Welcome to Spirit Expressing with Rev. Ed Townley

Studs Terkel has left the building, and things already feel a bit less exciting, less vibrant, less filled with hope and possibility. It’s hard to mourn for Studs – he leaves after a long life, richly lived, filled with passion and accomplishment. It’s easy, however, to mourn for us – to mourn the tangible absence of a unique light, a boundless energy that made the rest of us feel more alive by its very presence on the planet.

I was a fan of Studs Terkel’s work long before I met the man. Division Street, Hard Times, The Good War, Working – I read them all and fell in love, as he had, with each and every plain-spoken man and woman with a story to tell and a life lesson to impart. If Studs didn’t create the literary form we now call oral history, he certainly raised it to new heights.

And then one day my phone rang, and a voice I recognized from many years of listening to WFMT in Chicago said “Hey, Ed, this is Studs. Studs Terkel. I hear you have quite a story, and I’d like to hear it.”And as simply as that, like so many before me and so many since, I was drawn into the rich, dizzying world that Studs created around himself through the sheer force of his personality, and his many passions.

The phone call led to the first of many evenings spent sitting at Studs’ kitchen table. He was investigating the nature of life and death for the book that became Will the Circle Be Unbroken?. (Studs Terkel never bothered with little questions.) I had talked publicly about my own experience of life beyond death, and he wanted to know more about it. A lot more about it.

Here’s the thing: Studs was absolutely the best listener I’ve ever met in my life. At first, as he made tea, tinkered with the two-bit tape recorder he insisted on using and began with some prepared questions, there was a bit of formality to the occasion. But it disappeared pretty quickly, and I found the conversation roaming far from the stated topic to encompass pretty much all of life.

From that beginning we became good friends. That’s hardly a grandiose statement; I think Studs became good friends with pretty much everyone he ever met. Still, if I’m ever asked to justify the way I’ve lived my life, I will happily claim the fact that I was Studs Terkel’s friend as proof positive that I must have done something right.

We shared some surprising adventures. When the American Psychiatric Association gave him their Lifetime Achievement Award, he asked if I could accompany him and deliver an invocation (A prayer! In front of hundreds of psychiatrists!). They said yes, of course, and so I did. When the Chicago Film Critics honored him at their annual awards dinner, he asked if I could introduce him. They said yes, of course, and so I did.In the process of these and other evenings, I met many of the people who loved being part of Studs’ world. And in the process, I heard the stories.

The stories! Lord, could the man tell stories! And what a rich life he had to draw stories from – actor, community organizer, political activist, radio personality, host of one of the earliest live television interview shows, award-winning author and – through it all – a one-man embodiment of the unique energy that is Chicago.

Studs got pretty absent-minded at times about the present, but his memory of the past was impeccably clear and detailed. I think he remembered the name and story of everyone he ever interviewed for his many books. And every guest on every show, and what they talked about and who said what and where they went for drinks after and who they ran into there and what happened next. Politicians, world leaders, artists of all sorts, and especially passionate and committed visionaries who marched and picketed and went to jail to help create a better world – Studs knew them all. It was a privilege to simply sit and listen.

Our paths diverged in recent years, but his impact on my life never lessened. If I find myself depressed by the state of the world, or overwhelmed by a need to take action, or just “weary of it all,” I hear his voice saying “Kid, you only live once. Don’t just sit there! Make the most of it! And if you see something wrong, speak up!” He certainly did, right up to the end – caring, explaining, remembering, writing – after even his own senses began to give out in sheer exhaustion from trying to keep up.

Studs loved life, and he loved people. He saw everyone he ever interviewed as a ‘hero’ in the great story of humanity that is always unfolding around and through us. He often introduced me that way – “This is my friend Ed. He’s one of the heroes.” – and it always made me uncomfortable. But I guess if anyone had ever earned the right to recognize and name the heroes in the world, it would be Studs Terkel. He was my hero, for sure, and always will be.

Before his wife’s death, Studs told me shortly after we first met, he considered himself an agnostic on his best days, and he was convinced that everything about us ends with death. After Ida died, he wasn’t so sure. He felt – he knew – that something of her was living on, and it confused him. Not surprisingly, he turned his confusion into a book – Will the Circle Be Unbroken?. And he really enjoyed discussing my own understanding that life is eternal and death an illusion – that we are in essence spiritual beings moving through a human life experience, but that we cannot be confined within its apparent limits.

“Well, kid,” he said one day as we sat again at that kitchen table, “I guess I’ll know soon enough!” Now he knows. And I would give anything for just one more conversation! I want to pick up the phone and hear that familiar, raspy voice saying, “Hey, kid, it’s Studs. You were right!”

Here are two videos that show the spirit of Studs.

Studs on a Soapbox (part 1)

Studs on a Soapbox (part 2)

More Tributes to and Nuggets of Wisdom from Studs Terkel

Roger Ebert - How Studs Helps Me Lead My Life

Studs Terkel on The Daily Show

Christian Science Monitor - The Life and Work of Studs Terkel

Edward Lifson - Here's to You Studs Terkel

The Gospel According to Studs - Real Player Audio

Speaking of Faith with Krista Tippett - Studs Terkel on Work, Life, & Death - Real Player Audio

If Liz Were Queen - A Tribute to Louis "Studs" Terkel

WFMU's Beware of the Blog - Studs Terkel 1912-2008 - Wonderful compilation of radio broadcasts

Cynthia Littleton - Variety - Studs Terkel: Fanfare for the Common Man