Chicago Legend Studs Terkel "Checks out" at Age 96; Terkel's Work Inspired On the Job

Studs Terkel, a Chicago legend and Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, passed away on Halloween at the age of 96. Tribune newsman Rick Kogan, Terkel’s godson, wrote the following obituary in the Chicago Tribune:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-studs-terkel-dead,0,2321576.story

It was Terkel’s work that inspired On the Job, the first book from award-winning Chicago journalist Daniel P. Smith. While teaching at a suburban Chicago high school, Smith’s three classes of sophomore students were introduced to Terkel’s work and asked to find one of the characters Terkel interviewed (often, common folk from all walks of life) and discuss that individual’s own perception of their station in life. As Smith noted student after student exploring police officers, he reflected upon the intrigue many had expressed upon hearing of his own connections to the Chicago Police. From there, On the Job was born. In the course of writing On the Job, Smith again called upon Terkel’s work.

“I remember Studs talking about how he would always have his subject help him with something, like finding an outlet for his tape recorder, even when he didn’t need that help,” Smith explains. “But he wanted his subjects to feel comfortable, at ease, and that they were important, valued partners in the process. Then, he just listened, respecting their stories and their candor.”

In interviewing the wide group of officers he did for On the Job, Smith sought the same end: allowing the officers, common folk who called Chicago home, to share their own stories, listening and doing his best to follow Terkel’s example.