I want to unmask my true feelings about the Masking of America and how to get people to care enough for one another to be a little more considerate while walking outdoors.
Tag Archives: Reflections
Highlights of an early life recalled now
While I am still able to recall in some detail highlights of my early life before true adulthood, I decided to write them down for future generations and others who may want to commiserate with my adventures and misadventures.  Continue reading
Silence greets me with a rewarding note!
I meditated this morning and realized there were few, if any, sounds coming from the street outside my home. Traffic usually provides noise from cars and trucks as motorists make their way along the suburban road in Conshohocken, PA, some 14 miles outside of Philadelphia.  Continue reading
D-Day Paratrooper falls prey to Covid-19
An American hero has fallen to the Coronavirus, and the world may never see the likes of him ever again.
Ninety-eight-year-old George Shenkle, a card-carrying member of the “Greatest Generation,” took part in the invasion of Normandy more than 75 years ago, freeing our universe from the evil of the Nazis.
He served as a paratrooper with three combat jumps – including D-Day – and he also fought in the Battle of the Bulge – and got a Purple Heart in return for the wounds he received after hitting the ground and running into enemy fire and explosions.  Continue reading
Vietnam veteran recalls war 50 years ago
Today is Vietnam Veterans Day, and the Year 2020 marks the 50th anniversary of my deployment in the war zone. I was a 21-year-old second lieutenant placed in charge of a platoon of some 25 men, many of them still in their teenage years and drafted like I had been.  Continue reading
Stress taxing me for my new endeavor
Stress . . .
It is hitting me more and more lately, particularly since I decided to do my own taxes for the first time in my life and not pay out nearly $300 to have a professional do the work.  Continue reading
Tales from my ‘State Capital Adventures’
I once worked in the Pennsylvania State Government, meeting and writing a speech for the governor, and broadcasting a news story about a new group of buses being introduced to the Keystone State. Continue reading
Client didn’t die quick enough contempt
(Second of two posts — See first Contempt here)
I was kicked out of a Courtroom when I raised my voice to a judge who seemed to be favoring an assistant district attorney who wanted my client removed from hospice because he hadn’t died soon enough after I got him out of jail.  Continue reading
Contempt of Court Trials & Tribulations
- I was held in contempt by two different judges during my illustrious career as a defense attorney.  Continue reading
Grandkids can open you to new worlds!
“It’s snowing!” is what Phoenyx happily announced to the household as the nine-year-old made her way up to the third floor at 6:58 am this morning.  Continue reading
No ‘Pardon’ for any War Crime Criminals
I was so proud of the Secretary of the Navy for his resignation in protest of a hideous act to cover up the atrocities of those in the military charged with war crimes.  Continue reading
Contoveros Blog turns 10 years old today!
- It’s been 10 years since I wrote my first post for this “Contoveros Blogsite,” and looking back, I feel a little like Ken Burns, the producer of PBS specials on such things as war, music, and other all-American things. 
I started the Blog shortly after attending the funeral for my last surviving blood relative, Uncle Dominic Hagel, my mother’s brother, who, together with his wife, Aunt Frances, helped to raise me when sent from Philadelphia to Egg Harbor, NJ. My mother had postpartum depression after the birth, and I was sent to my grandmother, who shared her house with Uncle Dom.
Something clicked inside of me. I had just gotten help for PTSD from the Vietnam War and learned to meditate from a VA psychologist who taught veterans mindfulness meditation. I also finished a 6-week course of dream-journaling after reading about Psychologist Carl G Jung.
After meditating, I rose from the pew and stepped out as if I were going for Holy Communion. I walked backward and studied the various statues. Each had a story to tell, and I internalized that understanding and wanted to share my own story.
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On my return home, I began to write about what I was taught in second grade as the “purpose of life.” That is “To Know, Love and Serve God,” according to the Baltimore Catechism. I wrote about all three.
In between, I had a dream about Socrates and coupled it with what Jung called an “active imagination.” I saw people in my life as Angels or Guides who directed me in my path to include my teenage mentor who taught me to sing Doo Wop harmony, my oldest brother who guided me into Officer Candidate School and eventual service in the Vietnam War, and a Scottish neighbor of my parents who suggested I study journalism when he heard I took printing courses in the high school trade school I attended.
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I wrote about the war and PTSD, securing a not guilty verdict on my first jury trial and serving as a newspaper reporter covering Three Mile Island.
I shared my understanding of the Kabbalah and my journey to Jerusalem, my studies of WON Buddhism, and my trip to South Korea, and how I learned to dance a mean dervish whirl while learning about the Sufi and the Muslim faith.
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My total count is now 881 posts, something I never imagined I would reach way back then. I made so many good friends from all over the world to include Russia, Great Britain, Iceland, Greece, and Canada, not to mention my fellow countrymen and women.
It has been very therapeutic and enlightening, particularly when receiving comments from readers who shared my view and added to the discussion.
I hope I can continue for another 10 years and use the old Al Jolson line:
“You ain’t seen nuthin’ yet”
An Officer and a Gentleman Recalled
I was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant 50 years ago, and looking back, I see it as one of the greatest achievements of my life. Also, one of the luckiest ones, and I’m so glad to still be around to talk about it.
Yes, by an Act of Congress, I was made “An Officer & a Gentleman.” I don’t know where that title came from — Great Britain, I guess — but I tried to live up to its “ideal” while in the army, and later when discharged, which career paths I should follow in my life.  Continue reading
Seeing a Divine Hand in the Worst of Times
God Works in Mysterious Ways.
Put another way, the Universe will conspire to bring about what you really want and need in life, even though you may not know it when the Divine Intervention takes place.
Or even like it. The intervention that is. And on first blush, it may even seem bad, but you realize on reflection that it had to have happened for you to progress in life.  Continue reading
GI Bill to celebrate its 75th anniversary!
I would not have gone to college had it not been for the GI Bill, which is marking its 75th anniversary on June 22, 2019.
My father, who was born on a small Greek Island, never went beyond sixth grade. My mother, daughter of Hungarian refugees, was the first in her family to graduate from a high school in New Jersey.
And I had barely made it through Dobbin’s Tech, a trade school, having transferred from a Catholic high school after I got caught playing hooky and was ordered to go to summer school for religion. No one – including myself — saw college in my lifetime.
Continue reading
Court antics from young Abe Lincoln & me
I never realized I had anything in common with Abraham Lincoln until I re-watched a movie about the president’s early life as a trial attorney. Yes, Honest Abe served as a lawyer who once worked for the railroads as well as those charged with criminal offenses. Henry Fonda played a young Abe Lincoln in a classic movie on Turner Classic Movies in which the Springfield, Illinois, former rail-splitter pulled a stunt in a courtroom that convinced a jury to find his client not guilty of murder. A young man for whom Lincoln represented pro bono was charged with killing a man at night in a wooded area.
Continue readingConfession of a US Army dog-tag deserter
- I confess. I disobeyed orders when I marched into combat as a young man and I want to finally get it off my chest after all these years.  Continue reading
Blast from the past: the nuclear bomb desk
I will never forget my old wooden desk in grade school and the drills we held in order to protect us from a nuclear blast.
The nuns from St. Ludwig’s Catholic School ordered us to get out of our seats and to curl up beneath the desks where we practiced the silence of Benedictine monks. Someone had pulled down the shades over the wide windows of the second-floor room, and we sat for long minutes that felt like hours.  Continue reading
Dreams of a boy’s fun from a coonskin cap
He doesn’t play with me like he used to. I’d be the first thing he’d grab and put on his head when he went outside and pretend that he was Davy Crockett. A coonskin hat was meant for little boys and those wanting to be “King of the Wild Frontier.” But he has seen me less and less since that white plastic ball entered his life and got him swinging at it. Continue reading
All-time favorite car — 1957 Chevy Bel Air
The first car I ever owned was my All-time Favorite One.
“Surf Green” was the color of my 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air. I paid a whopping $300 for it when my barber offered it to me in 1967. I was working as a printer and had saved up enough money to pay him cash. Continue reading
August 22 — we’ll never forget Patty Ward
Patty Ward, a Specialist 4 with a helicopter gunship, was shot down 50 years ago while flying to the aid of US Army soldiers during the Vietnam War. He was one of four men who died when their helicopter was hit and crashed.
Patty was awarded the Silver Star for bravery in connection with helping to rescue other grunts wounded in another battle. His family in the Fairmount section of Philadelphia received the medal posthumously.  Continue reading
The ‘printer’s life’ for Ben Franklin and me!
“Here lies Ben Franklin — a printer.”
That is the message gracefully displayed at the gravesite of my favorite Founding Father in the City of Philadelphia. He was an ambassador to both England and France, as well as a signer of the Declaration of Independence and contributor to the US Constitution. He was also an inventor, a philosopher, and the creator of the first library, the first zoo, and the first fire company in the New World.
Continue reading
Closing argument opens me to trial by jury
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The best part of trying a case to a jury was always the last part which is known as the “Closing Argument.” 
Padre Pio’s miracle work seen at Barto, PA
Padre Pio has a close connection with Philadelphia because of a woman who called in a prayer to bring her sick child to see him in 1968, and the blessing he granted that led to her miracle cure just a few weeks before he died.  Continue reading
Memorial Day cries out for those who died
Memorial Day always brings back memories of the Vietnam War and one of the soldiers I served with who I called a friend and a true “comrade-in-arms.” He was Victor Lee Ellinger, a fellow who lived in Staunton, VA. He was shot and killed by an enemy sniper while leading a platoon some 50 miles outside of Saigon. Continue reading
Writing frees us up for past recollections
Writing has opened me to a world above and beyond my five senses and I feel like an H.G. Wells whenever I revisit the past and recall what life was like when I was fortunate enough to stop the world for a few brief moments and write about something. Continue reading
Name that Tune; Five of my Favorite Ones
Songs have a way of taking me back to a time of my life that provided milestones for the path leading me to where I am today.
We all have them, those cherished ones that we hold dear. Some of which may cause a tear to flow, a shit-eaten grin to form. I recently thought of five of ‘em and simply wanted to share them with “Old Folks at Home” who might also remember them.  Continue reading
Lucky pop left New York for Philadelphia
If it wasn’t for an intervention by an Italian crime boss, I don’t believe I would be here today.  Continue reading
Big Lebowski highlights veterans’ PTSD
The best example of PTSD ever portrayed in a movie was offered by John Goodman in “The Big Lebowski” when the character, a Vietnam veteran, pulls a gun on a fellow bowler and threatens to shoot him for crossing a line and attempting to enter a score in a book.  Continue reading
Father Koenig’s life lessons at St. Ludwig’s
Father Koenig put the gloves on me when I was ten years old and directed me toward the kid who was my same size but some two years older. That kid – Billy McLaughlin – kicked my butt. But I never cried or gave up as I swung wildly at him in an effort to land my own punches.  Continue reading
My Atticus Finch Moment in Philadelphia
She stared at me as I walked from the courtroom, and I felt her hate bore into me. Her whole posture seemed to drip with contempt, and what I could only feel at that moment was a curse from her whole being.  Continue reading
Off to Work — a message from the old ages
Messenger boy.
That was the title of my first job when I was 15 years old. Somebody from the old neighborhood got me hired in downtown Philadelphia, and I took the bus to get to work on weekends and after school days.
Joy often found in the direst situations
A steady drip from the faucet of my kitchen made my day today as I shouted “Halleluiah” during one of the worst snowstorms of my entire life.  Continue reading
Relieving the moment innocence is found
The most anxious-filled moments of my life occurred when a jury returned from its deliberation room and awaited the judge to ask for a verdict.  Continue reading
Remembering the scars you got as a kid
I remember . . . cutting the back of my hand while running beneath the boardwalk in Atlantic City. It is the earliest memory I can recall. I couldn’t have been any more than three or four and cannot for the life of me remember anything else I had done at that moment in time. Continue reading
Overcoming fear in the wild blue yonder!
It struck me as I slowly made my way from the floor of the plane and stood in the center of the walkway. There were at least 30 other soldiers on the C-140, a military aircraft that was flying over the field where those of us in jump school would soon be taking our first jump.  Continue reading
Grateful for Choosing the Veteran’s Way
I didn’t want to go to Vietnam. Who did back in 1968? I was never a gung-ho type of guy, even though I’d go a little berserk when a buddy of mine got attacked by some bully at home or in school.  Continue reading
Being born out of wedlock makes me what?
I was born Out of Wedlock.
That kind of makes me a Bastard!
Some have called me that, and I guess they knew more about my life than I ever did.  Continue reading
Laughing & writing about ‘off limits’ stuff
Laughter. It’s good to hear in most life situations. It can be contagious and cause people to drop their serious attitudes and see a lighter side of things.
You need it, particularly when times get tough. And if you hang out with the type of people who laugh a lot, you might even hear some gallows humor. You’ll find it among soldiers, cops, and nurses as well as ditch diggers, new priests, and first-aid workers.  Continue reading
‘Garrulous Greek’ recalls journalism gift
I display the pewter plaque prominently at my front door so that anyone leaving my house can see what has meant to me more than any awards I hang in my Feng Shui home. Continue reading
Love Beads cover my wicked cool protest
- “Wicked cool” is what I thought I’d be when I was 17 and was about to attend a Greek Orthodox wedding for one of my cousins in Queens, NY. I refused to wear a tie to go along with my suit. Instead, I put on “love beads.” You know, the ones that hippies were wearing in the 1960s. I was a hippie wannabe. I wanted to protest the institutional requirement to look one way when I wanted to express myself another way. That is, to be in love with everyone and to share that love with all for whom I was going to come into contact.  Continue reading
My Memorial Day recall — Third of June
“It was the Third of June, another sleepy . . . day . . .”
With that phrase starting one of most memorable country songs in the 196os, I began my life as a man, a soldier, and a leader of an infantry platoon in the Vietnam War.  Continue reading
Satsang opens world of ‘loving awareness’
I heard the word “Satsang” yesterday, and it reminded me of a journey I started a half a lifetime ago when I had hit rock bottom and sought answers to the meaning of life.
Satsang is a Sanskrit word that means “gathering together for the truth” or, more simply, “being with the truth.” According to sources from India, Truth is what is real, what truly exists. Continue reading
Art helps this kid appreciate all of his life!
- One of my playgrounds when I was growing up was the Philadelphia Museum of Art in the Fairmount section of the City of Brotherly Love.  Continue reading
Love overtakes this veteran in meditation
“Use me” I cried out to the Universe when visualizing myself spread out on a cross while meditating with a small group in the Chestnut Hill section of Philadelphia. Continue reading
Sleeping Again as if I’m still a Youngster!
I slept through the night last night.
To me, it’s a big deal for it is something I haven’t done in quite a while. You see, I have prostate problems. I got diagnosed with it while at the VA hospital, and I take medication every night, but no matter what I do, I still have to get up in the middle of the night and take a pee.  Continue reading
Five Jaunts remembered singing Doo Wop
I cannot recall the one and only time I saw myself perform on television with my singing group, even though it was one of the highlights of my life.
I sang bass for a Doo Wop group in the late 1960s as we appeared on the Super Lou Dance Show. We sang two songs, which were recorded by a film crew. The performance was taped in front of a live audience for Channel 29, a UHF Station with its studio at Old York Road in the Philadelphia suburb of Jenkintown. (Philadelphia had three UHF stations – Channels 17, 29, and 48.)
We auditioned for the show’s emcee at his Northeast Philadelphia home, and he agreed to performance a few weeks later. We purchased matching shirts like the one Seinfeld wore for his television appearance and we practiced two songs from our “Golden Oldies” repertoire.
Five Jaunts on the Super Lou Show
I remember walking onto the dance floor and staring at the bright lights that lit us up for the camera. My voice was the first one heard because I opened with a bass sound to start the Rock & Roll beat. I was advised later to remove my glasses because the lights shone too brightly and the reflection was distracting.
All went well with the show, and I’ll never forget Super Lou speaking to us at the end, stating my name as the “boom, boom” man! I couldn’t smile any brighter than I did at that wonderful moment. We sounded good, and I can tell you there is nothing more divine sounding than harmonizing in a group!
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We called ourselves The Five Jaunts. The night of our television appearance, we also “appeared” at a party held by Bob Palumbo in his mom’s house in the Brewerytown section of Philadelphia. I remember how a cute little redhead kept giving me the eye. I got my very own “groupie,” I thought, but failed to get her more interested in a more intimate relationship with me.
The problem is, however, I cannot remember seeing us sing on television. I have no memory whatsoever and I wonder today if I’m experiencing the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease. I simply can’t recall the television viewing even though I can remember the performance.
I do have lots of memories of singing together, and I am so grateful that someone made a copy of our television appearance. While you can’t see us perform, you can at least listen to The Five Jaunts. Give a listen here:
(Only the second selection works. Sorry . . .)
(For another story of the Five Jaunts, check this out: The Five Jaunts.)
100 nations visited the Contoveros site
Someone from 100 different countries has viewed this site and my flag counter can attest to the number of nations represented here.
I started to write a Blog some seven years ago and hooked up with a link that not only counted the number of persons viewing Contoveros, but determined which country that person was from. I placed the flag counter at the top of my Blog so that anyone — including myself — could readily see it on linking into Contoveros. It’s at my home site.
(See Flag Counter for the latest count. Trinidad is the latest country added to my list!)  Continue reading
Giggling at somber times can enlighten you
Alexander giggled like a schoolboy as 40 of us gathered for a service on Sunday and quietly attempted to meditate for about 30 minutes.
Wait a minute. He is a schoolboy. Alexander was just 14 years old yesterday when he attended the Tibetan Buddhist Center of Philadelphia with his mother. I was sitting next to the youth, and about halfway through the gathering, a sound erupted from the other side of the room. It sounds like someone adjusting a metal chair on the wooden floor, but to a young mind like that of Alexander, it also sounded like someone farting.  Continue reading
Meditation starts as you travel through life
I learned to meditate more easily while riding on a train.
I had tried sitting mediation alone and with others, but was successful only once, and I really don’t know what I was doing. I was following a guru – a 15-year-old teacher from India — before I had turned 30, and I mingled with aspirants in an ashram in Philadelphia. I never touched Nirvana or reached the level that others seemed to rise to. Continue reading
Resolve: never let a kid dream of war again
I could die really cool when I was a kid.
I’d pretend that I was a soldier on a mission with a rifle in my hands as I made my way through enemy territory. I’d carry a tree limb most of the time and walk through pathways in a jungle we called Fairmount Park.  Continue reading
Obit-writing to lead off a brand new year
I don’t think my son knows enough about me to write a good obituary. And so, for 2017, I hope to sit down and look back on my life and offer highlights to appear in the Philadelphia Inquirer if it should still be publishing years from now.  Continue reading
Tootsie Roll Pops Always Made Me Smile
Chocolate was my favorite flavor Tootsie Roll Pop. Cherry was my second. I don’t remember the first time I licked one. I must have gotten the candy at age five or six years old. Continue reading
Seeing the real world created for you & me
Want to change the way you see?
Close your eyes. Take three full breaths.
Visualize a loving moment.
Stretch out the feeling.
Extend that feeling to the entire world when you open your eyes.
Do it until you do it!
– a student of Losang Samten. Tibetan Buddhist Monk
Freedom arises as my ego desires dissipate
Meditation reflections help heal the worst
Reflections opened a new world of understanding today. Years after a traumatic event, I can look back and see things in a totally different and healing fashion.
I couldn’t do it when the shit was happening. It hurt too much.
Even five or ten years after the trauma, I’d get sweaty palms and a sped-up heartbeat when thinking about the worst day of my life. I couldn’t dwell for too long without having to relive the God-awful experience.  Continue reading
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