Barbara Norman,

I, too, am a WWII baby. I envy you - you got to meet Studs and his wife. What a remarkable person he was! He taught us that, even with our differences as individuals, we are all alike, warts and all, and we are all together in this boat of life. He was not just a great American, but a great citizen of the world.

Thanks!

The loss of Studs Terkel is on my mind. . .we (my husband and I) met him after he was awarded the annual Eugene V. Debs medal and spoke before the assembled thousand or so folks here in Terre Haute, Indiana.

He went to a house party because the Indiana State University Student Government president invited him. He brought his wife, Ida, with him.
Talk about powerful spirits. . .they both had witnessed history and been part of creating history.

Studs had written about the common man and used the words of these folks to create REAL people in his readers' minds. His influence and kindness knew no bounds.

Ida had worked in the streets of Chicago--some of that work at Hull House and later as one of the original New Deal social workers during the Great Depression and after. She was smart, sassy, and
her heart was HUGE!!

How fortunate we were to meet these people, to study their work and writings, and to catch some of their spirit.

Barack Obama followed in his footsteps as a penultimate "community organizer." How fortunate we are to have him and his wife and his children in our present lives. May we catch some of their spirit(s) as well.

Barbara Norman

I first read Terkel's "Working" as a 13 year old high school student, in Chicago.

His work was instrumental in helping me to see, (while still a kid, really), all people as unique individuals, from the cab driver, to the waitress, each life individual, their suffering, their story, their lifetime a book, one no more or less important than the next, all equal, whether a President, a Prime Minister, or a Press Operator.

The gift of insight and knowledge, from a writer, (and a social scientist), we are better for his work.

Please. Studs Terkel was one of those unrepentant New Dealers convinced that Joseph Stalin was just good old “Uncle Joe” and that the Soviet Union was a model for the world. His fossilized old mind was incapable of understanding that Marxism was a failure.

"History records dark ages followed by ages of revival, renewal or Renaissance."

History records, and eschatology figures in Judaism, of course, but the latter is more concerned with what we as humans can do to bring dark ages into the light--WE--not the deity.

Therefore, I cannot ask if this is going to be a new age, an age of light following darkness, but rather what I can do to usher in luminous days.

Very well written Eboo. For some people, we are witnessing a beginning to an new era in the 21st century. Others are extremely bitter than an old era is coming to an end. Some people are content just being part of the era at hand.

If you were to ask around, there are some who believe we are finally existing an age of False Enlightenment. Around the world, people have been taught to fear the Illumati. Yet, by name alone Illumanti bring things to light.

Now, this concept is not new. History records dark ages followed by ages of revival, renewal or Renaissance. There are sacred chapters of Christian and Muslim writings explaining the same deal. Those fearing the "end of the world" may just be fearing an end of an age and yet it's oh so tempting to play God, ain't it.

Studs Terkel was an amazing American. I've always wondered at the lack of antisemitism that came his way, until I learned that it wasn't entirely lacking. Still it was uncharacteristically under control for the US.

He was a decent man, a socially committed man. He will be greatly missed.

Eboo,

Thank you for a wonderful tribute to a great writer, a great man, a great American. Anyone who read something that Studs wrote was profoundly educated.

Unfortunately Studs Terkel lived long enough to "see" in no special order:

1) Assassination of Benazir Bhutto

2) 9/11, 3000 mostly US citizens kille, 1000’s injured

3) The 24/7 Sunni-Shiite centuries-old blood feud currently being carried out in Iraq, US Troops (3,385 combat 800 non-combat) and 88,373 – 96,466
Iraqi civilians, http://www.iraqbodycount.org/ and
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/casualty.pdf

4) Kenya- In Nairobi, about 212 people were killed and an estimated 4000 injured; in Dar es Salaam, the attack killed at least 11 and wounded 85.[2]

5) Bali-in 2002-killing 202 people, 164 of whom were foreign nationals, and 38 Indonesian citizens. A further 209 people were injured.

6) Bali in 2005- Twenty people were killed, and 129 people were injured by three bombers who killed themselves in the attacks.

7) Spain in 2004- killing 191 people and wounding 2,050.

8) UK in 2005- The bombings killed 52 commuters and the four radical Islamic suicide bombers, injured 700.

9. Saddam Hussien

10. The three axes of evil, Iran, North Korea and Iraq, beyond the axes of evil, Syria, Cuba and Libya and the WWII axis, Nazi Germany, Italy and the "empire" of Japan.

11. Northern Ireland blood baths.

12. Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols

13. The Jews, Palestinians and Arabs fighting/killing each over myths found in the two Worst Books Ever Written, i.e. the bible and the koran.

14. Eric Rudolph, Jim Jones, David Koresh, Kaczynski, the "nuns" from Rwanda, and the KKK

15. Islamic Sudan, Darfur and Somalia

16. The terror and torture of Muslims in Bosnia, Kosovo and Kuwait.

17. The Great Depression

18. WWI

19. The slaughter of one million womb-babies/yr for 35 years.

20. 19 million cases of STDs/yr.

21. a 50% divorce rate.

Dear undecided Voter,

Please vote.

In the final analysis this election has been fought on following emotional presumptions by the both campaigns.

1. Presidential Temperament.
2. Sound presidential Judgment.
3. Meaningful plans, policies, and positions'
4. Understanding and knowledge of workings in & around Washington.
5. Vigor, wisdom and vision" for the future of our beloved Great-grand Nation.
6. American Values, Virtues, Vastness, and Strong soul.
7. Fear & hope & future & past.
9. Culture unite and Culture Divide.
10.Tactics of tearing people down & showing past scars and Inspiring people up and fearing people away.
11. Restoring Global standing and threatening global dominance.
12. Building nation up all around and Scaring people away from the tickets.

As a Independent registered voter I have decided to vote for the Obama-Biden ticket. I am sure they will protect our national security, strengths, stamina and soul as well as rebuild our nation from the bottom up in all areas of need. The OBAMA-BIDEN ticket will restore our global standing with the use of maximum, firm international diplomacy and minimal force if and when necessary.

Yours sincerely,

COL. A.M. Khajawall [Ret] MD., Forensic psychiatrist, Colonel, US-AR
/ MC Combat Stress Control[Ret], Disabled American Veteran and Iraq
Freedom team.