If Liz were Queen

95 year old Terkel at a 2007 rally promoting universal health care

Studs Terkel was vital and alive up to the moment he died.  He saw it all.  Studs was among the writers who were blacklisted from working in television during the McCarthy era.  “I know the harm of government using private corporations to intrude into the lives of innocent Americans.”  On May 22, 2006 Terkel along with other plaintiffs filed a suit in federal district court against AT&T to stop the telecommunications carrier from giving customer telephone records to the National Security Agency without a court order.

Studs died peacefully in his Chicago home yesterday at the age of ninety-six.  For me, the greatest gift that Studs Terkel brought to the world was to teach us about the value of listening.  Studs believed that when we listen to another, that our very act of listening bestows dignity on that person.  I too believe that is true.  Listening is a gift–both the act of as well as the ability to listen in the first place.

Here is one of my favorite Terkel quotes:

“I’ve always felt, in all my books, that there’s a deep decency in the American people and a native intelligence—providing they have the facts, providing they have the information.”

ON HIS WRITING

Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression (1970) is perhaps Terkel’ most famous book.

If you are not familiar with his work, this link to a WIKI synopsis will likely shed light on Terkel, his favorite topic and his style:  Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do (1974).

He was a prolific writer, and in his 96th year, he produced his final work:  P.S. Further Thoughts From a Lifetime of Listening (2008)

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John Nichols in The NATION has a nice commentary on Terkel titled:  The Grand Immoderation of Studs Terkel

I agree wholeheartedly with this passage from John’s piece:  ” . . . In particular, the man [Studs] who well  recalled the first 100 days of Franklin Roosevelt’s presidency wanted to make sure that Obama was pressedto promote a new New Deal.

“I’d ask Obama, do you plan to follow up on the program of the New Deal of FDR? I’d tell him, ‘Don’t fool around on a few issues, such as health care. We’ve got bigger work to do! Read FDR’s second inaugural address!’” he told a Chicago reporter. “The free market has to be regulated. And the New Deal did that and they provided jobs. The government has to. The WPA provided jobs. We have got to get back to that. We need more reg-u-la-tion.”

The truth is that we need more Studs Terkels. . .”

Ahh if only there were more of him.  Indeed!  Our world would be a better place.

Here is a great interview with Studs.  It is interesting to listen to him talk and tell his stories about people.