Studs Terkel, dead at 96
- Chicago Tribune
- New York Times
- An interview Terkel did for In These Times last year
I started reading Studs Terkels' "Working" this summer after buying it at Myopic Books in Wicker Park. I was reading it up until the day I left for the Republican National Convention in Minnesota; I got there on Friday and was arrested on Monday. After going through processing for hours, I was taken to my cell block, where we had a book cart--a cart which, I later discovered, none of the other cell blocks had. It was mostly stuff I (and most other adults) had no interest in reading--"Chronicles of Narnia," things like that--but after scanning for a few minutes, I found an old paperback copy of "Working." I was shocked--what were the chances that the book i had been reading for weeks would present itself to me immediately my first day in jail? I took it back to my cell and began reading it. Immediately, I was struck by what i was reading--the interviewees were incredibly fascinating characters, all with such astute analyses of their everyday work lives and the things that got them through their day. We were on 23-hour lockdown in our cells, so I didn't have much to do besides read Terkel. For two days, I read "Working" until I could read no more; I'd take a break for a few hours, then start reading again. It would've been two very boring days had that book not been sitting there on the cart. Thanks, Studs.
No comments:
Post a Comment