E-mail:
Jack Balkin: jackbalkin at yahoo.com
Bruce Ackerman bruce.ackerman at yale.edu
Ian Ayres ian.ayres at yale.edu
Corey Brettschneider corey_brettschneider at brown.edu
Mary Dudziak mary.l.dudziak at emory.edu
Joey Fishkin joey.fishkin at gmail.com
Heather Gerken heather.gerken at yale.edu
Abbe Gluck abbe.gluck at yale.edu
Mark Graber mgraber at law.umaryland.edu
Stephen Griffin sgriffin at tulane.edu
Jonathan Hafetz jonathan.hafetz at shu.edu
Jeremy Kessler jkessler at law.columbia.edu
Andrew Koppelman akoppelman at law.northwestern.edu
Marty Lederman msl46 at law.georgetown.edu
Sanford Levinson slevinson at law.utexas.edu
David Luban david.luban at gmail.com
Gerard Magliocca gmaglioc at iupui.edu
Jason Mazzone mazzonej at illinois.edu
Linda McClain lmcclain at bu.edu
John Mikhail mikhail at law.georgetown.edu
Frank Pasquale pasquale.frank at gmail.com
Nate Persily npersily at gmail.com
Michael Stokes Paulsen michaelstokespaulsen at gmail.com
Deborah Pearlstein dpearlst at yu.edu
Rick Pildes rick.pildes at nyu.edu
David Pozen dpozen at law.columbia.edu
Richard Primus raprimus at umich.edu
K. Sabeel Rahmansabeel.rahman at brooklaw.edu
Alice Ristroph alice.ristroph at shu.edu
Neil Siegel siegel at law.duke.edu
David Super david.super at law.georgetown.edu
Brian Tamanaha btamanaha at wulaw.wustl.edu
Nelson Tebbe nelson.tebbe at brooklaw.edu
Mark Tushnet mtushnet at law.harvard.edu
Adam Winkler winkler at ucla.edu
For his oral histories, Terkel interviewed his subjects on tape, then transcribed and sifted. ''What first comes out of an interview are tons of ore; you have to get that gold dust in your hands,'' he wrote in his memoir. ''Now, how does it become a necklace or a ring or a gold watch? You have to get the form; you have to mold the gold dust.''
One thing I never knew: Terkel was a graduate of the University of Chicago Law School. According to the Trib,
He never practiced law. Instead, he took a job in a federally sponsored statistical project with the Federal Emergency Rehabilitation Administration, one of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's "New Deal'' agencies. Then he found a spot in a writers project with the Works Progress Administration, writing plays and developing his acting skills.
Recordings from Terkel's radio programs and oral history interviews are here.
"This book, being about work, is, by its very nature, about violence---to the spirit as well as to the body. It is about ulcers as well as accidents, about shouting matches as well as fistfights, about nervous breakdowns as well as kicking the dog around. It is, above all (or beneath all), about daily humiliations. To survive the day is triumph enough for the walking wounded among the great many of us."
From introduction to Working.
I've thought about these lines many, many times . . .
While it's a little wrong to say that its sad Mr. Terkel passed away, given his amazing century-long life, it really is sad day.
As I approached retirement, I offered voluntary time to my local public high school for an after school course on what a lawyer does so that the young students would get an idea of what an attorney actually does, and expanding the course to include Studs Terkel's "Working ... " for contrast. The response was in effect "Thanks but no thanks." I'm sure Terkel's "Working ... " inspired many to further pursue their educations to get out of dead end jobs. Studs was a mensch.
Working was and remains a real eye-opener. It showed dead end jobs. It also showed jobs that were well compensated yet daily death.
It showed people qualified for better jobs but excluded from them. It showed that some people are perfectly satisfied with jobs that might bore me to tears. It showed that some jobs are just shit. It showed that many jobs are, but didn't have to be.
It showed people making the best of their jobs and people making the worst of them. It showed people in denial about work life and people in touch with the reality for better or worse.
Perhaps most of all, it showed the few who have control over their work life and the many who have little control.
I have a copy of Hard Times on my nightstand as we speak. On several occasions, my family has dined next to Studs Terkel in Chicago family restaurants.
People in my profession have a lot of trouble with the idea of the "authentic," but there was an aura of the authentic that surrounded the man. He will definitely be missed.