Recollections

Subject: Re: Recollections

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: I met Ed when I was an undergraduate at Pitzer College in Claremont, CA in 1980 or 1981. He had come at the request of a favorite professor of mine and one of Ed's close colleagues, Glenn Goodwin. I thought Ed was pretty neat -- he represented the kind of sociologist that I wanted to become -- intelligent, comapssionate, savvy, challenging. Ed was kind enough to spend some time with a small group of my friends -- we were all sociology majors, a little on the "marginal" side, idealistic about changing the world, etc. He gave us some ideas about how to make a difference in the world. : A couple of things in specific that I recall are the following. The first was that Ed told us that if we wanted to really know what was going on in the world to not read the front page of the newspaper, but to read the business section. Well, to see if that was accurate, I got a copy of the LA Times and on the front page was an article about Reagan's refusal to meet (or discuss something) with Brehznev and in the business section was an article about Armand Hammer going to Moscow to talk about some kind of oil deal with the Russians! I remember thinking, "...there isn't going to be any kind of nuclear showdown between these two 'superpowers' because they can make money off of each other!" In any event, Ed had proved his point quite well and this is a practice I still resort to today. : The second thing that was significant was when the same group of friends and I took Ed to the airport. It was during election time and some supporters of Lyndon LaRouche had a table in the departure area. Ed told us he as going to talk to the guy at the table. He did it in kind of a "role-model" way, sort of as a way to educate us about how to do these kinds of things. He was very cordial, inquired about a couple of things (don't recall exactly what they were) and then asked if the guy knew a particular person in the LaRouche organization. The guy said he did and Ed said, "Tell him that Ed Powell is still looking after him." Of course the guy at the table didn't know what the heck that meant, but we got it -- sort of Ed's way of making sure that they knew that there was at least one person who was still keeping track of what they were doing. We thought it was great -- great that Ed had enough "juice" to know someone at that level of the organization and great that he could pass along a challenging reminder in such an innocuous way. It bespoke his quiet power. : It's funny now that I think about Ed, I recall other things he passed along -- things that I think about quite frequently, actually. They obviously left a big impression on me and are testimony to Ed's influence, especially since we couldn't have spent more than a day or so together. : Needless to say, I wish that I had had more time to spend with him. Ed, Glenn, and another wonderful person (and sociologist) Inge Bell have had a tremendous impact on my life. I became so used to being with such quality people that I think I took it for granted. Now, twenty plus years later, though, I realize the specialness of them and the noble way of being in the world that they demonstrated. At the time I was naive enough to think that there were a lot of folks like them around. Time and experience have proven that this is not the case, however, and I am deeply saddened by that. And saddended that Ed, like Inge, have only the memories of those that knew them to keep their spirit(s) alive. If I can honor their memories by being even somewhat like them, I will be happy. : John Glass, Ph.D. : Sociologist : Dallas, Texas

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