Chicago Flag

Due to a design project, I have had need to research the Chicago flag. To be honest, I only wanted to make sure I knew what it looked like. Fairly simple: 4 stars and 2 stripes.

But did you know that this design of 4 stars and 2 stripes has approximately 30 pieces of information attached to it? Thirty. Each star has 6 points and represents 7 pieces of symbolism and history. The two stripes make up the other two pieces. That's absurdity.

Is Chicago a little too big for its britches? The national flag has some symbolism behind the stars and stripes. Thirteen stripes for the 13 original colonies. (At this time I'd like to point out that Maryland is an ORIGINAL colony.) And of course the 50 stars for the states.

To prove a point, I've done some rough calculating. If the good old Red, White and Blue took a page out of Chicago's book, our youth would have the good fortune of memorizing 263 pieces of information (at LEAST) in their history classes. This is MORE than the Periodic Table of Elements, arguably one of the most frustrating memorization charts of high school. The only way the school system would be able to enforce such memorization is to have Justin Timberlake plod his way through a song about the "Fifty Nifty States and 263 Pieces of Information" available for podcast downloads. That is the ONLY way.

I have always been challenged in history classes. I squeaked above the passing grade just barely through my entire education. My question for those ego-centric history buffs who pumped the Chicago flag so full of symbolism that it is officially constipated is this: Why? Chicago appears to be a great city no matter how much information you attach to each point and arc on its proud banner.

Let's keep it simple. Not stupid.



http://www.chipublib.org/004chicago/chiflag.html