Happy 95th Birthday Studs Terkel!

Whenever anyone asks me, "If you could meet anyone in the world, who would it be?" I ALWAYS have answered Studs Terkel. The closest I ever came was hearing your speech at the American Library Association meeting several years. Keep the truth alive!!

Happy Birthday to a true giant!! I am currently fascinated by your book, Will the Circle Be Unbroken.In it, you speak with Kurt Vonnegut, another absolutely real literary voice.He has passed on, and you're seeing your 95th birthday.The circle is strong, and remains unbroken.Thank You so much for putting your irreplaceable perspective into print!!Happy Birthday!!

Happy Birthday, Studs! My Father celebrated his 95th May 14th! He is a repository of the history of the last century. I wish you could meet him to talk together so that his knowledge would not be lost to the future. He is a firebrand democrat! You have followed different paths, but are true patriots with much in common. 
Sincere wishes that you will achieve 100 Years! We need your voice! 
Loretta Horn

People sharing with people.  
Human equality. 
You made a difference!

Studs, in 1969 while chatting with you to on the way to my office at 500 N. Michigan was always a delight!Happy Birthday!

Thank you for many hours of delightful reading. If I could be a writer I would want to be you!

I am so happy to have the oppurtunity to wish you a very happy birthday. May you live forever!

Happy Birthday, Mr. Terkel. Since my college days, I've been inspired by your ability to capture the meanings of history more dramatically than anyone else. Forgetfulness is, indeed, our greatest enemy -- with the possible exception of disdain. Your profound respect for others was perfectly summarized in your recent interview, when -- asked how you'd like for people to remember you -- you answered, "As someone who remembered them." What a marvelous example you've set for us all. Thank you.

Thanks for helping us all cut through the fluff and keeping it real. You hold up a mirror that many more people need to see.

Happy Birthday my dear sir. I just got to listen to you on the Democracy Now podcast and it was so good to hear your voice and thoughts again. I treasure your perspective and I thank you for sharing your thoughts. It is truly a better world for having you here. Best wishes.

Dear Studs, 
Division Street opened my heart to the poetry of everyday people. I have followed your career avidly and one of my favorite possessions is the CD with your collected interviews. To hear the voices of Dorothy Parker, a young Woody Allen, Allen Lomax, and the much-missed madness of Zero Mostel has kept me alert on many a long distance car trip. Happy birthday, old friend!

Dear Studs—You are the best! A natural poet, like Peggy Terry.

I had the great good fortune to be "introduced" to you Studs when I first came to Chicago in 1967 vis a vis your morning radio program; then in person at Glenview Community Church where you spoke to a rapt audience a few years ago. The book you autographed on that occasion is a personal treasure. Happy Bithday. Thank you for being a real voice speaking to real concerns for so many years.

You've always been one of my heroes, from the time I read "Hard Times." Finding out you like silent movies was just extra! Happy birthday; many more.

Happy Birthday, Studs. I first heard you at Valparaiso University in about 1969. You excel at the long interview form. (Tell WFMT to rebroadcast your interviews in total, not all chopped up!) All the best and please do some more interviews soon.

I used to live in Chicago and you became one of my heroes. More than that you taught me that everybody can be a hero. Now I am a labor lawyer and trying to live my values in my work, as so many of your interview subjects do. Happy Birhday and many more (at least till 100!

Happy Birthday!Studs. Though we've never met, I want to thank you for making oral history come alive.

Hello Studs! 
We've never met, but I respect your work very much, as do many professors in my territory. Happy Birthday!

You're an inspiration to us all! Happy 95th birthday!

Studs, you are the greatest combination of inspiring preacher and blue-streak swearing street fighter I've ever had the pleasure to meet. You're as big as the city of Chicago. Congratulations on your 95th Street birthday.

Ever since Johnny Cash went home, you have been my favorite American. I love you Studs (and you were tied with Johnny when he was still here.) Happy Birthday

Dear Studds, Happy Birthday. May you live another 95 years . Your voice is needed.

I have loved you since hearing your that-could-only-be-Studs voice on WFMT when I was a student at the University of Chicago, far away culturally from my working-class family. I watched you from a balcony aisle seat in an SRO crowd at the Westminster Town Hall Forum in Minneapolis. But the best was when you called my publisher and dictated a blurb for my book, Packinghouse Daughter, over the phone. It was like having God's imprimatur on my work! Thank you for all that you have given us, and for pricking America's conscience again and again. Don't stop. 
Happy birthday. My dad would have been 95, too.

To a truly great American - Happy Birthday, Mr. Terkel! May we have your wisdom, perspective, and humor with us for many years to come!

Dear Studs, 
 
Best wishes on your 95th birthday. Through your collected works you have given voice to humanity's aspirations and hopes. You have helped us all understand the passion for life we all share. For me, interviewing you, "the greatest interviewer of all times" was a privilege and an honor. Keep the years and the books coming.  
 
Harry Kreisler 
Host and Executive 
Producer Conversations with History

I loved your book Working. Thank you for giving us common folk a voice. Happy Birthday, Mr. Terkel.

Happy Birthday Studs! and thanks for your books (especially Division St) which have warmed up many winter evenings in Minnnesota for me.

Studs, you were a grace to listen to (10AM) the many years I toiled in a factory. It is so sad that people like the 'Weekly Standard" still need to be mean-spirited. They are an object lesson as to why we needed you all these years! 
------------------------------------ 

Studs, I'm so happy you're around! My wife Roslyn joins me in sending love.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY 
STUDS TERKEL. 
YOU ARE THE TRUE VOICE OF WORKING PEOPLE IN THE U.S.A. 
LONG MAY YOU WAIVE. 
Richard Sussman 
Working Families Party 
Nyack, NY

dear mr. terkel.  
 
thank you, thank you, thank you. my father was also born in 1912. he is no longer with us but when i heard you speak on amy's show this morning you brought him back to me. i honor you heros of great wisdom 
 
happy birthday! 
 
much love, 
 
eo

Happy Birthday, Mr. Terkel!! I read Hard Times when I was in college, when I was trying to understand the years my mom and dad and my grandparents lived through. Your books have made me a lifelong reader of oral histories and a great fan of documentary film, as well. I wish I could give you the Medal of Freedom. You're a true American Hero, the kind that wants ordinary voices to be heard. Thank you so much.

I'm a former Chicagoan , now in exile in Mpls , and among my favorite Chicago memories are your late night radio shows . Have a great birthday , and many more !

Happy Birthday to you, Sir!! 
Your books have made me think, laugh, and sometimes, cry. Your curiosity about life, the world and the people in it have inspired me more than once.  
Please enjoy this day as you enjoy every day.  
You are loved and appreciated by many!

Happy Birthday Studs!!

Thanks for being curious. Happy Birthday and best wishes.

‘I can’t avoid it, of course,' you said of your impending 95th birthday. It's great to see you still have that wonderful spirit alive within you since May, 1912... 'the year the Titanic went down and you came up', as you say... Ha! Ha! 
 
Happy Birthday!!!!!!!

Thank you for remembering us, we 
the people, we the ordinary folks. 
 
And thank you forgiving us so much 
that will light up 
even the dark times.

STUDS! You are a force of nature!! Thank you so much for a lifetime of speaking up for the people - the working people, the ordinary people, those without power and wealth. Your ability to "tell it like it is" is legendary, and inspirational. We are trying to emulate you on our radio show on WBCR-LP, a low-power independent community radio station in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, where we, like Amy Goodman, try to disseminate the truth, or as much of it as we can find, about what is happening in our country and the world today. Many years ago, I gave a birthday gift of your book "Working" to Robert Swann, co-founder of the E. F. Shumacher Society, the Community Land Trust, and so much else, here in Great Barrington - a person much like yourself who spent a lifetime working and speaking for justice and truth. He loved it!! He is no longer with us, to thank for all he did, but you are, and so Graham and I thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, for your living example of how to be a good and courageous human being. May you live out your days in better health and comfort. It was wonderful to see you on Democracy Now, your eyes as bright as ever and your memories and conversation as strong as ever - one never knows when a gem will drop from your mouth. HAPPY 95TH BIRTHDAY!!!  
All our love, Graham and Barbara Dean

Best wishes today and always. Chicago should make today a holiday.

Studs; 
 
Happy Birthday you dear! It's Lori Rotenberk, the former Sun-Times and Boston Globe writer wishing you dozens more. 
 
With Deep affection, 
 
Lori

The Sun is Shining in Chicago today for you Studs! Just like the legacy of your life illuminates ours. Thank you for being who you are.

I was writing my first book in the late 1980s and needed inspiration to format it. I had already interviewed many of my subjects and was researching WWII when I came across THE GOOD WAR by Studs Terkel. I knew his books, but this lit the lightbulb for me. My book is NO TIME FOR FEAR: VOICES OF AMERICAN MILITARY NURSES IN WORLD WAR II, published by Mich. State Univ. Press in 1996. It is still selling 10 years later, because THE GOOD WAR inspired me to use the oral history method, which compiled more than 120 nurses' personal stories while serving overseas during WWII. Thank you, and a very Happy Birthday, Studs.

Happy Happy Day! I LOVE that you are still out there being YOU and always love hearing you speak! You bring a smile to my face, always! Stay well and thanks for all you are and all you do! Big hugs to you, Rebecca

Happy Birthday! Just seen the plane fly over. Best wishes.

Studs, I've never been a Tanqueray man, but for you, today, I'll make an exception. Happy Birthday!

Dear Studs, 
 
The happiest of birthdays to you! My hero. 
 
Love, 
Donna

Dear Mr. Terkel:  
Thank you so much for reminding us, in this self-absorbed age, that it is fun and worthwhile to be interested in the stories of other people! I adore you. Happy birthday and many more! --Ellen

Fortunately, America finds the voices it needs--gruff,lone,honest, challenging. In our time, the that matters voice has been Studs Terkel's.

Happy 95th Studs! Thank you for a lifetime of truth.

Happy Birthday, Studs! 
 
With much love, 
Michael

Studs, 
You are a source of inspiration for those of us who pay attention.Thanks for being someone who forces us to "pay attention. Happy Birthday and many more!

Ain't Misbevahin? I hope you are! Party on for another 95! 
 
Diana Lekus

Dear Studs, Happy Birthday! May you have many more! 
 
I was assigned your book "Working" in a class in the early '80s. I've forgotten the class and the teacher, but your interviews with workers of all stripes have definitely helped me through a rough job-period or two. Thank you!

Hi, Studs 
 
You've been in our family ever since the Wax Museum. When we hear you we hear America talking. 
 
Your record list is perfect, except that someone left out "The West End Blues". Have you you noticed that on Woody's record of "Blues in the Night", Harold Arlen sings "My mama done told me?"  
 
Take it easy, but take it. 
 
Art

Dear Studs, 
I love your books...and I love you!!! 
 
You have signed many copies of your books for me....I try never to miss an opportunity to hear you speak. You are a true national treasure. 
 
Happy 95th! 
 
Love,  
a long time fan 
Renee Harris

Happy 95th Studs! What's your secret? It was great hearing you on Deomcracy Now! this morning. Your wisdom is a blessing.

Happy Birthday Studs,you are the heart and soul of the American Workingclass.

Happy birthday, Studs. You've tapped into the American soul and we're all the richer for it. God bless.

I've never met you, but I consider you a friend. Happy birthday, old pal!

I've been listening to you since the days of being a University of Iowa student in the 60s. Glad you're still around to really make us keep questioning and thinking. Have a Grand Day!

We all just wanted to say Happy Birthday Studs! We pretty much worship you here. happy 95th!!!!

You are for us - 
 
Griot 
Scribe 
Reader 
Watcher 
Reader 
Conversationalist 
Genius 
Music Lover 
Wisdom Keeper 
Friend 
 
Belated Happy Birthday Greetings ! 
 
We cherish you old friend ! 
 
Sto Lat, Sto Lat !

With the crackle and wine of the tune of the dial on my father's tube radio your voice came forth. Over the air from those the towers to the south your voice was as the thick and warm as Chicago's summer haze and defined as the winter wind of the lake." Me and my ears would listen as a child of the poor in Cook County public housing to jazz and words I would not understand until years later. Happy Birthday to a sir and cheers!

Dear Studs: For thirty years your work has been an inspiration for my own writing and for me as a citizen.

Studs Terkel, a Chicago institution, a national treasure, and the world's 
leading extractor of other people's stories, has at last, given us his own. 
Less a memoir than an artfully woven series of memories -- bitter and 
sweet, sexy and morally uplifting, intimate and historically significant -- 
COMING OF AGE shows that at age 93 our country's numero-uno question-asker 
is still asking, still fighting the good fight. Merely inspirational.

My mother is writing the history of her father, who was a colonel during WWII. She knew him but little and much less about the War, so I sent her "THE GOOD WAR," which she's found invaluable in capturing mood, voice, and the humanity in the inhumane. 
 
Thanks for a lifetime of The Good Work. 
 
Happy birthday.

Happy Birthday, Studs!! 
 
May you celebrate many more in excellent health. 
 
We love you here at The New Press and can't wait to celebrate your new book with you! 
 
All the very best, 
 
Mary Colman St. John 
Finance Director

Thank you for giving a voice to those from whom we don't necessarily hear very often -- though they're often the ones with the most important and interesting things to say. Warmest wishes for a very happy birthday!!

Happy Birthday Studs, I can only hope to be so feisty at your age! For anybody who missed it, here is Studs on the Daily Show with John Stewart last year -- What a stud! 
 
http://www.comedycentral.com/sitewide/media_player/play.jhtml?itemId=61272

Happy Birthday to an amazing writer and human being!

Happy birthday! Congrats on the new book! I look forward to reading it!

Happy Birthday to you 
Happy Birthday to you 
Happy Biiiirthday to you, dearest Stuuudddssssssss 
Happy Birthday to yooooooooou 
(Indulge my terrible voice because I sing with much enthusiasm!)

Dearest Studs, 
 
You are an inspiration in every way-- your love of learning, justice, art, love, memory, and humanity, if replicated in all of us, would make the world a far more beautiful and peaceful place. May you live another 100 years, we need you and we love you. 
 
Ina

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