Karen Lewis: A Force of Nature

Yes, Karen Lewis could be tough as nails at the bargaining table. And, yes, she delivered fiery speeches that inspired hundreds of thousands of teachers and students around the country. But the woman could also work a charm offensive with the best of the bunch. 

My youngest child with The People's Champ in 2012.

I should know. She successfully worked one on me in 2011, and my life will be forever enriched by her friendship, passion, and humor.  

The message that appeared in my Facebook Messenger inbox on December 22, 2011 was unusual (to say the least), because I’d never before met the sender. I had, however, read plenty about her in local newspapers since mid-2010, when she became president of the Chicago Teachers Union.

 

Back then, I was still a Chicago Public Schools parent, I served on a local school council, and I wrote semi-regular pieces about public education for The Huffington Post. 

 

I also knew that the CTU, in November 2011, had just begun the process of negotiating a new contract with CPS. And Karen, like any good leader, wanted to build citywide support for her members, who would soon find themselves pitted in an existential struggle against newly-elected Mayor Rahm Emanuel and his recent hires.

 

So, of course, I took the bait in December 2011, when Karen reached out to me, in her own inimitable style, with this charming invitation to meet: “I am truly, madly deeply in love with your soul. May I buy you lunch early next year?”

It's Just Lunch.

Best lunch meeting I ever took. We hit it off immediately.

 

Karen was funny as hell (she’d done some stand-up comedy in the past). Like me, she was an absolute music geek. And when it came to caring about students and teachers, she took a back seat to no one.

 

I was honored to attend her bat mitzvah in June 2013, and I was proud to go door-to-door fifteen months later to circulate petitions for her brief mayoral run, which was quickly derailed by an October 2014 brain cancer diagnosis.

 

A clipboard for the ages.

I last spoke with Karen on the morning of October 1, 2020, when she called just to say hello and to see how my family and I were doing during the pandemic.

 

Over the next few days, both the local and national media will revisit Karen’s role as a labor leader and an unwavering advocate for public education. She was a force of nature.

 

I’ll miss a friend who loved to talk not only about politics and education, but also about folks like Art Tatum and Bud Powell.

 

My heart goes out to Karen’s husband, John, another gem of a human being.