tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post2559942687985113678..comments2024-03-28T09:06:06.709-05:00Comments on Every goddamn day: 03/28/24: Not forgottenNeil Steinberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11468057838260476480noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-73742396952139360732017-12-14T15:47:01.192-06:002017-12-14T15:47:01.192-06:00What I remember from Working was the gent who swam...What I remember from Working was the gent who swam right through the Depression (and I don't think it was the Maxwell House guy), graduated from college, got a nice job, a lovely house, probably a better car that he would have been able to afford without the deflation of the 30s, and wasn't ashamed to state that he never noticed anything wrong all those years--everything was great for him. Studs didn't question his coldheartedness, just presented his version of the Depression as matter-of-factedly as the versions related by those who struggled to survive.<br /><br />john tatehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10088632798195131329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-15215336681186832492017-12-14T13:03:17.456-06:002017-12-14T13:03:17.456-06:00When Terkel won some major prize, a Pulitzer or so...When Terkel won some major prize, a Pulitzer or something like that, some critics/contemporaries/whatever got sniffish about how all he did was transcribe interviews. I think those people grossly underestimated how challenging it must have been to find those people, ask the right questions and edit the results.<br /><br />I'll never forget his cameo in "Eight Men Out," IMO the best sports movie ever, looking like an elf alongside the very tall John Sayles (who also wrote and directed).Bitter Scribehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04645909858616987997noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-37322847208177760592017-12-14T12:22:57.782-06:002017-12-14T12:22:57.782-06:00I think it was in Hard Times (perhaps in working, ...I think it was in Hard Times (perhaps in working, though) -- Studs had gone through a chapter or three of folks struggling to get by, folks with heartbreaking dignity facing ever worse situations, then he starts a chapter with an advertising guy who was given the Maxwell house account. The guy is honest, talking about how Maxwell House was a repository for coffee beans other companies turned down... but with radio ads, they were able to reposition it and charge twice as much as what competitors charged for better coffee. The ad guy was full of pride at this happening, and I suppose in certain contexts you can understand that pride... but Terkel masterfully placed it where it was in the book to start the comparison between the haves and have-nots. The haves have theirs through misdirection; the have-nots find that honest work and effort wasn't nearly enough.Billhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03634642987617262810noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-40920212813061609322017-12-14T12:12:34.700-06:002017-12-14T12:12:34.700-06:00Neil's second EGD poster warns "Life neve...Neil's second EGD poster warns "Life never becomes dull. We do." A fate that never overtook Studs, as far as I can tell. In keeping with one of *his* mottoes -- "Take it easy, but take it!," which my wife and I were fortunate enough to have him inscribe in our copy of "The Good War." Jakashnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-24388652615102481552017-12-14T12:00:59.817-06:002017-12-14T12:00:59.817-06:00Don't know how long he will be know to the rea...Don't know how long he will be know to the reading public, but I suspect Studs will remain a source for historians interested in period. Much like Henry Mayhew's mid 19th Century series "London Labor and the London Poor."<br /><br />TomTomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09641357239788323783noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-86990144454909957762017-12-14T09:45:13.608-06:002017-12-14T09:45:13.608-06:00Neil's interview with Studs resonates with hon...Neil's interview with Studs resonates with honesty. It might have been forgivable for him to exaggerate his own aplomb in the face of danger, but the truth was too important to him. <br />Thus too does his writing show his passion for truth, his willingness to let the facts speak, no matter how much they might hurt his personal feelings or his heartfelt ideology.<br /><br />johntatehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10088632798195131329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-69855491774723888672017-12-14T07:03:58.096-06:002017-12-14T07:03:58.096-06:00Studs Terkel - one of my all time heroes. Roy Moor...Studs Terkel - one of my all time heroes. Roy Moore, Donald Trump, and Dennis Hastert have been in the news this week. Thanks for mentioning Studs to provide a context regarding character and the political spectrum.Dennis Fisherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03936110563379328219noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-38013502479554843552017-12-14T04:51:51.215-06:002017-12-14T04:51:51.215-06:00Terkel. Another transplant who came to be synonymo...Terkel. Another transplant who came to be synonymous with Chicago. The Good War and Hard Times are wonderful chronicles of pivotal times in history seen through the eyes of ordinary and not so ordinary people. Great books.Paul Fedrickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04384556977324071639noreply@blogger.com