The Boston Pride Parade took place on the second Saturday of June. As always, I thoroughly enjoyied taking in the sights and observing the atmosphere at the event.
The most commonly seen symbol at this parade is the rainbow flag. For those unfamiliar with the flag, I'll exclusively reveal here on TOA: it looks pretty much like it sounds. The only difference between the flag and the phenomena it is named after is the number of colors. With just six stripes, the flag falls one short of the total traditionally associated with the rainbow.
I finally noticed the missing stripe this year (on what I estimate was my 217th time looking at the flag). I quickly ran through all my rainbow knowledge to identify the missing color. I got 'indigo' when I recalled the trick to memorize the colors: use the acronym Roy G. Biv.
Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet were there...
The flag was missing the 'i', indigo. Either that, or my memory of kindergarten was failing me. Maybe it was Mr. Bv? Or perhaps this was a 'Pluto situation' where a fundamental fact of my childhood no longer applied thanks to some entirely unnecessary Science Admin? But I asked around and I confirmed, yes, the flag was indeed one color shy of the full rainbow.
It made me wonder about what happened to indigo. It's not just the rainbow, I realized, because indigo is never seen doing anything. Despite its close association with the other colors of the rainbow, indigo did not make the cut for the high-profile eight color crayon box. The Olympic Rings, symbolic of the continents, chose to cut the design off at five instead of representing all seven of Pangaea's offspring, robbing indigo of yet another opportunity to take on a larger role. Major national flags are notably lacking in the subtle hues of indigo. Care to guess the name of the MBTA project simmering in the background as Boston residents accuse 'The T' of 'transit racism' (1)?
Indigo is like the fifth Beatle of the color world - an initial association with future stars only fuels the disappointment of what might have been. Is indigo your favorite color, reader? I didn't think so. For me, I think looking up indigo and its history in preparation for this little post was the first time I ever thought about the color.
I'm thinking more about it now, though. One explanation for losing sight of this color is that it is hard to see. Is it indigo's fault, though, for lacking the inflaming tones of red or the fluid gentleness of blue?
I must remind myself how it is all too easy to dismiss those on the margins. There is no need to victim-blame indigo for its failed career. Indigo shines bright, I say, but it shines like the glittering stars on a cloud-filled night. It is up to us to seek it, to see it, when it peeks through a rare break in the cover. And if there ever is a reason needed to wander out into the welcome sunshine after a storm...
This world is a little dimmer without indigo, no doubt about it, but I suppose there is no other way it can be.
Footnotes / imagined complaints
0. An observation...
There appeared to be literally no criteria for entering the parade. Companies, dance groups, local schools, people driving cars, even the New England Revolution- there was no way a parade attendee could never guess what was coming down the street next.
I suppose the spirit of the day meant that anyone wishing to celebrate in the joy of being themselves was allowed to march along the parade route.
1. If you didn't guess 'Indigo Line' you shouldn't be here...
Well, maybe that's bit harsh. But still!
The project itself distracted me for about twenty minutes during the proofreading process for this post. In general, an interesting look into how Boston is considering ways to expand and improve 'T' service over the next decade or so. Details here.
The 'transit racism' comment is not related to this story. I thought it might be related to how reports showed the MBTA cancelled trains more frequently on the Fairmont Line than they did the Needham Line (but I could not find a good link for the story when I searched for it).
