Squid Eats: Auberge Sutton Brouërie

It's an exciting time of year in my part of the world.  I love summer here in northern New England but it's no secret the more dazzling show comes in autumn.  Peak foliage is still weeks away but even the early stages are stunning.  It's a great time of year for a drive to pretty much anywhere.  The colors are just as rich in Quebec as they are in Vermont so northward is as gratifying a direction as any.

Sutton isn't too far from us, less than a 90-minute drive and only about 8 miles from the US-Canada border.  The English town name isn't accidental.  The region of Quebec closest to us - known as Canton de l'Est en Français, Eastern Townships in English - was settled by British loyalists during the American Revolution.  It is, in our admittedly limited experience, the most genuinely bilingual part of the province.  It's not unusual to sit at a restaurant near a group of teenagers who switch effortlessly between the two languages, often mid-sentence.  I can assure you, it is not like that for their (likely literal) cousins just a few miles away on the Vermont side of the border.  

Sutton itself is a charming little town, population 4,548, with nice restaurants and cute boutique shops.  Our favorite spot is Auberge Sutton Brouërie, a microbrewery.  They're open for breakfast, lunch and dinner and we've done all three.  Overnight lodging is also available and we've taken advantage of that, too, though not on this visit.  The cuisine is pub-typical with expected Quebecois twists like poutine.  I ordered the Beebop Cheeseburger, my wife the smoked salmon bagel.  Both were more than satisfactory.

The highlight is the beer.  My go-to is the Sutton-IK IPA.  It's a hoppy brew with strong citrus notes which makes it a happy medium between the beers I typically like and the ones my wife prefers.  Unfortunately, I don't think it's for sale anywhere on the American side but it's worth the trip.  We brought a couple bottles home.

And no, I have no idea what the "IK" is all about.

Star Trek: Resolutions

Episode: "Resolutions"

Series: Star Trek: Voyager

Season 2, Episode 25

Original Air Date: May 13, 1996

via Memory Alpha

Janeway and Chakotay have been infected with a terrible disease when insects bite them during an away mission.  The Doctor fails to find a cure.  On the bright side, as long as the two stay on the planet, the effects of the disease are kept in check.  On the down side, that means they must be abandoned as Voyager carries on without them.  

From this point, two separate but equally interesting narratives play out.  On the planet, the castaways build a new life.  Well, Chakotay, at least, is determined to do everything possible to make the situation comfortable but Janeway is equally determined to find a cure for the disease so they can leave.  Inevitably, they also need to sort out the realities of their quickly evolving relationship under new circumstances.

Meanwhile, back on the ship, Tuvok is left in charge.  Making a deal with the dreaded Vidiians for a possible cure seems a logical move, at least to most of the crew.  Tuvok, however, loyally follows Janeway's parting orders to stay away from the Vidiians and continue the journey homeward.  Tensions mount.  Kim openly challenges the acting captain on the bridge.  Later, he appeals to him in his quarters.  Tuvok doesn't budge.  Finally, Kes convinces Tuvok that while he may be unwilling to let emotions cloud his own judgment, he still has a responsibility to the emotional well-being of his crew. 

Go, Kes!

Long term, the episode is probably best remembered for the will-they-won't-they question posed regarding Janeway and Chakotay.  It was 1996, deep in the age of Ross and Rachel.  Will-they-won't-they was seemingly all anyone wanted out of television.  NextGen deftly avoided it for the most part but there's plenty of it in both DS9 and Voyager.  With "Resolutions," the writers left it to the viewers to decide what happened between the two while stranded on the planet.  I think Kate Mulgrew was right to fight against the over-sexualization of her character and this story respects that.

Plus, the brief return of Danara, the doctor's former sweetheart, is a welcome treat.  She clearly still loves him.  He's predictably officious.

Acting Notes

via Criminal Minds Wiki

Bahni Turpin played the role of Ensign Swinn.  "Resolutions" was the second of two appearances in the part.  Turpin was born June 4, 1962 in Pontiac, Michigan.  Films include Daughters of the Dust, Rain Without Thunder and Malcolm X.  Other television guest appearances include Seinfeld, ER and Criminal Minds.

A lot of actors do audiobook narrations as a side gig.  Bahni Turpin, on the other hand, is one of the best in the business and she has the accolades to prove it.  Her industry awards include 9 Aubie Awards, 14 Earphone Awards, 2 Odyssey Awards and induction into Audible's Narrator Hall of Fame.  Her narrations include The Help by Kathryn Stockett, The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas and Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi.  

Squid Plays: Dominion

Dominion is an important tabletop game in the history of the the hobby as one of the earliest and most influential deck-building games.  Following a medieval theme, you begin with a ten-card deck, mostly currency.  Gradually, you add action cards with names like Village, Market, Cellar and Moat which gain certain advantages: extra cards, extra plays, extra money and so forth.  Whoever accumulates the most victory points wins.  An entire subgenre of games have been developed along this model.

Dominion was originally published in 2008 but I'd never played until last fall when the boys and I tried it out.  I've since played a couple times with my wife, too.  We've all enjoyed it.  The original box includes 26 action cards.  One can vary gameplay depending on which 10 of them you use each time.  There are both pre-set and randomized options for this variance.  There are also numerous expansion sets available for even more variety.  

While the game concept itself is fantastic, one of the biggest things Dominion has going for it is the organizing tray provided so you don't have to resort the cards each time.  

The BoardGameGeek rating is 7.6 out of 10.  I'll be more generous and give it an 8.  

On the Coffee Table: Rawand Issa

Title: Inside the Giant Fish

Writer and Artist: Rawand Issa

In this graphic memoir, creator Rawand Issa describes her childhood in El Jiyeh, a seaside town in Lebanon.  She and her family were effectively shut off from her fondest, earliest memories when private resorts cut off access to what was once a public beach.

There's no shortage of stories about how much Lebanon has changed in recent decades.  Civil wars and military occupations by both Syria and Israel have devastated a once beautiful country.  Issa's tale is unusual for the fact that it mostly ignores the violence, focusing instead on how privatization and politics combined to separate the town's local population from an ocean that defined its culture for generations.

The book is neither long nor densely worded.  I read it in a single sitting - maybe half an hour.  The artwork is rather boxy, though boldly colored.  Inside the Giant Fish (Jonah's whale is the metaphor here) makes a simple point quite elegantly.  Solid work.

Star Trek: For the Cause

Episode: "For the Cause"

Series: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Season 4, Episode 22

Original Air Date: May 6, 1996

via Memory Alpha

Garak episode!

Suspicion falls on Kasidy Yates.  Odo and Commander Eddington believe she may be smuggling on behalf of the Maquis.  Personal and professional loyalties pull Benjamin in opposite directions.  Meanwhile, Garak and Ziyal become friends, and it's a bit awkward in the early going.

This is a big character development episode and mostly for secondary cast.  I'll keep saying this until the series finale:  one of the major strengths of Deep Space Nine is the depth and quality of its bench.  As repeated ad nauseam, Garak is the gem and he gets excellent material here.  More importantly, "For the Cause" represents a transitional moment for both Yates and Eddington and in both cases, the impact on the broader story is significant.  Trust is broken on multiple fronts.  Reality is not what it seemed.  Emotional recovery will not be easy.

The Garak/Ziyal relationship will be an interesting one to follow moving forward.  It's a new actress this time, the second of three to perform as Ziyal.  Tracy Middendorf makes her only Trek appearance.

Acting Notes

via Krull Wiki

Kenneth Marshall (Eddington) was born in New York City, June 27, 1950.  He went to the University of Michigan for undergrad, then Julliard for grad school where he crossed paths with both Robin Williams and Kelsey Grammer.  He worked as a professional stage actor in New York for 14 years, including a run as Tony in a West Side Story revival.  Films include Tilt, Krull and Feds.

Off My Duff: Readjusting to the School Year

For the most part, I love middle age.  Life is simpler in many ways.  Put simply, I just don't give a crap about quite a lot of things that used to preoccupy me.  All of the self-consciousness of youth is long gone.  Ambitions remain but they're more personal than professional.  In Being Mortal, Atul Gawande writes of how our worlds get smaller as we age.  While I am still well short of elderly, I'm already feeling a need to draw those I love most closer and make the most of our time together, however long it lasts.  Truly, mine is a precious age.

But of course, there are trade offs.  My body doesn't function as well as it used to.  Most noticeably, my once 20/13 eyesight - "You could fly fighter jets," a doctor once told me - is fading fast.  I also can't keep the weight off the way I could in my youth.  Last October, one of the numbers on my blood labs was higher than it should be.  Historically, I have shrugged off these sort of concerns.  This time, the message was different: change your life or you'll be forced into changes you won't like at all.  I had three months to bring the number down for the next blood test and I took the goal seriously.

One of the big changes I made was getting more regular exercise.  I was an athletic child - not a good athlete, mind you, but a genuinely active one.  I played soccer, basketball, baseball, ran track and cross-country.  Adulthood has been different.  Team sports were a meaningful motivator for years but those are harder to pursue as an adult.  

On the bright side, just about the most efficient exercise I can get is going for a walk in my own, beautiful neighborhood.  You scoff.  I can assure you, a walk in my neighborhood is not like it is for most people reading this.  We live in the woods on a dirt road off of another dirt road.  Just to get to our mailbox, we have to go up an 8.5% grade hill.  Do you remember the old FitBits that measured how many flights of stairs you climbed each day?  It's 18 flights just up to the mailbox.  And that's only the first big hill of several on my walk route.  No kidding, it's a meaningful workout.  As long as I'm diligent, knocking out FitBit goals is pretty straightforward.

The big question is what to do in winter.  On the weekends, it's not bad.  I can still strap on the Yaktrax and feel reasonably safe even on icy days.  The problem during the week is the fact that it gets dark so early.  The nearest streetlight is literally miles away.  But we've found you can make a fitness tracker happy by jogging in place.  Cheating?  Maybe.  But I figure it's better for you than vegging on the couch.

Anyway, it all worked.  The number came down.  When I went to the doctor this summer, both my weight and my blood pressure were down, too.  He was thrilled.  

Summer's a relatively easy time to establish healthy routines.  Now that the school year has started up again, I'm finding it harder to meet my goals.  I can still knock out my step count without a problem.  Teaching keeps you on your feet.  But my active minutes are down.  I'm so tired when I get home that I just want to relax.  On the bright side, I'm sleeping better and that's important, too.  But I still want to keep those other numbers down and I know more vigorous exercise is essential.

I got a new fitness tracker several months ago: an AmazFit Band 7.  It's a third the cost of the FitBit I'd been using and, just as importantly, doesn't have the weird battery drainage issues I was experiencing.  The three main categories it emphasizes are steps, exertion and sleep.  It's a real taskmaster on the sleep - senses when I have to get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, for instance.

Among other things, AmazFit tracks Personal Activity Intelligence or PAI.  PAI uses your heart rate data to assess your physical activity over a given week.  The initial goal is 30 PAI, then 50, ultimately reaching the optimum level of 100.  By the end of the summer, I was comfortably above 50.  Just two weeks later, I'm at 24.  I definitely need to make some changes.  

I think the first thing I'll do is raise my step goal.  Since reaching that has been relatively easy, it makes sense to push myself.  But I also need to be intentional about getting additional, more vigorous exercise in the evenings.

And maybe even blogging about it can help.  One thing The Armchair Squid has been very good for over the years is keeping me going with my hobbies.  Writing is a meaningful motivator for me.  Perhaps it can help here, too.

On the Coffee Table: Moomin

Title: Moomin Adventures 1

Writers and Artists: Tove Jansson and Lars Jansson

The Moomins were invented by Tove Jansson, a Finnish writer and artist who found success in a number of media.  She first introduced the Moomins and their world in a 1945 novel, The Moomins and the Great Flood, initially in Swedish, her own first language.  She started the comic strip in 1947.  The charming hippo-like trolls have since found their way into television, film, theatre, video games and even theme parks, including one in Japan.  Moomin Adventures 1 collects seven of the comic strip serials.  While Tove produced all of the stories for many years, eventually her brother Lars took over the comics.

Moomintroll (often referred to simply as "Moomin") and his family live a simple life in Moominvalley.  Every once in a while on a whim, they'll set off on an adventure.  This book includes trips to the Riviera and a desert island.  Sometimes, the adventures find them such as when gold prospectors or artists come to the valley.  The atmosphere is light but there is plenty of playful satire along the way - occasional nuggets of wisdom, too.  

Tove Jansson's story is one of many real-life bios featured in Be Gay, Do Comics.  Jansson was with her partner Tuulikki Pietilä for the last 45 years of her life.  Unfortunately, they were not able to be open about their relationship for decades.  Eventually, they became important symbolic figures in Finland as one of the first same-sex couples to attend prominent public events together.

Star Trek: Tuvix

Episode: "Tuvix"

Series: Star Trek: Voyager

Season 2, Episode 24

Original Air Date: May 6, 1996

via Memory Alpha

Tuvok and Neelix are merged into a single being through a transporter malfunction.  What follows is one of the most interesting moral quandaries in all of Star Trek.  That's saying something.  "Tuvix" may be the most polarizing episode in the franchise.  It's the make-or-break story determining how many fans, including my own child, feel about Captain Janeway as a character.

The merged being is his own man.  Tuvix is the best of both, the worst of both.  He shares the memories of each but the experiences from the point of merger are all his own.  He deserves to live.  There's really no question of that, is there?  His existence also means the end of the independent lives of two others.  There's no denying that either.  Thus the dilemma.

Spock: Logic clearly dictates that the needs of many outweigh the needs of the few.

Kirk: Or the one.

If there's one exchange that defines - and haunts - Trek, it's that one from the climactic scene of The Wrath of Khan.  By this argument, the needs of two outweigh the needs of one.  Tuvok's and Neelix's separate rights to exist trump Tuvix's.  

But real life is more complicated than that, isn't it?  Those we might cast as "the few" suffer needlessly all the time.  The benefits to "the many" from such suffering are often nebulous to non-existent.  There's a term for it: the tyranny of the majority.  It's not theoretical.  It's largely how the world works.

Tuvix's pleas for his own survival are both chilling and heartbreaking.  Plenty of viewers hate Janeway for the choice she makes.  Would any of those critics have chosen differently in her place?  I think it's too easy to say yes.  Either way, she's choosing death.  Either path means pain and regret.

It certainly makes for good television.  However one feels about the choice made - and a deep, emotional reaction is absolutely understandable - the question itself is exactly the sort of dilemma that has made Star Trek so compelling to watch for nearly 60 years.  If the answers were always obvious, who would care?

Acting Notes

via Criminal Minds Wiki

Tom Wright (Tuvix) was born in Englewood, New Jersey, November 29, 1952.  This episode is his first of two Trek appearances.  Films include The Brother from Another Planet, Barbershop and Barbershop 2: Back in Business.  In television, he had principal roles on Extreme, Martial Law and Granite Flats.  His other high-profile guest role was the recurring character Mr. Morgan, a Yankees front office colleague of George's on Seinfeld.

Squid Flicks: Hedwig and the Angry Inch

Title: Hedwig and the Angry Inch

Director: John Cameron Mitchell

Original Release Date: January 2001

My Overall Rating: 5 stars out of 5

via Wikipedia

John Cameron wrote, directed and starred in what I consider to be one of the most under-appreciated films around.  In my mind, I maintain a list of movies I wish more people would see.  Hedwig resides comfortably on that list.

Hedwig Robinson grew up in East Berlin, assigned male at birth.  She fell in love with Luther, an American soldier, who convinced her to get a sex change and marry him as part of a scheme to leave the country.  The operation was botched, leaving Hedwig with... unsatisfactory genitalia, thus the title of the film.

We first join the story as Hedwig, now living in Kansas, is trying to make a living as a rock musician.  Luther is long gone.  Tommy, a more recent lover, has become a star, propped up by songs we all know Hedwig co-wrote with him.  

Those are the basics of a whirlwind story.

We saw the movie at the Vermont International Film Festival's screening room.  I would be remiss if I did not point out what our child helped clarify for me: Hedwig is not a drag queen movie.  While it shares thematic material with Priscilla (last week's movie) and To Wong Foo, it is not of the same genre because Hedwig is not a drag queen.  Botched operation or not, Hedwig is a trans woman and living as such.  The wigs and the boas add to her performance. They are camp but they are not drag.

It's also better than either of those more commercially successful films.  Hedwig is adapted from Mitchell's off-Broadway musical of the same name, music by Stephen Trask.  Mitchell's on-screen performance is fearless and relentless.  The vast majority of the material - the lines, the songs, the camera shots - focuses on the one leading character, far more so than one typically sees in a movie.  The music is wonderful.  I've written about the showstopper, "Wig in a Box," before.  Hedwig was a huge hit at Sundance but disappointed in its mainstream run.  

Hedwig can be difficult to watch.  It's funny, visually dazzling and musically charming.  It's also continually heart wrenching.  What's more, Hedwig is not always a likable person, guilty of mistreating others as she has been mistreated.  Parts of the story can be uncomfortable for a cis man, that healthy kind of uncomfortable we've talked about before (here, for instance).  Lean into that discomfort and it will broaden your world concept.  

Star Trek: The Muse

Episode: "The Muse"

Series: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Season 4, Episode 21

Original Air Date: April 29, 1996

via Memory Alpha

Onaya, a beautiful and mysterious woman, arrives at the station.  She and Jake are drawn to one another instantly.  Evidently, Onaya has a thing for creative men.  She inspires them in their work, then draws on their energy like a vampire.  Meanwhile, Lwaxana Troi turns up, too, and she's pregnant.  She enlists Odo to help her escape from her current husband.  Our dear compassionate constable even goes so far as to marry his friend in order to help her out of her predicament.

This is a much-maligned episode by critics and internal creative staff alike.  I don't hate it.  Admittedly, the Onaya story is weak - though everyone praises Meg Foster for her performance in the titular role.  On the other hand, I like the Lwaxana/Odo tale.  As I have written before (here), Lwaxana is more likable with a bit of vulnerability - most people are, fictional or otherwise.  It also helps to have one in-story character who genuinely appreciates her.  We all know - Lwaxana included - that Odo's affection for her does not extend beyond platonic.  That said, his speech in her praise at the wedding is both earnest and touching.  She made his world a larger, less lonely place.  Truly, what more can any of us ask of a friend?

And even the Onaya story has its merits.  As I have for this entire run, I watched the episode with our child.  In the midst of a tender scene between Ben and Jake, they declared Ben Sisko "the best fictional dad."

"Better than Atticus Finch?" I asked.  

"Yes, in my opinion."

I'm not quite ready to make that claim myself yet but I acknowledge the strong claim.  As I've written in previous posts (such as this one), the affection between the Sisko men is unusual for men of color on American television.  I'll take it a step beyond that.  A man lovingly and reflexively kissing his adult son on the forehead is something you just don't see on screen, no matter the race of the characters involved.  In the 2020s, Ted Lasso has gotten a lot of credit for promoting healthy, non-toxic masculinity (see this article).  DS9 was setting its own fine example 30 years earlier.

In one scene, Jake is reading a Horatio Hornblower novel.  Once again, Star Trek piques my curiosity about nautical literature.

Oyana can't help but remind me of Alma Mahler.  Here's a musical tribute by the inimitable Tom Lehrer who just passed away this summer:

Acting Notes

via The Vampire Diaries Wiki

Meg Foster was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, May 10, 1948.  She trained at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of Theatre in New York.  

Her big break came when she won the role of Christine Cagney in the TV series Cagney & Lacey.  Unfortunately for Foster, the part was re-cast for the second season.  Evidently, it was a crushing blow for the actress and her career prospects.  She was still able to find guest appearances, including turns on The Cosby Show, Quantum Leap and ER.  She had a recurring role as Hera in both Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Princess Warrior.  Earlier in her career, she played Hester Prynne in a miniseries adaptation of The Scarlett Letter.  Films include Ticket to Heaven, The Osterman Weekend and They Live.

The light blue eyes one sees in "The Muse" are, in fact, natural.  Mademoiselle magazine once called Meg Foster's "the eyes of 1979."  Many producers made her wear colored contacts.  Fortunately, they were perfect for Star Trek.  

Squid Flicks: The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert

Title: The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert

Director: Stephan Elliott

Original Release Date: May 15, 1994

My Overall Rating: 4 stars out of 5

via Wikipedia

Not long ago, our child watched To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar, a 1995 Hollywood hit film about drag queens starring Wesley Snipes, Patrick Swayze and John Leguizamo. They loved it. I told them yes, that one's good but the movie you really need to see is The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, an Australian smash released the year before.

I'd watched both decades earlier, I think even before my wife and I were married.  I saw Priscilla first and was absolutely blown away.  Thanks largely to RuPaul, social acceptance of drag queens was on the rise in the mid-'90s but a major film production like Priscilla was still daring.  While it's technically a comedy, it hit the sensitive spots just hard enough to bring poignancy.  The queens' dresses were plenty fabulous.  The queens' actual lives?  Not so much.

Tick (Hugo Weaving in his international breakout role), a drag queen in Sydney, is offered a job in far away Alice Springs.  He invites transgender Bernadette (Terence Stamp, RIP) and the beautiful but obnoxious Adam (Guy Pearce).  They buy a converted bus, which Adam names Priscilla, and they hit the road.  They face hardships - mechanical difficulties, hostility, abuse and even assault (thankfully averted just in time) - but also joys.  An friendly indigenous tribe takes them under wing for an evening.  They meet their savior, the amazing Bob (Bill Hunter, who was in the midst of a string of Australian international hits).  They find love.  

And running throughout is an undercurrent love letter to the Australian Outback.  Costumes and makeup are amazing, as one would hope.  But just as stunning is the scenery.  Acting is wonderful and the writing pitch-perfect.  The soundtrack is stellar.  The ABBA show is definitely worth the wait.

One blemish costs Priscilla a star in my rating.  The character Cynthia, Bob's Filipina wife, plays on ugly Asian stereotypes.

Apart from that misstep, it's a wonderful movie, and definitely better than To Wong Foo.  Perhaps I'll cover that one another time.

State of the Blog 2025

Blogging Year 17, here we go!  

I don't have any big changes planned for the coming blogging year.  The schedule will be the same...

Tuesdays: Family Adventures

Fridays: Star Trek

Occasional book posts

For Star Trek, it's onward with both Deep Space Nine and Voyager.  I should be well into Season 5 for the former and Season 3 for the latter by this time next year.  We have a movie coming up before long, too.

Family adventures will likely continue with the same themes: travel, food, film and games, more or less in that order of priority.  No big travel plans for this year but Spain/Morocco was far from a certainty twelve months ago so who knows?  I can virtually guarantee trips to Massachusetts, DC and Pennsylvania.  Beyond that, we'll see.

I am eternally grateful to those of you who stop by to read and engage.  As always, if any of you enjoys reading The Squid half as much as I enjoy writing it, we're all doing fine.  

Squiddies 2025

The Armchair Squid turns sixteen years old today.  It's time to hand out some hardware.  The Squiddy goes to...

Biggest Surprise: Casablanca

Morocco wasn't even the point of our late-February/early-March trip.  Royal Air Maroc had the best airfares for getting to Andalusia.  Why not extend what was already a long layover in Casablanca?  We could add another country - indeed, another continent - to our life lists.  Is Casablanca even that exciting a city?  According to the guidebooks and the websites, not really.  But if we're going to go at all, let's not spend half the time trying to get somewhere else.  Let's make the most of where the plane lands.

Well, wouldn't you know it.  Casablanca knocked our socks off.  No, it's not a tourist trap and that was perfectly fine after our more conventional adventures in Spain.  It's just a city where people go about their daily lives - people who let us walk in their midst for a while, mostly ignoring us, to be honest.  My friends, it was grand.  That's what real traveling is - not gawking but simply being.  Fly on the wall rather than sightseer.  No long lines.  No tour guides.  Just life.

I'd live there for years given the chance.  It's been a long time since I've felt that way about a place.

Biggest Disappointment: Trump's Second Term

Is disappointment even the right word?  Donald Trump's narcissistic lust for tyranny is not exactly a secret.  And yet, my country voted him back into the Presidency.  I guess that is my disappointment.  I'm still amazed and deeply discouraged that so many people aren't horrified by him.  They want this.  All of the bigotry, misogyny, contempt, incompetence, recklessness, dishonesty, crassness, arrogance, pettiness, the near-daily betrayals - they aren't dealbreakers.  Folks, that says a lot more about us than it does about him.  

And the feeble response of the Democrats in Congress has been appalling.

I fear for the present and the future.  Even if we can turn this around, the mess to clean up will be huge.  Plenty of the damage can never be entirely undone.

And that is what they want.

Best Read: Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge

We're living in interesting times.  It can be difficult to know what to say to people.  The Right is so... programmed.  They all watch the same news shows, visit the same websites, watch the same TikTok videos, stick to the same talking points as if they are gospel.  Even imagine they are gospel.  Even when they're in clear defiance of gospel.  

I'm veering off point.

If you're looking to make solid progressive arguments, Reni Eddo-Lodge's book is a great reference.  More importantly, it's an essential read for white people to better understand the racially-framed experiences of people of color.  Systemic racism is real whether you believe in it or not.  So is privilege.  The question is what you do with truth once it's presented to you.  

Thanks to my ex-pat time in Japan, I still have several British friends.  A few of them believe racial injustice is an American problem and not a British one.  I really want them to read this book.

You should, too.

Best Comics Find: Love and Rockets by Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez

via Wikipedia

I've been aggressively exploring the comic book medium for over a decade now and practically the instant my curiosity took me beyond Marvel and DC, I started hearing about Love and Rockets.  First launched in the early '80s, L&R is considered by many to be the most important and influential indy comic in the American industry.  I'd never read it until this summer.  Now I'm hooked.

Why is L&R so good?  The characters are so real you can practically smell them.  You experience their love, their pain, their shame, their thrills, their lusts, their losses because you are sitting next to them on the couch, feeling awkward as Maggie and Hopey start making out right in front of you, forgetting you're there.  It's the same reason Scorcese films are amazing.  These aren't strangers.  They're the young squatters in the house next door with sketchy friends stopping by all the time.  They occasionally ask you to buy beer for them because they're not old enough yet.  They're the rowdy group of young men talking too loudly in the street late at night outside your front door.  Or it's even closer.  You're in the street with them, annoyed by the stuffy old geezer who keeps telling you to shut up and go home.  

This intimacy is achieved so elegantly you don't notice until after you've been absorbed.  Every storytelling experience should be like this, yet it rarely is.  Without question, L&R is a masterpiece.

Athlete of the Year: Ichiro Suzuki

via Wikipedia

The Armchair Squid began life as a sports blog but I rarely return to the subject anymore.  Of the athletes I did mention over the past twelve months, no one had a better year than Ichiro Suzuki.

In late July, Ichiro became the first Japanese-born player to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.  Ichiro was simultaneously the greatest contact hitter, the greatest leadoff man, the greatest outfield arm and the most internationally beloved player of his generation.  Just one unbelievable stat of many: for ten consecutive seasons, Ichiro had at least 206 hits.  Ty Cobb can't claim that, nor Tony Gwynn, Wade Boggs, Rod Carew nor any of the other great contact hitters.  In fact, no one else has even come close.  Pete Rose also had ten seasons with 200+ but never more than three in a row.  Sports fans are forever talking about "records that will never be broken," then Alex Ovechkin surpasses Gretzky's once-unassailable career goals total.  I feel 100% safe saying that Ichiro's ten consecutive years with 206 hits or more is untouchable. 

During his career, there was discussion of whether Ichiro could truly be considered one of the all-time greats, having spent so much of his early career in Japan.  In the end, the Major League numbers alone were plenty: 3,089 hits, .311 lifetime batting average, 509 stolen bases, 10 All-Star Games, 10 Gold Gloves.  The years in Japan only pad the already sterling resume.  Without a doubt, he was one of the greatest athletes in American sports for nearly two decades.

Best Family Adventure: The Alhambra

The Alhambra in Granada, Spain was the main target for our aforementioned February/March trip.  The Alhambra, a UNESCO heritage site considered by many to be the most beautiful man-made structure in the world, has been at or near the top of my travel wish list for as long as I have known it existed, over 30 years.  With such high expectations, a let down is practically inevitable.  Even while we were there, I worried I wasn't doing enough to appreciate what I was seeing.

I needn't have worried.  The Alhambra is an experience that invades your soul.  Now, just a few months later, it feels like a dream.  Were we really there?  I remember our last day in Granada, already wistful over the fact that we had to leave.  Already thinking of how to make the most of the next visit, knowing full well it might never happen because life is like that.  

So, yeah.  I read all of that and it sure looks like I had a great year.

Apart from Trump.

Fuck Trump!

Star Trek: The Thaw

Episode: "The Thaw"

Series: Star Trek: Voyager

Season 2, Episode 23

Original Air Date: April 29, 1996

via Memory Alpha

Voyager happens upon what is initially presumed to be an abandoned planet.  Neelix identifies it as a former important trading colony and scans reveal evidence of an advanced civilization, but no life forms.  And then, they receive a hail.  Miraculously, a very small group survived 2.3 km below the surface in artificial hibernation.  The hail was an automated response (we've seen those before) as they are still asleep.  Our friends beam the hibernation pods to the ship in hopes of reviving the occupants.  Then the real fun begins.

In order to learn more, Kim and Torres enter the same hibernation state where the survivors have generated a shared dream scape to keep their minds active.  Unfortunately, the dream has turned to nightmare.  A tyrannical clown (Michael McKean) embodies all of the inhabitants' anxieties and he uses them to manipulate, terrorize and even kill.  Obviously, all must be rescued.

The set up is complicated for what evolves into a fairly straightforward hostage narrative.  Of course, it's Star Trek so the philosophical exploration behind it all makes the basic a lot more interesting.  Plus, Michael McKean is predictably outstanding.  It's difficult to imagine anyone else playing an evil clown so expertly.  With the zany characters, simple set and melange of striking colors, "The Thaw" has the look and feel of an original series installment.  Overall, it's strong, one of Season 2's best.

Acting Notes

via Disney Wiki

Michael McKean was born in New York City, October 17, 1947.  He holds a BFA from Carnegie Mellon and an MFA from NYU.  

McKean is one of the most recognizable television actors of his generation.  Never exactly an A-lister, he built his career as a top-notch comic character actor.  In 1976, he and his comedy partner David Lander were cast together in the Happy Days spin-off series Laverne & Shirley.  In fact, McKean and Lander had created their characters of Lenny and Squiggy while they were still in college.  Later, McKean was a company regular in several of Christopher Guest's mockumentaries, including This Is Spinal Tap, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind (for which he won a Grammy for the song of the same name) and For Your Consideration.  Over the years, he's made numerous appearances in highly regarded shows, including Better Call Saul, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Veep and The Good Place.  

McKean is the last surviving member of the Laverne & Shirley original principal cast.

via Wikipedia (McKean/Lenny bottom left)

On the Coffee Table: Love and Rockets

Title: Love and Rockets

- Maggie the Mechanic

- Heartbreak Soup

- The Girl from H.O.P.P.E.R.S.

Writers and Artists: Jaime Hernandez (for Maggie the Mechanic and The Girl from H.O.P.P.E.R.S.) and Gilbert Hernandez (for Heartbreak Soup)

via Amazon

In 1981, the Hernandez brothers - Gilbert, Jaime and Mario - self-published the first issue of Love and Rockets (L&R).  Many consider L&R to be not merely an independent comic but the independent comic.  Even 40+ years later, the American comic book industry is still dominated by the superheroes of the Marvel and DC universes.  Stories about "real life" are the rare exception.  Throw in the fact that L&R showcased Latinx characters in a medium that has always been white-dominated and queer characters long before they were fashionable in any medium and you have the seeds for something genuinely different.  

But of course, L&R is more than merely novel.  The quality of the work and the sophistication of the storytelling are astonishing.  This was my introduction.

L&R lives in two separate story threads (sometimes more) created independently by two different brothers.  Locas is Jaime's world.  Maggie and Hopey are friends and occasionally lovers.  They're both late-teenagers (out of high school but can't drink legally yet) in LA's punk scene.  Narrative perspective shifts freely in both worlds though, at least so far, most Locas stories follow Maggie, the saner, more relatable of the two.  There are low-grade sci-fi elements.  Maggie works occasionally as a space rocket mechanic, particularly in the beginning.  A couple of female professional wrestlers play prominent roles in some of the stories.  No, seriously.

via Amazon

Gil's characters live in Palomar, a fictional village in Central America.  While Locas is very good, Palomar is the real treat.  We follow the residents as they grow up together.  They develop deep friendships, they quarrel, they get each other pregnant, they marry and divorce, they even occasionally kill each other.  It's like a soap opera but better because the characters are fully dimensional.  You fall in love with one of them, then learn about their past sins.  You come to loathe one of them, then learn about their pain.  There's always more to the story.

via Amazon

In both threads, characters age, lose and gain weight, change hairstyles, etc.  They have believable insecurities.  In short, they're allowed plenty of room to be human.  Historically, the Hernandezes have earned a lot of praise for exhibiting a wide range of (relatively) realistic body types, especially for their female characters.  I would argue their portrayal of women is not without its shortcomings but it's still far better than what you'd see from their mainstream contemporaries.  

There's loads of nudity, violence, substance abuse, sex and so on.  So, L&R is not for little kids.  Teens and up are probably best, especially if they have a trusted adult to talk to about some of the rougher material.  While there are otherworldly elements, the power comes with the realism.  I can hardly wait for more. 

Squid Eats: Café Mamajuana

Caribbean restaurants seem to be on the rise in northwest Vermont, a welcome development by my reckoning.  The newest one for us is Café Mamajuana, a Dominican fusion place in Colchester.  We visited recently with friends and were most pleased.

I ordered the chicken and waffle empanada off the specials menu.  

As a big fan of soul food in general, fried chicken and waffles is practically an obligatory order for me when I see it.  I'm not sure how the waffles themselves factored into the dish - the description said they were in the empanada.  Wherever they were, the result was delicious.  I enthusiastically tried stuff off of other people's plates, too: my wife's La Canoa, a child's Tres Leches French Toast and salami from something.  All were good.

La Canoa

Café Mamajuana is only open 10-4, Wednesday to Saturday so the emphasis is brunch and lunch.  As for the "café," multiple coffee options and baked goods are all on offer.  We left with a couple doughnuts for the next day's breakfast, involving such exotic flavor choices as mango and guava.

Overall, it was a highly positive experience.  I'm sure we'll be back.  Sometime, I'd like to try the Poutine Dominica.

Star Trek: Shattered Mirror

Episode: "Shattered Mirror"

Series: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Season 4, Episode 20

Original Air Date: April 22, 1996

via Memory Beta

Garak episode!

Mirror Universe (MU) Jennifer comes to visit Real World (RW) Benjamin in his dimension.  RW Jake meets her for the first time and is naturally eager to get to know her.  Unfortunately, Jennifer's motives are not 100% pure.  The plan is to lure Jake back to the MU so RW Ben will follow and help the Terran rebels - now in control of Terok Nor - put the finishing touches on their own Defiant.

As previously discussed (here), I'm not a huge fan of the Mirror Universe.  The original series episode is amazing but the use of the MU in DS9 feels mostly unnecessary.  That said, following up on the "what if Jennifer had lived" angle from Jake's perspective is genuinely meaningful.  

"Shattered Mirror" also brings MU Worf into the story for the first time.  He's is a Regent for the Cardassian-Klingon Alliance and he arrives on the scene determined to take back the station.  He captures MU Garak, the only Alliance official to escape the rebellion alive.  The chemistry between the two characters is wonderful, reminding me the actors hadn't had much previous opportunity to play off of one another.  MU Worf, while clearly a bad guy, is just as obviously a happier Klingon than his RW counterpart.  No conflicted identity baggage.  Just a warrior.  It suits him.

Our child and I watched together virtually.  We were most amused by MU Dax and Bashir's '80s new wave hairstyles,

via Memory Beta

via Star Trek Expanded Universe

bringing this to mind:

Acting Notes

via Memory Alpha

Carlos Carrasco (a Klingon officer) was born in Panama City, April 5, 1948.  He attended Canal Zone Junior College where he discovered acting.  An instructor helped him get an acting scholarship to Stephens College in Missouri where he was one of eight male students at a predominantly women's college.  

Films include Crocodile Dundee II, The Return of Superfly and Speed.  Television credits include Hunter, Angel and Parks and Recreation.  "Shattered Mirror" was his second of four Trek appearances.

Squid Mixes: Southside Cocktail

A Southside Cocktail combines lemons, sugar, mint and gin.  The recipe I found in Gary Regan's The Joy of Mixology calls for four lemon wedges muddled with the other ingredients before shaking.  In muddling full wedges, you get a lot of peel which certainly enhanced the sharp tartness of the resulting beverage.  I enjoyed the drink quite a lot.  It's certainly sour - and pulpy - but the sugar and mint bring enough to take the edge off.

Worth noting, other recipes I've seen use limes instead of lemons.  

The drink's origins are unclear.  Is it the South Side of Chicago or the South Side Sportsmen's Club in Great River, New York?  The most colorful theory supports the former, suggesting it may have been a favorite of gangster Al Capone's.

Star Trek: Hard Time

Episode: "Hard Time"

Series: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Season 4, Episode 19

Original Air Date: April 15, 1996

via Memory Alpha

During a mission to Argathra, Chief O'Brien is falsely accused of espionage.  Unfortunately, Argathri justice is swift.  Before Starfleet can intervene, 20 years of prison memories are imbedded in O'Brien's brain and Doctor Bashir is unable to remove them.  Obviously, returning to "real life" after such an experience is brutally challenging.  

Star Trek's fascination with criminal procedures on other planets continues.  The closest precedent is Voyager's "Ex Post Facto" in which Tom Paris is forced to continually relive his supposed victim's final moments.  However, while the previous story focuses mostly on proving Tom's innocence, all of that is beside the point in O'Brien's situation.  Guilty or innocent, for the Chief, the damage is done - just like in the real world.  The difference makes for a far more poignant and compelling tale.

Worth noting: this episode came out only a year-and-a-half after Shawshank Redemption, a film which delves much deeper into the question of what prolonged prison life does to the human psyche.

Acting Notes

via Elm Street Wiki

Craig Wasson played the role of Ee'char, O'Brien's ill-fated cellmate.  Wasson was born in Ontario, Oregon, March 15, 1954.  He graduated from the University of Oregon.  His films include Body Double, Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors and Four Friends, which earned him a Golden Globe nomination.  Television credits include The Bob Newhart Show, M*A*S*H and Murder, She Wrote.  He's musically talented, too.  In The Boys in Company C, he wrote and performed "Here I Am (in Vietnam)" which became the movie's theme song.

On the Road: Pennsylvania and Maryland

I made my annual journey to the Tree Farm (see here) in Pennsylvania this past week.  I traveled on my own this year as both wife and child had to work.  So, it was just my parents and me in the cabin.

The Tree Farm doesn't change much from year to year but the people in the community do.  There was a new baby this year.  And, of course, there are those who have passed away since we were all last together.  The rest of us just get older.

Most of my visit was quiet and predictable but I did go on one side adventure to Camden Yards in order to see my favorite baseball team, the Baltimore Orioles.  It's a three-hour drive from the Tree Farm but still considerably closer that from home.  The Colorado Rockies were in town for a three-game series.

Those who follow Major League Baseball (MLB) already know it's been a horribly disappointing season for the O's.  With two consecutive playoff appearances and a young, talented player core, expectations were high for more of the same in 2025.  It hasn't worked out.  The injury list has defied belief and it has impacted every facet of the game.  Just one example: the O's have already used six catchers this year, tying a team record.  And we still have two months left to go.

So Sunday's tilt was a matchup between two bad teams.  As miserable as my Birds have been, the Rockies have been much worse: 30-81 as I write this on August 4th, by far the worst record in the big leagues.  Still, a game is a game.

Fortunately, the Orioles have been much improved over the past couple months and they won Sunday's game easily, 5-1.  Japanese right-hander Tomoyuki Sugano was the winning pitcher: a quality start with 8 Ks, 2 walks, 4 hits and 1 earned run over six innings.  Sugano, a highly decorated ace in Japan, has been a mixed bag in his first (and likely only) year in Baltimore but unlike nearly every other pitcher on the staff, he's stayed healthy.  So far.  It was nice to see him do well.

Sunday was a big day for Japanese baseball in general as Ichiro Suzuki became the first Japanese-born player to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York,

Watching a game between two bad teams in late July, the looming trade deadline means quite a lot of the players on the field will be in different uniforms within a few days.  Sure enough, five Orioles who played in the game I saw were gone by Thursday...

Cedric Mullins, CF, traded to the Mets

Ryan O'Hearn, 1B, Padres

Ramon Laureano, PH/RF, Padres

Andrew Kittredge, RP, Cubs

Seranthony Dominguez, RP, Blue Jays

Dominguez was also traded two days later between games of a doubleheader to the team in the opposite clubhouse.  Starting pitcher Charlie Morton was traded to the Tigers.  Utility infielder extraordinaire Ramon Urias was traded to the Astros.  

Eutaw Street

A mural devoted to pre-integration baseball

Oriole Park at Camden Yards is widely regarded as one of the most beautiful stadiums in MLB.  For a devoted fan such as myself, it also feels a bit like a museum with statues devoted to the Orioles' undeniable pantheon of six legends from the glory days.  You scoff?  The Orioles were the American League's dominant team from 1966-83.  Go ahead, check the numbers.  These six, each enshrined in Cooperstown and each with a retired number in Baltimore, were essential to that success:

Cal Ripken, Jr., shortstop, The Iron Man, now co-owner

Frank Robinson, outfielder, probably the single best player in franchise history.  Alas, he played more of his career with the Cincinnati Reds.  He was also the first black manager in the Majors.

Brooks Robinson, third baseman, The Human Vacuum Cleaner, 16 Gold Gloves - the most by a non-pitcher, widely considered the best fielding third baseman ever.  Worth a Google.

, 

Eddie Murray, first baseman, owner of the greatest sideburns in baseball history.  When I was old enough to start paying attention, he was the man.  "Eddie, Eddie, Eddie..."

Earl Weaver, manager

Jim Palmer, starting pitcher, Jockey underwear model, still one of the color commentators for the team