Flags: State of Washington

According to the rules laid out in the State Flag Manifesto, the flag of the state of Washington is just plain lame: it's the state seal (a portrait of ol' George) on a solid green field. I'm disappointed in you, Evergreen State. I know you can do better.

Still, my mother taught me that if one can't say anything nice, one should keep one's fool mouth shut (not exactly her words). Let's focus on the things I love about Washington State, starting with my fantastic visit to their state capitol. I had the better part of a day between my arrival in Seattle and the opening session of my conference, so I rented a car and drove down to Olympia. I parked and walked across the capitol campus to the capitol itself (they prefer to call it the "Legislative Building", though the governor's office is in there too). I had paused for a moment outside the side door to check if it was in fact the correct entrance for capitol tours when I heard a female voice behind me: "Can I help you find something?"

I mumbled something about looking for the capitol tour. She said I was in the right place, and just needed to go up the stairs. Then she said, "Hi, I'm Mary Selecky, the Secretary of Health." I introduced myself and told her I had never before met a cabinet-level official on one of my thirty-odd state capitol visits. She gave me a business card and posed for a picture as documentation of the encounter. I told her I was in town for an engineering conference. She said something along the lines of, sure, we like engineers; we employ some in the water office. I found the capitol tour and went on my merry way. I don't know anything about Ms. Selecky's credentials or politics, but I am pleased to report that she is Nice To State Capitol Visitors.

My favorite Washington state symbol is the official State Endemic Mammal. First of all, props to the state for designating an official endemic species - one that occurs nowhere else. It's likely that some other state symbols are also endemic (looking at you, Hawaii), but I'm not aware that any other state has the "official endemic" category of state symbol. The Evergreen State scores more points, though, because it's official endemic mammal is a totally sweet ground squirrel: the Olympic marmot, Marmota olympus. As the name suggests, it is found exclusively on the Olympic peninsula. I'm trying to remember if we saw any when we visited Olympic National Park when I was in high school. Better go back and check the family photo album.

There's a bunch of other neat stuff on the official list of Washington state symbols: the state fish (steelhead trout, the anadromous form of the rainbow trout), the state vegetable (the awesomely named Walla Walla sweet onion), and the state marine mammal (the orca, which has also given its name to the Puget Sound unified transit fare card - One Regional Card for All), to name a few. I even have to give the flag at the top of this entry a little break: that's one of the originally-sewn flags, now on display in the governor's reception room at the state capitol. Betsy Ross it ain't, but that's still a neat piece of history.

Flags: State of California

Part II of the three states in three weeks series

When Lisa's brother moved to California for graduate school, I asked him if he would have to swear allegiance to the Bear Flag Republic. Apparently, the answer is yes. Now that he's finished his degree and is moving on, though, he says that they had his fingers crossed behind his back during the oath. Good news for him - that bear looks serious.



The Bear Flag was the symbol of the 1846 revolt of settlers in the old province of Alta California against the Mexican government. At right is a photograph of a reproduction of the original Bear Flag, on display in the museum at Alcatraz. The rebels attempted to form a government in Sonoma, but then the US Army showed up and asserted control of the area (the United States was at war with Mexico at the time, though the news had not reached Sonoma before the revolt was underway). California was admitted to the Union as the 31st state in 1850, having never been organized as a territory. The state seal includes an image of the Greek goddess Athena, who burst forth, fully formed, from the forehead of Zeus, as an allusion to their direct admission to the Union.

I'm a big fan of the Bear Flag, and it seems that Californians are too, displaying it proudly throughout the state. And why not? Bears mean business. Ironically, the same settlers who make the California grizzly (Ursus arctos californicus, also known as the California golden bear) the symbol of their rebellion, and later their state, later exterminated it. The last California grizzly was shot in 1922. Thus, California has the dubious distinction of being the only state in the Union (known to me, anyway) whose official state mammal is extinct.

California miscellany:

• State Symbols at the California State Library
• Flags over California at the California State Military Museum
• More on the Bear Flag Revolt from the Museum of the City of San Francisco
• Some dude's thoughts on reintroducing grizzly bears to California

Nice marmot.

And also, let's not forget - let's not forget, Dude - that keeping wildlife, um, an amphibious rodent, for, um, you know, domestic...within the city - that ain't legal either.

Marmota flaviventris seen at Donner Pass, Nevada County, California.

Flags: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

Summer travel is here, and I'm going to try to write three posts about the flags of three different states I will visit within as many weeks. I'm currently sitting in a hotel room in Pennsylvania, the first of those three states. It is also one of the four states of the Union that officially are known as commonwealths. Score +5 nerd points if you can name the other three.

In my State Flag Manifesto, I wrote that 23 of the state flags are totally uninspired, being composed only of the vexillological cop-out of plopping the state seal on a color field. Lame. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania dodges that bullet - although just barely - by putting its state coat of arms, rather than the seal, on a blue field. The state motto, found in the banner at the bottom of the coat of arms, is "Virtue, Liberty, and Independence." I think the motto ought to be "Our Flag Has Horsies On It." Speaking of state seals, though, the Seal of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is - oddly enough - ringed with the words "Seal of the State of Pennsylvania." Maybe the Keystone State would be better nicknamed The Identity Crisis State.

Still, Pennsylvania has some excellent state symbols. The state fossil is Phacops rana, a species of everybody's favorite Paleozoic arthropod, the trilobite. Apparently its bulging eyes reminded someone of a frog's, leading to the specific name rana. The state fish is the brook trout, Salvelinus fontinalis, a fine-looking resident of the Keystone State's spring-fed streams. The identity crises continue insofar as S. fontinalis is actually a species of char, not a true trout - but it's close enough for government work.

Best of all Pennsylvania has two official state locomotives, both formerly operated by the Pennsylvania Railroad: the steam-powered K4s (a 4-6-2 locomotive used to pull passenger trains), and the electric GG1 Number 4859, which hauled freight and wartime troop trains. Makes me want to visit Steamtown National Historic Site in Scranton, where the National Park Service runs a locomotive shop, excursion trains, and other steam railroad nerdosity.

Finally, the Keystone State scores major points for the mosaics in the rotunda of the state capitol. Among other things are a turtle (looks like a common snapping turtle, Chelydra serpentina) and a skunk (probably a striped skunk, Mephitis mephitis). Win.