Monday, December 21, 2015

Mysterious semiotics


I know I'm supposed to do some sort of philosophical musing on the solstice, but I'll pass. It happens every year and now the days start getting longer, yea!

However, I do want to talk about a puzzle. Tuckie road is a town road in Windham, basically a country lane with a cornfield at one end and a trailer park on the other, with modest houses on 1 or 2 acre lots in between. Also a new regional magnet school. It carries a lot of traffic, however, because it links Windham Center and points south and west with a commercial stretch of Rte 6 with big box stores, and headed in the other direction UCONN and Hartford.

So one of the local yokels has a yard filled with dozens of junk trucks and heavy equipment. A weird thing to collect. He has also hung two enormous confederate battle flags from trees in his front yard. It is highly unlikely he is celebrating his southern heritage, as I will be very surprised if this guy (and the junk does say guy) has ever set foot south of the Mason-Dixon line. It is not in fact that unusual to see confederate flags, as for example substituting for the front license plate of a town fire captain in Canterbury, or as decals on the back window of a truck just above the gun rack.

So what are these people intending to proclaim to the world? They must think they are saying something meaningful. What might that be?

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