Analysis

A Banner for Beliefs: Using Flags to Share What’s on Your Mind

On a breezy Saturday in late May, I watched my neighbor raise a new flag at dawn. It was not the one he had flown all winter. This one bore a gold star on a field of blue, stitched by his mother more than fifty years ago. He clipped it to the halyard, paused a moment with the rope in his hands, then sent it up the pole until the fabric snapped to life. People walking dogs slowed to read it. He Confederate Flag Store waved, and a story got told without a single word. Fl

Oct 4, 202617 min read

Read A Banner for Beliefs: Using Flags to Share What’s on Your Mind

Signal

Patriotism on Permission: When Did Loving Your Country Need Institutional Approval?

A few summers ago a neighbor called to ask if I could help him take down a flag. Not the Stars and Stripes, but a weathered service banner he had hung from a second‑story balcony at his townhouse. The homeowners association had sent a notice, citing uniform appearance rules and line‑of‑sight concerns for the courtyard. He felt singled out. A month earlier, another neighbor had hung a Pride flag with no issue. He wasn’t angry as much as bewildered. If the First Amendment to

Oct 4, 202618 min read

Read Patriotism on Permission: When Did Loving Your Country Need Institutional Approval?

Field note

Patriotism on Permission: When Did Loving Your Country Need Institutional Approval?

A few summers ago a neighbor called to ask if I could help him take down a flag. Not the Stars and Stripes, but a weathered service banner he had hung from a second‑story balcony at his townhouse. The homeowners association had sent a notice, citing uniform appearance rules and line‑of‑sight concerns for the courtyard. He felt singled out. A month earlier, another neighbor had hung a Pride flag with no issue. He wasn’t angry as much as bewildered. If the First Amendment to

Oct 4, 202618 min read

Read Patriotism on Permission: When Did Loving Your Country Need Institutional Approval?

Review

From Battlefield to Backyard: Honoring Those Who Fought and Died for Freedom

The first time I raised a historic flag in my backyard, the cloth felt like a living thing. It snapped, caught the light, then settled into its own rhythm against a mild breeze. My neighbor waved over the fence and asked what it was. I told him it was a replica of the flag flown at the Battle of Cowpens, a blue field with thirteen stars and a crisp number 76. He nodded, eyes a little wider than usual, the way people look when a familiar story opens a new chapter. That mo

Oct 4, 202617 min read

Read From Battlefield to Backyard: Honoring Those Who Fought and Died for Freedom