the shape and size of the meaning that the flag holds in this one instance. Perhaps it is most of all a reflection of this generational moment or historical intersection of events, ideas, and personalities that has no parallel in other societies or even around the USA at other points in history. But one thing is certain, because that flag has appeared in domestic and foreign places in private gatherings and public occasions, the meanings are many and the image is readily recognizable.

It is a rich source of meanings which can be harnessed for individual, organizational, or (inter)national purposes. Seeing it on this morning brings to mind a distant recognition: ah, that looks  familiar, except that this flag has drained away the full-color form to give only black and white, along with one stripe of blue. It may express a truth or the lived experience among past, present, and future employees of police departments, but for people without this direct connection, the original red stripes and blue field for the 50 stars to represent all citizens somehow is muted into black and white. Only the blue stands out in that flag; all else is diminished by comparison.