Erik,
I'm so saddened to hear this news. But I wanted to thank you for the inspiration you have provided to me and so many others over the years. Only this past year, I and two of my colleagues started an undergraduate research project at UW-Eau Claire called "Real Eau-topias." Our university has declared "Equity, Diversity, and Inclusivity" to be some of its core values, and we are conducting focus groups with networks of students all over campus to find out, from a student perspective, how much our university is actually living up to those values and how it can do better. We are partnered with a student organization, Students Organizing for Community Action, and we hope to take the results of these focus groups and use them to push for some real change on campus.
It's a small thing, but the next generation of students is learning your vision for how sociology can contribute to building a just world. I teach your Contexts article on Real Utopias every time I teach Intro, and it will continue to be a cornerstone for me of social science that is empowering. Like stardust, your vision will live on.
Dear Erik,
On the stardust theme, I’ve been watching Cosmos (the excellent Neil deGrasse Tyson version) for the past few years with my son Miro. One of the segments that’s made me happiest, or at least most at peace with life and death, is the Cosmic Calendar. If the Big Bang is on January 1st and the present moment is midnight on December 31st, the entire past four and a half centuries is merely one cosmic second. Everything that we obsess over in our lives is just a minuscule blip on the Cosmic Calendar.
Erik, you’ve made the most of that serendipitous moment when your particular spacedust took human form. Even on this blog, you’ve continued to spark new ways of seeing and living. I hope to never mourn the last days of a vacation again, and to savor them just as much as the rest of our time left.
You taught me a lot - to always engage with ideas in theory and in practice, to dream bigger, and to never stop learning and exploring. You inspired and deeply invested in my two biggest efforts to transform democracy, Making Democracy Fun & the Participatory Budgeting Project. Thank you.
When they’re making the social science version of Cosmos many years from now, recounting our journey toward a deeper democracy and more utopian society, the segment on your life and work will sparkle.
Much love,
Josh
Dear Erik,
Some stardusts leave a lasting mark on others. Your work is a source of inspiration for many, and Envisioning Real Utopias will certainly guide me for decades. It's a contribution to this incredible capacity of the stardusts that we are to critically reflect upon their condition and try to change it radically. May your real utopias be realized. Best wishes. Pierre-Etienne
Dear Erik
thank you again for the kindness you showed me as a young teacher on sabbatical visiting Madision in the 1990s. I have always treasured that walk we did around part of the lake when you didn't know me but invited me into your home. As to your work I have always liked its toughness. Exploitation is the basic dynamic of capital - you were always right. All the best for the coming days Georgina.
Dear Erik,
Andy and I are sending so much love and gratitude your way. You truly are a person who changed my life. It was your brainchild -- the Class Analysis Program -- that drew me to Madison so many years ago. You created a legitimate space in Sociology for leftist class analysis, and you encouraged rigorous radical thinking which informs me to to this day. And on the personal front, I met my lifelong partner, Andy, and many close and treasured friends as a result of coming to Madison and being part of the program you created. Thank you. You made a difference in my life and the lives of so many others. We send our love to you and Marcia in this very difficult and precious time. --Wendy and Andy
Dear Erik,
You have been a wonderful colleague. You were one of the first people I met when I came to Madison and we have aged together to become "old heads." Your dedication to and genuine interest in students has always been an inspiration. There will be a big Erik-sized hole but you have lived a life that has touched so many people in such positive ways that your spirit will always be with us. John and I are thinking of you and Marcia and Jenny and Rebecca and your grandchildren.
Pam
Dear Erik,
Only now have I caught up with what is happening with you. I am so glad to be able to write to you in time to say how much I have valued our very longstanding, if intermittent, friendship. It began with my seeing you sitting on the ground in the quad in Balliol College, Oxford playing the flute. I was delighted when Christopher Hill sent you to study political theory with me, and I still recall what an exciting and exacting student you were. I remember a great visit with you to the Havens Center and a wonderful long country walk with you and your family. And subsequently always joyful encounters. And your pellucid, toughly argued, hope-sustaining writing. You are an inspiration.
Erik, you brought so much excitement and joy in our 3 years together at Lowell House '65-68, and your
blog continues to inspire me and so many others.
hal
Hi Rik,
I, Carol and the rest of your Canadian extended family have been following your CaringBridge posts with admiration for your honesty and courage. The recent post that you titled "Grim Update" does, unfortunately, deserve that title. On the other hand, as you note, there can be surprises in both directions. We hope there will be a surprise in the good direction!
Whatever happens from here on, I hope that, as you think about your life, you feel as proud as I and many others do about your extraordinary accomplishments- both personal and professional.
You have lived the tradition of striving towards socialism that was established by our grandmother Sonia. You made really important contributions to the understanding of capitalism and the possibilities of realizing "real utopias". Your written works will continue to have positive effects on thousands of people. In addition, hundreds of colleagues and students have had the good fortune of learning directly from you, and many will pass your inspirational teachings on to their students.
I have been very privileged to share a grandmother with you. Our mutual love and respect for her is one of the many reasons that I feel close to you. I have greatly benefitted from your written works and from the many discussions that we had in person and by email. I have always really enjoyed the (not-frequent-enough) times that we spent together. I shall always remember dancing at my wedding while you fiddled!
Whenever I meet a sociologist, I brag that "Erik Olin Wright" is a cousin of mine. The response is always the same: "Really? He is a very distinguished sociologist." I respond “I know." But I also know what a wonderful human being you are.
Rik, I hope that things go as well as possible for you.
My love to you, and to Marcia and Jenny and Becky.
Peter
I'm so saddened to hear this news. But I wanted to thank you for the inspiration you have provided to me and so many others over the years. Only this past year, I and two of my colleagues started an undergraduate research project at UW-Eau Claire called "Real Eau-topias." Our university has declared "Equity, Diversity, and Inclusivity" to be some of its core values, and we are conducting focus groups with networks of students all over campus to find out, from a student perspective, how much our university is actually living up to those values and how it can do better. We are partnered with a student organization, Students Organizing for Community Action, and we hope to take the results of these focus groups and use them to push for some real change on campus.
It's a small thing, but the next generation of students is learning your vision for how sociology can contribute to building a just world. I teach your Contexts article on Real Utopias every time I teach Intro, and it will continue to be a cornerstone for me of social science that is empowering. Like stardust, your vision will live on.
All the best,
Peter