Page 165 | Pacific Sun | Marin County, California

Marin County flags flunked by Vexillological Association

Daedalus Howell

Mar 7, 2023

Marin County flags flunked by Vexillological Association

One would be forgiven if they thought “vexillological” had anything to do with the vexy-ness of, say, Harley Quinn. As illogical and vexing as the DC comics anti-heroine may be (quite), the term actually refers to the study of flags.

Ergo, vexillologists are those who study flags. Bonus round: A vexillonaire is someone who is “a particularly passionate breed of vexillologist who actively goes out into the world and lobbies for better flag design,” which one would know if they had listened to Roman Mars purr it into ears during his 99 Percent Invisible podcast on the subject.

This is why I didn’t automatically delete the press release from the North American Vexillological Association (NAVA) when it arrived several weeks back. An organization with over 1,000 flag enthusiasts and scholars, NAVA thought I should know that a recent survey found that the flag for San Rafael scored an F.

Why does the city have a flag at all? And why is it (apparently) so crappy?

Since 2015, over 300 American cities and towns are known to have adopted new or redesigned flags to represent their communities, says NAVA. The effort is in part an exercise in civic branding and, I suppose (if one were to believe Eddie Izzard) a means of fending off colonists.

NAVA ran its online survey from Sept. 1 to Nov. 30, 2022. Over 2,800 people participated, rating the design of each flag using a low-to-high scale of 0 to 10, which was converted to a letter grade.

Over 60% of the flags got a D or an F, including fellow Marin County town Belvedere, whose flag was rated a D-. (It should be noted that the overall grade for the 312 flags included in the survey was D+.) Belvedere’s flag sucks because it looks like a whale impaled with a crutch.

“Studying the process of flag design and adoption helps us understand how flags connect people to their communities,” comments NAVA secretary Ted Kaye, who coordinated the survey and also appeared in the aforementioned 99 Percent Invisible episode. “But our members don’t just study flags—some become actively involved in flag design themselves.”

If an individual and their city are planning on seceding into its own nation-state, consider NAVA’s five basic principles from their “Good” Flag, “Bad” Flag design guide when designing a flag:

1. Keep it simple. (The flag should be so simple that a child can draw it from memory.)

2. Use meaningful symbolism. (The flag’s images, colors or patterns should relate to what it symbolizes for the community.)

3. Use two to three basic colors. (Limit the number of colors on the flag to three, which contrast well and come from the standard color set.)

4. No lettering or seals. (Never use writing of any kind on an organization’s seal.)

5. Be distinctive or be related. (Avoid duplicating other flags, but use similarities to show connections.)

6. And—if I may add a sixth principle—don’t be vexing.

NAVA publishes a quarterly newsletter, ‘Vexillum,’ and an annual scholarly journal, ‘Raven.’ It hosts a website and holds regular meetings of flag scholars and enthusiasts. NAVA welcomes anyone interested in flags as a member. For images of all the flags and the survey’s full results, visit nava.org/2022-survey. Also, of course, there’s a vexillology Reddit.

A version of this article was previously published at FMRL.com.

Venues, Week of March 8

Kainoa St. Germain

Mar 7, 2023

JaM Cellars

1460 First St., Napa. jamcellars.com.

Folk music from the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains will be performed by Jonathan Foster.

8pm, Thursday, March 9. $10.

Hopmonk Tavern Sebastopol

230 Petaluma Ave., Sebastopol. hopmonk.com.

From Western Canada, Moontricks is a duo that combines their love of folk, blues and electronic music in a performance this Friday night.

8pm, Friday, March 10. $24.23.

The Phoenix Theater

201 Washington St., Petaluma. thepheonixtheater.com.

A collection of bands will be playing at the Phoenix this Friday. One Armed Joey, Modern Monsters, Legal Disaster and Build Them to Break.

8pm, Friday, March 10. $10.

The Flamingo Resort

2777 4th St., Santa Rosa. vintagespacesr.com.

DJ DYOPS will be hosting LUSH, a LGBTQ+ friendly dance party, at the Flamingo Resort.

9pm, Friday, March 10. $10-15.

Occidental Center for the Arts

3850 Doris Murphy Ct., Occidental. occidentalcenterforthearts.org.

Patrick Ball brings celtic harp music all the way from Ireland.

7pm, Saturday, March 11. $35.

Chamber Music Marin

Mt. Tamalpais United Methodist Church, 410 Sycamore Ave., Mill Valley. chambermusicmarin.org.

Chamber Music Marin presents SAKURA Cello Quintet as part of its 50th season at 5pm, Sunday, March 12. Tickets start at $40. 18 and under are free.

Green Music Center

1801 East Cotati Ave., Rohnert Park. gmc.sonoma.edu.

Rich music comprised of strings, winds, harp and piano will be played by Israeli Chamber Project with Karim Sulayman.

3pm, Sunday, March 12. $35-95.

Sweetwater Music Hall

19 Corte Madera Ave., Mill Valley. sweetwatermusichall.com.

It’s open mic night at the music hall, and rock & roll pioneer Austin DeLone will be playing

7pm, Tuesday, March 14. Free.

—Kainoa St. Germain

Send your gigs to dh*****@*****ys.com.

Culture Crush, March 8

Daedalus Howell

Mar 7, 2023

San Rafael

Altered BooksHumans read them, they ban them, they burn them—and sometimes they make art out of them: books. Artist and instructor Nathalie Valette will offer her “Book Altering Mini Workshop” from 2:30 to 5:30pm, Sunday, March 12, at Studio 64, 64 Louise St., San Rafael. “An altered book is a form of mixed media artwork that changes a book from its original printed form into something completely new,” explains the event’s press release (if only there were a workshop for newspapers). Class size is limited to 10. To bookmark a spot, send a check for $50 to Nathalie Valette, ℅ Studio 64 (address above) or Venmo @Nathalie-Valette. Materials are included.

Occidental

‘The Last Professional’

Step aside, planes, trains and automobiles—author Ed Davis sees the ante and raises with trains, hobos and carnies. He’s not bluffing, and to prove it he will read from The Last Professional, his new novel inspired by all the above (and a mad person to boot) at 4 pm, Sunday, March 26 at Occidental Center for the Arts, 3850 Doris Murphy Ct. Admission is free; donations accepted; refreshments for sale. A Q&A follows a selection of readings, as well as a book sale and signing. occidentalcenterforthearts.org.

Sonoma

The Envelope Please

Sonoma’s Sebastiani Theatre plays host to the valley’s glitziest Academy Awards screening and party on Sunday, March 12. The live event will be projected on the big screen, with hors d’oeuvres and drinks covered by the $50 price of admission (theater concessions, beer, wine and champagne will also be available for purchase). Doors open at 4pm, and attendees are encouraged to come in costume as their favorite actors or movie characters (with prizes awarded to the best costumes). The theater is located in Sonoma on The Plaza at 476 First St. East. sebastianitheatre.com.

Napa Valley

Get a Job

Without picking up a guitar, one may start a career in music by bringing a resume to BottleRock Napa Valley’s job fair from 4 to 7pm, Tuesday, March 21 at Zinfandel Hall in the Napa Expo RV Park, 601 Silverado Trail, Napa. Positions for the late May music fest include spa assistants, food & beverage, ticketing services and more. Applicants must be 18 years or older. For more information, visit bottlerocknapavalley.com.

— Daedalus Howell, editor

dh*****@*****ys.com

Marin poet publishes book of mountain bike adventure essays

Isabella Cook

Mar 6, 2023

Marin poet publishes book of mountain bike adventure essays

Marin County’s first-ever poet laureate, Albert Flynn DeSilver, recently published a new book of essays titled, Singletrack Mind: Finding Wisdom & Poetry of Life on Two Wheels.

This book takes readers on a firsthand journey alongside local legend, DeSilver, as he recounts five of his most memorable mountain biking experiences.

In his book, DeSilver sets out to capture the spirit of mountain biking in a travelog-like collection of singularly splendid stories. The book was initially inspired by a piece he wrote in 2021 for Adventure Journal magazine, which told the tale of his point-to-point mountain bike journey across Point Reyes during the pandemic.

“This project has been gurgling beneath the surface for quite some time, but really came to fruition just in the last two years,” he said.

DeSilver did not set out to become a poet—rather, his ambitions led him on a journey from the East Coast, through Ohio, then further west to Colorado, where he received his bachelors of fine arts degree in photography. His trip westward across the United States came to its natural conclusion when DeSilver moved to San Francisco to attend grad school at the San Francisco Art Institute. There, his interest in poetry and writing developed.

“While in San Francisco, I met Bill Berkson, who sent me to a poetry reading,” he said. “I didn’t have anything else going on that night, and I’ll never forget, the editor Paul Hoover, he read a quote from the poet Jack Spicer that goes: ‘Unblind the dreamers. Poet, be like God,’ from Imaginary Elegies. It was just this euphoric expression of the whole being of an artist, and I thought, ‘Oh that’s cool.’ So, that night I decided to become a poet.”

From that point on, DeSilver threw himself into the world of writing; he attended reading events, checked out more and more books and became actively engaged in the Bay Area literary community (even joining the open mic scene).

So, when a friend of his approached him about a teaching opportunity in Marin for a summer program, he naturally agreed. “I didn’t have teaching experience, but I had a deep passion for poetry,” he said.

DeSilver found that teaching was not only rewarding, but an excellent chance to learn from the children he taught. And, when the summer program was over, he joined a program called California Poets in the Schools, an initiative that brings professional poets to teach children the fine and fun art of writing poetry.

“Children are just innate geniuses, and I can say that in broad terms because that was my experience teaching them,” he said. “When you go into a classroom and remind them they have this innate capacity to create beauty with language, they create amazing stuff. Through them, I was being constantly inspired to create amazing works because [the children] were totally in connection with their imagination and don’t have the restrictions that come with inhibitions.”

DeSilver’s involved approach toward community engagement in the Bay Area’s poetry culture, and his well-regarded published works, made him a natural choice for the inaugural poet laureate of the county. So, when the Marin Arts Council decided to award the title to a local poet in 2008, he accepted the honor and held the title of Marin poet laureate until 2010.

“Poet laureate-ism was a culmination of the previous decade of work,” he explained. “I had been with the local schools and was publishing a lot and was just participating and engaged in the culture of poetry. I don’t remember throwing my hat in the ring for poet laureate, but I suppose I was an obvious choice because of my engagement and participation in Marin.”

DeSilver has now lived in West Marin for the past 30 years and, alongside poetry, has used this time to explore his many other interests, including nature, photography and mountain biking.

“During the pandemic, one of the great outlets was riding my mountain bike in West Marin,” he said. “I’ve ridden for years, all over Marin, and I just had this idea about riding point-to-point in the Point Reyes Peninsula, from the very tip of the point all the way to Bolinas.”

The ride ended up being the longest single day of riding in DeSilver’s extensive mountain biking experience and added up to a grand total of 43 miles, with 6,000 feet of elevation climbed. He rode across fields, pavement, fire roads and single track trails from point-to-point in a ride that inspired first the story for Adventure Journal and now an entire book.

“I wanted to include all the things I love in one little book,” said DeSilver. “My love of nature and of the Earth wisdom writing of Dolores Chappelle, who wrote a really amazing book about deep powder skiing—it was just this philosophy about being deeply engaged in the Earth while on skis. In those writings, I experienced the same kind of flow experience on a mountain bike, flowing through the woods and mountains and hills and getting into this rhythm in nature.”

The contents of Singletrack Mind: Finding Wisdom & Poetry of Life on Two Wheels take the reader on five mountain bike journeys with DeSilver through Point Reyes, Sedona, Lake Tahoe, Slovenia and Croatia. Not only did DeSilver see this project as a way to pursue his love of mountain biking, but as an homage to nature, flow, photography and to those who rode with him in his adventures (especially those who will not have a chance to ride with him again).

Photos for the book were provided by the world-famous adventure photographer Mattias Fredriksson, who has had his photography on the cover of almost every major ski and mountain bike publication in the past 25 years.

The release date of Singletrack Mind: Finding Wisdom & Poetry of Life on Two Wheels is set for March 15. There will be a celebratory event to mark the occasion at Splitrock Tap & Wheel in Fairfax from 7 to 8pm on Thursday, March 30. This event will include a slideshow and, in tandem, is a benefit for Access for Bikes, a nonprofit that advocates for mountain bike access in Marin County.

“My book is for anyone who loves adventuring in the outdoors, and particularly if you love connecting more deeply with nature and with the Earth on a bike,” concluded DeSilver. “[The book] is about mountain biking, but also not—it’s about poetry and the reaffirmation of life.”

For more information, visit DeSilver’s website at albertflynndesilver.com.