New use for those plasmas at New Trier!

As I was strolling the halls by the administration buildings, I noticed that the plasma screen tvs that everyone complains about were displaying pictures of New Trier Seniors and the colleges they were about to attend. The caption below the continuous slide show of portraits described these people as trevians, but I only saw athletic pictures. Plus, the colleges that these students were about to attend were top-tier colleges (according to Newsweek, at least). But,Literally, the only pictures that were scrolling were head shots of players on our varsity teams. And I wondered: 'why only athletes?' I know that athletics are a huge part of new trier, but there's also a portion of the school that isn't involved in any sport, whatsoever (me). So does this public display mean that we, and the administration, consider the athletes of New Trier the elite? The ideal of our school? What we want to identify ourselves with to visitors and everyone else? I just thought it was an interesting use for the many tvs in our school.

Freedom on the Freeway

As I was driving along the edens, I saw a house sporting two flags along the highway. One is American and one is Mexican. Each were at equal heights on two sides of an apartment. They look very tattered, as the ends are a dull brown color and the ends are split. They were flapping ferociously in the breeze, only supported by flimsy plastic poles.
I was stuck in traffic and couldn't help but notice these flags. It wasn't remarkable to me that both of these flags were flying side by side, but for some reason, I really liked the fact they were. The inhabitants in the house are most likely immigrants, and it seemed to me that since they were flying at the same heights and were tattered equally, these inhabitants are proud of being a member of both countries. It really spoke to me because of issues that some people in the US have with immigrants, within a country created by immigrants. In this case, I think that someone who is from Mexico can be an equally patriotic American (or a real American in that case), in comparison to someone who has had an American "history" here, and whose family has lived here for decades/centuries.

How Should I Protect It?

After our discussion in class pertaining to the treatment of the American Flag, I decided to research the "Flag Code" instilled by the US Government. Here are some particular articles/regulations that stood out to me: (All obtained from Ushistory.org)

- Section 8D: "The flag should never be used as wearing apparel"
Every fourth of July, I see hundreds of people wearing shirts with the American Flag on it. Old Navy, especially, sells t-shirts with the flag like hotcakes every year, so I'm confused. I see a person with a flag shirt almost every day. It's so common, I don't even think twice about it, but to see it banned puzzled me because no one really does anything about it. I've never heard of an instance on the news or anywhere where someone wore a flag shirt and received a hard time. I mean, I've seen it all: flag shirts, flag pants, flag capes, flag headbands, flag accessories; you name it. My cousin told me that he wears flag boxers! Imagine that. I really don't understand how that is legal, especially because it allows someone to cover and protect their genitals with the flag. If I practiced the flag code, the last thing I would want to hear about is old glory touching a taboo. I think that even might be worse, in the scheme of things, than dropping a flag on the ground; but that's just me.

-According to the flag code, a flag is a flag or anything "by which the average person seeing the same without deliberation may believe the same to represent the flag"

This, according to the website, means that literally ANYTHING with the American Flag on it, or anything representing the flag is an American Flag. Yes, folks, that includes drawings of flags by children, the Bank of America Logo, flag postage stamps, a Jasper Johns flag, my American Flag beach towel, and many more! On the website I visited, it even had a picture of a dog's chew toy where the American Flag was the design on the bone. This really puzzles me because the flag code applies to all of these items. Meaning, the usual regulations: you can't drop it, burn it, or display it in the wrong way. I'm not sure if that is at all possible considering the items I found bearing the flag.
But once again, I can't drop the flag, but a wet body could wipe itself all over the American Flag and my dog can gnaw on it for hours. I'm perplexed.