Studs Terkel Will be Missed

by: jlarson

Sat Nov 01, 2008 at 04:49:26 AM CDT

At age 96, Studs Terkel died on Friday.  He became a national treasure and an icon of Chicago by chronicling the lives and struggles of regular folks.  He was a distinctly skilled interviewer.  He was a listener.  Many remember his WFMT radio show after which he signed off with his Woody Guthrie inspired line, "Take it easy, but take it."

I last saw him in person at a Chicago anti-invasion protest in October 2002.  He was sharp and feisty as he commented on Bush's distinct lack of wisdom about invading Iraq.  He spoke about how when George Bush prayed to God, God responded, "George, you're a dull boy!".  He praised the people there for using their minds and not following the hysteria.

At the same rally people heard a speech from a Chicago politician with a lot of B's and A's in his name.  We will miss Stud's commentary on the election if that politician wins on Tuesday.

Studs spoke at more than one of these rallies and similar content to what I heard is available here:

http://chicago.indymedia.org/local/webcast/uploads/metafiles/studs_terkelib4omk.mov 

I've heisted a couple of comments from Nuisance Industry's diary at dKos that I think people should have a look at.

An interview with Jon Stewart on the Daily Show. 

A comment from dsteffen:

   "I'm known around the block as a writer and broadcaster," Terkel tells me, "but also as that old guy who talks to himself. I never learnt to drive. Why should I have? The bus was there. So one day I'm on the corner alone, waiting for the 146. I'm talking to myself, finding the audience very appreciative. Then other people arrive; I talk to them too. This one couple ignore me completely. He's wearing Gucci shoes and carrying The Wall Street Journal. She's a looker. Neiman Marcus clothes. Vanity Fair under her arm. So I told them, 'Tomorrow is Labor Day: the holiday to ' honour the unions.' The guy gives me the kind of look Noël Coward might have given a bug on his sleeve. 'We despise unions.' I fix him with my glittering eye, like the Ancient Mariner, and I ask, 'How many hours do you work a day?' He tells me eight. 'How come you don't work 18 hours a day, like your great-grandparents?' He can't answer that. 'Because four men got hanged for you.' I explain that I'm referring to the Haymarket Affair, the union dispute here in Chicago in May 1886. The bus is late. I have him pinned against the mailbox. Then I say, 'How many days a week do you work?' He says five."

   Terkel laughs, and takes a sip of water. "I say: 'Five – oh, really? How come you don't work six and a half ?' He isn't sure. 'Because of the Memorial Day Massacre. These battles were fought, all for you.' I tell him about that massacre of workers, in Chicago, in 1937. He's never heard of these things before. She drops her Vanity Fair. I pick it up, being gallant. I am giving it to them now: the past. Because, like James Baldwin said, without the past, there is no present. The bus arrives. They leap in. I never see them again. But I'll bet... they live in an upscale condominium that faces the bus stop. I'll bet she looks down every morning, from the 20th floor, and he says: 'Is that old nut still down there?' And can you blame them?"

Studs Terkel: The World's Greatest Interviewer (The Independent)

Video from the Chicago Tribune summarizes his life.

It is hard to imagine a progressive politics in this country without him.  If you consider yourself progressive, Studs is required reading.