esmense

esmense
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Seattle, Washington, USA
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"Often this poet, strolling through the noisy splintered glare of a Manhattan noon, has paused at a sample Olivetti to type up thirty or forty lines of ruminations, or pondering more deeply has withdrawn to a darkened ware- or fire-house to limn his computed misunderstandings of the eternal questions of life, co-existence and depth, while never forgetting to eat Lunch his favorite meal..." Frank O'Hara Lunch Poems, 1964. This site is dedicated to the spirit of the man who wrote "I am ashamed of my century for being so entertaining, but I have to smile." Different century than the one we are all now inhabiting of course, and he did have the ill-grace to check out early, before the 1960s ended and America's contribution to that century’s ill-conceived wars, brutal assassinations and betrayals had changed our graceful, fond and confident smiles to the currently fashionable smirks, sneers, snickers and grimaces seen nightly on the news and political talk shows. But still. I hope to "limn" my own "computed misunderstandings of the eternal questions of life, co-existence and depth" on these pages, while never forgetting to eat Lunch, and always, always searching for those rare moments of grace -- when whatever it is that this century is clicks more clearly into view.

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Salon.com
OCTOBER 31, 2008 8:20PM

Studs Terkel dies

Rate: 3 Flag

I loved Studs Terkel. I loved his books, his voice, his curiosity, his humor, his fascination with and love for his country and its people. I loved the stories he told, the incredible respect and humanity with which he listened, and, most important, the amazing breadth and variety of people, high and low, rich and poor, famous and obscure, that he invited into and uniquely provided a place for in our public conversation.  

Most of all, I loved the America that I heard through his ears and saw through his eyes. 

I am stricken with grief at losing him. But also stricken with fear  -- that in losing him we have lost the last remnant of that  -- braver, more just, more humane -- America.  

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I agree,....he is one of the last great Liberals (capital L)of our times.
I will miss him too...but I think that there are not only remnants of that America, but new versions being born. What if Reagan through Bush were just an abbheration of the American trajectory, and that the era of progressivism/sixties idealism is continuing... the economy alone may force people to become more community conscious, more energy conscious, environmentally aware...these values and principles may be being reborn in another generation out of necessity...
"...new versions being born." Of course that's true -- I think Terkel would be the first to agree. It's so easy to forget that, as we focus on whatever pebble in our shoe is irritating us today. Thanks for the reminder!