We want to hear from you! Take our brief reader survey now and share your feedback on what you love at Third Coast Review—and what we could be doing better! Plus, everyone who completes the survey will receive a Third Coast Review sticker decal as our thanks for your support.
A Letter to Studs Terkel by Josephine Chaparro.
If I could turn back the pages of time. If I could turn back one page. Just one page, I'd want to ask you so
many questions about the art of good writing, now that I have been taught how to formulate writing questions. I'd ask you to teach me how to write a powerful story. But we can’t do that. That is impossible. You are now
gone from us, so I will write you a long letter instead.
October 26, 2024
Mr. Studs Terkel
Castlewood Terrace
Margate Park
Uptown Chicago, IL
Dear Mr. Terkel,
My name is Josephine Chaparro. You do not remember me. After all, you have met and interviewed thousands of people, and you have been interviewed by the best.
I remember as if it were yesterday, when we lived in Margate Park, a small area adjacent to Uptown between Lawrence and Foster Avenue and Sheridan Road and the lake. I would see you when we waited for the Number 146 CTA bus on Marine Drive going toward downtown Chicago. I would notice that you always studied people’s faces as they walked to the bus to go to their jobs.
You lived on Castlewood Terrace by Marine Drive in a stately home. The homes on Castlewood Terrace had beautiful landscaped gardens. It was the only street in the neighborhood with single family homes guarded by a cul-de-sac. Later on, the street where you lived was added to the National Register of Historic Places on September 3, 2009. I lived on the next block north, on Ainslie Street by Marine Drive in a vintage 2-bedroom condominium with a fireplace with wall-to-wall bookcases, original stained-glass windows, and coved ceilings. When I saw you on Marine Drive, you would be singing or whistling or smoking your cigar as you enjoyed your walk. You were so unassuming. I remember people saying, “Oh, there is that man in the red checkered shirt with his cigar. He is the Chicago writer from Castlewood Terrace.” You would stop, and chat with neighbors and admire the banks of flowers on Marine Drive.
I was told you wrote American history books. I had no idea what that meant, until I started reading what the press and media of the times, the 1960s and 1970s, were calling you. The Chicago Tribune, the Chicago
Daily News, the Sun Times, and even the New York Times; they all said you were a Chicago institution, that
you were considered a national treasure and the world’s extractor of other people’s stories. You were called
"the listener of the American people."
I later read that in 1985, you were awarded the Pulitzer Prize for your book, The Good War, a history of World War II.
As the years rolled by, I took an interest in writing and I started taking writing workshops. I was a Puerto Rican woman trying to become a writer and a poet, and I was struggling. Until one day, I spotted your book, Hope Dies Last at Uncharted Books, a rare bookstore on Clark Street.
I was so proud you chose a Spanish phrase as the title for your book. You were out in the fields in Fresno, California, conversing with Jesse De La Cruz. She was a farm worker and an activist. She was talking to you about the horrific conditions facing the farm workers nationwide. She said to you, “I feel there is going to be a change, but we’re the ones gonna do it, not the government. With us, Spanish people,” she said to you, “There’s an old Spanish saying: La Esperanza muere ultima. It means 'hope dies last.'” So you titled your book, Hope Dies Last. Your book is filled with passion for justice and inspiration for a better future. I still keep your book on my bookcase. When I feel sad, I open it to any chapter and read. I was raised to always combine hope with action, so I promise you, sir, I will never give up my Esperanza, my Hope.
Mr. Studs Terkel, with your book titled, Working, I discovered the magic of your writing. It was not just that you were a good writer. It was not just that you asked the right questions for your thousands of interviews. The magic was another Spanish word and that Spanish word was Confianza. Confianza. That means trust. The Americans you interviewed for your book, Working trusted you. They knew you did not just write about them; they knew you took a stand about issues in America. They told you the truth and the truth in writing is always more beautiful than a lie.
Every American should read your book, Working, because you said there was a connection between work and self-worth in our nation. In its 762 pages you interview Americans from all walks of life and they tell you the truth and nothing but the truth. You said people talk about what they do all day and how they feel about what they do. You were quoted, a long time ago, as saying that you believed that to listen to a human being was to bestow dignity on them. Now I understand, your secret to writing was to listen.
I loved all your books, but the book you published in 1967, Division Street changed my life. I read that to write that book, you took a leave of absence. You hit the streets of Chicago with your old-fashioned tape recorder. Though that was my favorite book, you would laugh at me if you were here with us today. When I first saw the title, Division Street, I thought you were writing about my neighborhood, my Division Street here in Chicago where all the Puerto Ricans lived. You know, the streets between Western Avenue and California Avenue, all the way to Humboldt Park where all the Spanish bakeries were. Where they baked and sold the elegant wedding cakes, the cookies, and prepared that delicious creamy chocolate flan. Where they had all the Spanish bodegas, you know, you remember, the small grocery stores of the 1960s and 1970s.
No, your book, “Division Street America” was about a greater problem that was destroying the America you loved. The title, Division Street was a metaphor, and now I understood; however, I will not lie to you, sir, our nation is more divided now in 2024, than it has ever been before.
Sir, I do not tell anyone, but when I am home alone and night falls, I think of the ugly rhetoric being used in our nation, and I cry. I do know, deep in my heart, that if you were here with us on earth, you would write another book that would help us navigate these troubling times.
Mr. Studs Terkel, I must be going now. I must say goodbye, but I must first tell you about two important developments in regards to your writing and broadcasting. First, the majority of the 5,600 radio programs that you created in your 45-year career at WFMT Radio in Chicago, will be archived for future generations to listen to and learn from.
And second, to complete your book, Division Street America, you recorded the voices of 70 Chicago residents. Next year, in January 2025 Melissa Harris and Pulitzer Prize-Winning journalist Mary Schmich will release a podcast. It will contain seven episodes featuring some of the descendants of the 70 people you interviewed for your book in 1967.
So, you see your body of work is enduring. It will be a guide to future generations of young writers and journalists. Few authors in American history have accomplished such a feat. You left us with a golden treasure chest, as a legacy.
*****
Mr. Studs Terkel, my letter to you has morphed into a Hemingway-size novel. I must now close. Ah! But I do remember what Mr. Ernest Hemingway taught us about writing. Hemingway said, “All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.”
So today on October 26, 2024, I have composed my one true sentence that defines who you were as a man, as a writer, and as an American.
I want to publicly dedicate my one true sentence to you.
Mr. Studs Terkel, you were the man with that red checkered shirt, that funny hat, and that famous cigar, who loved America, with all your heart and all your soul, and for that, we will forever be thankful.
Sincerely,
Josephine Chaparro
Neighbor on Ainslie Street
Margate Park
Uptown Chicago IL
Josephine Chaparro has lived on Chicago’s Northside since 1963. To write her poems and memoir, she draws on the beauty of our lakefront, the uniqueness of our four seasons, and the splendor and strength of Chicago’s residents.
Did you enjoy this post? Please consider supporting Third Coast Review’s arts and culture coverage by making a donation. Choose the amount that works best for you, and know how much we appreciate your support!