This week I've been on a poetry search for some reason. Reading books of poetry. Some are new, but most are old. I admit that the ones I enjoy the most are not profound and are old friends from many readings ago. My friend from New Jersey, Dennis Donnelly sent me a poetry book with electic poems and I'm trying hard to learn to appreciate them as much as the old standby ones I know so well, but for now,…
Today is January 11, 2011 or, more significantly, 1/11/11 and we will have the time as 1/11/11 at 11:11:11. That’s produced a lot of strange interpretations including the prediction it is a sign for the return of aliens in UFO’s or the end of the world. On a more realistic level I see that Papa John’s is offering a second large pizza for 11 cents when you buy one for $11 and a New York hotel is offering a day…
I just finished Michael Caine’s latest book The Elephant to Hollywood recently and thought I'd share a couple of passages. The first deals with acting. The advice is directly applicable to trial lawyers like me. Too many lawyers "act like" someone instead of being totally authentic and genuine, but then, so do a lot of other people. Here's what he wrote. As a young actor in rehearsal he was playing the role of a drunk. He says he came "rolling onto…
Everyone of my generation recognizes the famous photo of U.S. Marines raising the American flag on Iowa Jima taken in World War II. The photograph was taken by Joe Rosenthal which shows five U.S. Marines and a U.S. Navy corpsman raising the flag during the battle of Iowa Jima. The photo was instantly famous and was reprinted thousands of times. It is probably the most reproduced photograph of all times. It was the only photograph to win the Pulitzer Prize…
I wish you all a very happy and peaceful 2011
Justice Antonin Scalia recent agreement to speak at the Tea Party Convention puts this controversial member of the U.S. Supreme court in the ethical spot light one more time. While there are ethics rules in place for lower federal court judges, there is no explicit code of ethics for the nine Supreme Court justices.He was appointed to the court in 1986. Since his appointment he has engaged in a continuous series of activities which call into question his awareness of…
I just came across this photograph taken in 1959. It makes me both smile and be proud. That's my dad, Paul Luvera, Sr. and my mother, Mary Luvera. We are standing on the steps of the Skagit County Superior Court house. I've just been sworn in by Judges Charles Stafford and Art Ward as a member of the Washington State Bar Association. I was presented to the court by Robin Welts and his son, David Welts, was presented by Alfred…
When I was a boy growing up there was no television. There was radio and the movies period. It was a time when you could find prizes in the breakfast food box or a coupon on the box to mail in for a special prize. Radio was the source of home entertainment. But, the radio was very special and a wonderful opening to a world of excitment and drama unlike anything television could provide because it involved the listener on a very personal level. You…
On March 9, 2008 I wrote about a unique man, Fred Hargesheimer, https://paulluverajournalonline.com/weblog/2008/03/an-inspiring-st.html He was P-38 fighter pilot in the Southwest Pacific who was on a photographic reconnaissance mission when the Japanese shot his plane down on June 5, 1943. Fred parachuted and ended up in the jungle. For some thirty one days he managed to barely survive when he was found by local natives who were hunting. They took him to their village and for seven months they nursed him…
