Paul Luvera Journal

The classic 1966 movie Faherheit 451 is based on the novel by Ray Bradbury and is being replayed in real life in Ashville, North Carolina. According to The American Trial Lawyer Magazine, the Amazing Grace Baptist Church held a book burning on Halloween. They decided they would burn "Satan's works" and burn the evil books no one should read. These books, however, included many Bibles that were not the King James Version (described as "Satan's Bible's"), books of "heretics" like Billy Graham, Mother Teresa and Catholic popes as well as many…

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The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is a book by Jean-Dominique Bauby of France which is very unique because Bauby "dictated" it while totally paralyzed with only the ability for some movement of his head and eyes. Bauby was the editor of the well known French magazine, Elle in December of 1995 when he suffered a massive stroke and went into a coma. When he came out of the coma he had a "locked in" syndrome – a poisoner within his own…

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Dad's mother Phyllis Filippa Luvera was born in Italy May 26, 1870 and died in Anacortes, Washington on December 20, 1946. Nonna Luvera spoke only a word or two of English and we children were not taught Italian so I only communicated with her through dad. She was a large woman – a typical Italian grandmother who always had Italian candy she offered us and who cooked great food. Nonno and Nonna lived in small house on Commercial Avenue, but…

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Pearl Harbor Day, December 7th, came and went with only a passing media reference to this historical day. World War II for the United States began on that date when a Japanese war fleet with planes and submarines launched a surprise attack on Hawaii the morning of December 7, 1941. The target was our naval base and war fleet at Pearl Harbor. Almost all of us who were alive at the time can remember the precise moment when we learned…

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Included in my daily meditations is a small little publication My Daily Breadpublished by RBC Ministries http://www.rbc.org/odb/odb.shtml. It has a very short comment for each day. For December 1st it had a discussion about selecting the perfect gift. The reading suggested we should give these gifts to others: The Gift of Listening No interrupting, no planning response. Just careful listening to another. The Gift of Affection Showing a loved one we do love them and appreciate them The Gift of Laughter…

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That's the title of an article by David Carr in the New York Times Digest. He talks about her twenty five year run through  day time talk TV as an huge accomplishment. After praising her wise moves that kept her on television that long he says: "…And now we can add in that she never hung on past her prime." What a great truth – not staying past your prime in anything. Her spokesman says this wasn't a business decision, "this…

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We are enjoying perfect weather at the One and Only Palmilla Resort in Los Cabos while reading about storms and approaching storms in the Northwest. This is the right way to get weather news about Northwest storms. We took a direct flight from Seattle and were driven directly to the hotel which is close to the airport. Our room has a large balcony over the beach. The waves make loud, but wonderful, sounds as they hit the rocks and beach….

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On our last day in New Orleans the weather was beautiful. Hurricane Ida had moved on to somewhere else and it turned out that we never did experience any bad weather. We had dinner at a steak house which was good, but not great. I never did get that wonderful seafood dinner I was looking forward to eating in New Orleans. On the taxi ride home I noticed a lot more people on Bourbon Street then there had been a night…

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Today is the anniversary of the death of an extraordinary man, my father, Paul Nicholas Luvera Sr. Born on March 25, 1898, he died in Anacortes, Washington on November 4, 1990 at the age of 92. Dad moved to Anacortes in 1918 and spent his life in the town. He was born in Reggio Calabria, Italy, the son of Niccola and Fillippa Luvera. In 1910 he emigrated to Coleman, Alberta where he and his father worked in coal mines until the family…

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