lydamorehouse | Laser. Loon.

Image: laser-eyed loon on St. Paul Public Library card

So, I don't always love living in St. Paul (don't ask me about the snow plowing situation), but occasionally my city is EXCEPTIONAL.

For my international and out-of-state friends, what you see before you is the new St. Paul Public Library card. You need to look closely to see that the loon (which does, in fact, have red eyes, in nature,) is shooting lasers from said red eyes. This may seem just funny on its own, but it is made even better by the fact that recently Minnesota had a contest to replace its racist and outdated state flag and at least one of the entries was a loon shooting lasers out of its eyes.

And, you know, let's be honest. There are a surprising number of people, had we had a chance to vote on it, would have probably CHOSEN a state flag with a loon shooting lasers from its eyes.

Also, in the case of ranked voting, I would have picked the one that was just a picture of some guy's dog.

I love Minnesota.

The flag we ended up with is, as my grandmother would have said, "nothing to write home about." Although, it is made better by the people who assume that, if you can squint, you can imagine the laser-eyed loon spewing, kaiju style, an electric outburst.

true meaning of the flag meme

Image: The only thing I accept as the truth. Minnesota flag explained via insane laser-eyed loon cartoon.(not my art.)

I mean, I really can't unsee it now, so that's just what our flag is. If I bought a MN State Flag, I would totally put a little red dot in the center of the star.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

profiterole_reads

This is an amazing interpretation!

From:

lydamorehouse

Isn't it amazing? It went around during this whole state flag by contest (decided on by commission) process and I love it.

From:

lydamorehouse

I should also post a link to the goofy promo our mayor did to promote this library card. Let me see if I can grab a link.... https://twitter.com/stpaullibrary/status/1757434611913613685 Do turn the sound on, if you are unfamiliar with the call of a loon.

From:

profiterole_reads

Excellent! :D

From:

rachelmanija

I love it.

Alex leaped out of my lap and fled in terror.

From:

lydamorehouse

Loons sound SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO weird.

From:

minnehaha

On the other hand, I LOVE the new flag. It tells (some important things about) what Minnesota is, in very broad strokes, and in a literal, representational way. This makes it easy to interpret. Easy for children to draw and explain. It is unique.

My opinion is that the Chicago city flag "normalized" light blue to Midwestern American eyes (yes, yes: Argentina) and that somehow adds permissiveness to the sky blue color used here, departing from the kindergarten crayon box colors we perhaps expect on a flag.

The only change I would have made would be to make it an 11 pointed star in direct reference to the 11 Federally-recognized tribal nations who have lands within Minnesota. But that would, I expect, be too pointed for many.

K.

From:

lydamorehouse

I like your idea of an 11-pointed star, honestly.

But for me the state flag seems kind of dull. Like, it could fly in a corporate office. I don't know, think I'm just a laser loon gal at heart. :-)

From:

minnehaha

And I am a curmudgeon about some things. When the Euro zone countries had to design new money, they had to settle on what parts of this process would be controlled by member nations and what parts by the European Union. What motifs did they settle on as being of universal appeal?
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Windows, Doors, Bridges.

The Euro is now in re-design. I wonder what they can come up with. Plants are always good. Birds or animals?

K.

From:

rachelmanija

What does the new flag say about Minnesota?

From:

lydamorehouse

Who knows? Originally it had a green stripe as well, which I could at least then imagine as, I dunno, the great plains or something (which only part of Minnesota is in). But, there is some answer... but for me, the ONLY ANSWER IS LASER-EYED LOONS!!!

From:

pameladean

I actually do like the new flag, but I'd have been happy if they had acknowledged that three distinct biomes meet in Minnesota and represented those. Oh well.

I am very jealous of your library card and I would also infinitely prefer your mayor to ours.

P.

From:

lsanderson

The new flag meets or exceeds all of the flag design principles that I'm aware of. (I don't think that the olde flag beloved by Republicans met any of them.)

"The Five Principles are:

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.

3. Use 2 or 3 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 or an organization's seal.

5. Be Distinctive or Be Related. Avoid duplicating other flags, but use similarities to show connections.

Of course there are exceptions to every rule, but depart from these five principles only with caution and purpose."

https://nava.org/good-flag-bad-flag#:~:text=The%20flag%20should%20be%20so,2%20or%203%20Basic%20Colors.

To that, I gotta add:

6. It's gotta look good in landscape and portrait (and from a flag pole).

From:

lydamorehouse

This is literally everything that the committee that chose it told us that they considered. All of this is valid and obviously has been studied by vexillologists. I only like it because I am imagining a laser loon barfing electricity. I am a rube.

From:

lsanderson

Post by antimagical3

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From:

lydamorehouse

Hahaha. That is hilarious!

From:

the_siobhan

... and now that's all I will ever see.

From:

lydamorehouse

SAME!! (And it makes me happy EVERY. TIME.)

From:

rachelmanija

I LOVE the loon laser library card and flag explanation. What is the origin of the laser loon?

From:

lydamorehouse

Who knows? Some kid sent in a picture for the Minnesota State Flag contest that was like loon, but what if with LASERS. I mean, loons really do have creepy bright red eyes. I can see how a kid just immediately said to themselves, "PROBABLY SHOOTS LASERS."

From:

rachelmanija

Ohhh, knowing they have red eyes makes it all make sense.

From:

lydamorehouse

RACHEL, GOOGLE LOON EYES RIGHT NOW.

From:

rachelmanija

What the fuck.

From:

lydamorehouse

Adorably, they carry their babies on their backs and then... OH GOD THE EYES!!

From:

pameladean

They are the best birds. The first time that I heard a bunch of them at a distance, I thought a lot of high-school kids had gotten drunk and were working themselves up to something, whether assaulting passersby or drowning themselves with dumb tricks I had no idea.

P.

From:

eagle

Thank you, I will never forget the flag of Minnesota now. That is a wonderful interpretation.

I admit to personally liking simpler flag designs (as long as it's not just horizontal or vertical stripes, which are a bit too simple), so I like the new flag for itself and would prefer it over ours in California with the highly-detailed grizzly bear. (Probably my favorite country flags are those of Seychelles and Saint Lucia.) But I admit the laser-eyed loon is awesome.

From:

lydamorehouse

I was born in California (Sacramento, to be exact,) though I only spent the first six months of my life there. I think your bear is cool, but a laser loon would beat that. In fact if I were a better artist (I did not draw the cartoon above to be clear,) I would totally want to fan fic the California state bear versus Minnesota's laser-eyed loon! That would rock. (I would not bet on either. Bears are BIG.)

I have come around to the new flag. A little. I've seen some people are flying them around here and they look nice on bright snowy days. I still maintain that it's much duller than, say a loon with lasers, but I also respect that probably the governor (and most Minnesotans) would prefer a "serious" flag.

Edited (I apparently forgot how sentences work) Date: 2024-02-16 08:17 pm (UTC)

From:

kore

That is a BADASS library carrd.

From:

sabotabby

OMG this is incredible thank you

From:

cateyespecks

Amazing. I love public libraries. Our local library has some of the most fun-sounding programming sometimes. I remember a few years back they had a "cat castle building" event for kids. The library provided all kinds of boxes, colored papers, stickers, yarns, etc. and kids could just come build a fort for their cats.

And I'll never forget this post I saw online in the last couple years:
https://twitter.com/PflugervilleLib/status/1115698716407627776