Talking to Myself: A Memoir of My Times

Studs Terkel's passing leaves a large gap in our ability to understand each other. He was able to get past all the usual barriers to communication, with his old tape recorder on he would get to the heart of what all kinds of people were feeling and thinking. This book is a treasure to read. This is a stream of consciousness account of an amazing life with interactions with the people he met and talked with along the way. One of my favorite accounts was when Studs began a conversation with a waiter who has just been scared to death by a customer's dog. "In despair, the waiter catches my eye. I shrug my shoulders, my hands raised imploringly toward the heavens. He does likewise. He tells me the story of his life. I know it, thought I don't understand a word. I interrupt the first sequence after four minutes of it. 'Scusi, per favore,'I say. I explain to my wife. 'You see, he has four kids. He works like a dog. Why must he daily suffer all these humiliations.' My wife sighs. She has been through this before. Often, she has threatened to tell my sudden companions of my fraudulence. But it isn't fraudulent, I insist. That's what he told me, I KNOW. The waiter, feeling better, now that he has someone to tell his troubles to, continues......." People felt listened to by Studs Terkel and he honored that trust by telling their stories to all of us so that we might listen and learn too.