A New Lens on the American Flag

One of Jim's friends stopped by the morning of his funeral and dropped his flag to half mast. I went by to photograph it and the second i got there, the stillness turned to wind. It took on supernatural forces and a life of its own.

I’ve never really been a flag person. Don’t own one or a flagpole. Therefore, to chat with a flag, a specific American flag, every day, sometimes several times a day is uncharacteristic of me.

  My youngest brother Jim loved his flag. It was huge. Flagpole number one actually bent from the flag weight and the wind. The second flagpole had nothing to fear. A tornado would have taken his house before that pole.

A huge American flag flies from a very tall pole (50 feet?) on Providence Road, centered between Broadway and Walnut on the east side. This flag swirls and waves while other flags down Walnut Street--like the police station or in front of the courthouse--sit limply. The  Providence Flag ripples and dances and on a windy, sunny day the stars look like diamonds in the sky. That’s my time to talk to Jim, driving south on Providence, usually to work. Craning my neck to get the first glimpse of the flag, I marvel at Jim’s spirit that he offers me through the flag.

A 

cloudy morning, I went out to photograph the Providence Flag for this blog entry. As usual, I talked to Jim as I drove down Providence. While snapping some shots of the waving flag a few very light and gentle drops of rain fell from the sky. Light tears from above but they passed as quickly, before I returned to my car.