The Art of Conversation

May 17, 2018 10:01 AM

The Studs Terkel Radio Archive collects decades of work from Chicago journalist and interviewer Studs Terkel as he addressed some of 20th Century America’s most pressing issues and concerns Notable topics include - Work, labor and economy, LGBTQ Culture & Rights, The Great Depression, Race Relations, and More

Studs Terkel Archive Previously

posted by The Whelk (6 comments total)

Well, there goes my weekend.

I absolutely loved Studs Terkel and I miss him. I read my parents’ copy of Working when I was in my early teens and I never looked back—I own every one of his books and they’re all on their own special shelf.

I was lucky enough to see him live at an author signing a couple of years before he died and his hearing was going, his voice was weak, and he used a cane, but he was still witty and sharp and feisty, and that evening is a really nice memory.
posted by bookmammal at 11:27 AM on May 17, 2018 [2 favorites]

I saw this and squee'ed.

I plan to snarf down a bunch of them to listen to on my commute, like this one: Studs discusses the changing role accents play on class distinctions in England with guests in the parlor of the Mayor in Stratford-upon-Avon ; part 2.
posted by wenestvedt at 12:02 PM on May 17, 2018 [1 favorite]

I think only Terri Gross is on par with Studs Terkel as a radio interviewer. I used to listen to him frequently on WFMT. Somehow I associate the end of that period with my discovery of Frsh Air and Miss G.
posted by hwestiii at 6:09 PM on May 17, 2018

I saw this and squee'ed.

Me, too! Here’s what I wrote on Facebook just now: WOW! Before there was podcasters, there was Chicago’s radio treasure, Studs Terkel. And now, audio archives of 1200+ conversations from 45 years of storytelling and conversations are online and available for free.

——-

Now, if only Milt Rosenberg’s estste would put his complete audio archive online for free, too, I’d be in intellectual nirvana.
posted by zooropa at 10:08 PM on May 17, 2018

I listened to one of Studs' conversations with Buckminster Fuller while working on dinner yesterday and a couple things struck me.

First, it was so freaking refreshing to hear people be permitted to wind themselves out for whole minutes without interruption in order to completely express a complex thought.
Second, it was even more incredibly refreshing to hear somebody speak about the future with optimism.

Neither of these seem to exist any more. Even the nominally-intellectual end of Public Radio is dominated by the TAL ethos of the 45 second beat.
posted by ardgedee at 3:23 AM on May 18, 2018

"I glanced at his head and it was such a mess up there, I just had to turn away. I started at his feet. I knew certain characteristics about him. I knew how his knees looked. I knew how his ankles and feet looked. I made my trip from his feet up to his midsection, identifying what I could.

"And then I saw this long tongue hanging out of his mouth. What on earth? They were looking for me to fall out, and I told them, 'Turn me loose. I've got a job to do.' I said, 'I can't faint now.' I began a real minute examination. I looked at his teeth, and there were only about four of them left. He had such beautiful teeth. I moved on up to the nose. And it looked like somebody had taken a meat cleaver and had just chopped the bridge of his nose. Pieces had fallen out. When I went to look at his eyes, this one was lying on his cheek. But I saw the color of it. I said, 'That's my son's eye.' I looked over at the other and it was as if somebody had taken a nut picker and just picked it out. There was no eye. I went to examine his ears. If you'll notice, my ears are detached from my face and they kind of curl on the end. And his did too. There was no ear. It was gone. I was looking up the side of his face and I could see daylight on the other side. I said, 'Oh, my God.' The tears were falling and I was brushing tears away because I had to see.

"Later, I was reading the Scriptures. And it told how Jesus had been led from judgment hall to judgment hall all night long. How he had been beaten. And so much that no man would ever sustain the horror of his beating. That his face was just in ribbons. And I thought about it and I said, 'Lord, do you mean to tell me that Emmett's beating did not equal the one that was given to Jesus?' And I said, 'My God, what must Jesus have suffered?'

"And then I thought about some of the pictures we see, where he had this neat little crown of thorns and you see a few rivulets of blood coming down. But his face is intact. And according to Scriptures, that is not true. His visage was scarred more than any other man's had ever been or will be.

"And that's when I really was able to assess what Jesus had given for us, the love he had for us.

"And I saw Emmett and his scars. Lord, I saw the stigmata of Jesus. The spirit spoke to me plainly as I'm talking to you now. Jesus had come and died that we might have a right to eternal life or eternal hell or damnation. Emmett had died that men might have freedom here on earth. That we might have a right to life.

As yet unfound in this archive: Studs Terkel and Mamie Till Mobley (1955).

I heard a repeat of the original of this fifteen odd years ago. I will never forget it..
posted by y2karl at 8:18 AM on May 18, 2018 [1 favorite]