The Tribune editorial “In praise of Studs” was yet another splendid chronicle about the gentle man named Studs Terkel.
As a lad at Columbia College in Chicago more years ago than I wish to remember, I had the good fortune to be included in a class in which Studs was a guest lecturer.
He was a combination of the old man and the sea, Mr. Chips and that fellow named Smith who went to Washington.
Like a field of static sponges, students warily assembled, and then swiftly commenced to soak up the words and flavor of Studs as he filled the room with drama, lore and energy.
We were young and inexperienced, like rolls of raw, undeveloped film.
He challenged us to “run for your lives,” which was not to say man the lifeboats but, rather, produce a yield throughout each day we walk the planet.
His words, always measured and balanced, resembling a fine refined recipe that created beguiling inspiration.
Studs seems to look at life as a race against time.
He who could fit the most into the pursuit wins.
His success is measured by how much you can ring out of life by crafting the products upon which to live, outsized in his case, and in perpetual bloom.
The Titanic went down the year Studs was born. From that point of reference, the influencing waves of this man’s life continue to push ashore social responsibility for society to shoulder.
To this day the 93-year-old Studs Terkel Show continues to play in Chicago, and other very selected cities. Try to catch it if you can. It is, as they say, a limited engagement.
