1. Among my favorite kinds of books to read are ones that focus on a specific person (like Gary Gilmore, in Norman Mailer's The Executioner's Song) or one specific event (like Spokane's Expo '74) and the focus or the book is a microcosm of the USA and the many issues that face us day to day.
As I read more of the book The Fair and the Falls today, many of our ongoing conflicts as a country continued to emerge in the Expo '74 story.
As is always the case, conflicts arose over taxation, industry in relation to environmental concerns, whether Expo 74 was going far enough in representing its ecological theme or whether the exposition was going too far, did stakeholders like local Native American tribes or environmental organizations have a meaningful voice in the planning and execution of the World's Fair, was urban renewal going to trigger local population growth -- in other words, was the number of outsiders going to increase? --, would an increase in outsiders mean more crime, a higher cost of living, and a degradation of the Spokane people felt they already knew and loved?
Sound familiar?
What was, is.
The history of Expo '74 gives those interested an insightful look at what always has been and continues to be our chief societal and political concerns as residents of the USA, a keen insight into what divides us and occasionally what unites us.
2. My movement as I glided around the house today continued to be freer as my lower back continues to loosen up.
This is great news.
3. With my back loosening up, I felt kind of frisky in the kitchen tonight. I had thawed a package of boneless pork chops and I had fun preparing them. I scrambled a couple eggs in flat bowl and dipped each chop in the eggs and then, in another bowl, I poured the rest of our panko and the chops were ready to fry once covered with egg and panko.
In a small bowl, I mixed sour cream, a little water, crushed garlic, salt, pepper, and a packet of some kind of hot sauce and made a topping for the meat.
In another pan, I fried red onion, chopped potato, chopped red pepper, and mushroom slices.
Panko breaded pork chops.
An improvised sauce.
Pan-fried vegetables.
Pretty tough to beat!
A delicious simple meal.
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