Toasting the good life–and Dr. Hunter S. Thompson

February 20, 2014

hthompson

He died 9 years ago, leaving a hole in our literary world. And the following suicide note:

“Football Season Is Over”, it read.

“No More Games. No More Bombs. No More Walking. No More Fun. No More Swimming. 67. That is 17 years past 50. 17 more than I needed or wanted. Boring. I am always bitchy. No Fun — for anybody. 67. You are getting Greedy. Act your (old) age. Relax — This won’t hurt.”
Who am I to say what it felt like to be an old and frail Dr. Hunter S. Thompson…but I’m pretty sure that suicide wouldn’t be my choice.  Then again, he built his entire persona on a lifestyle he could no longer live. What was left for him?

hstpressshotAs a young man, he started in traditional journalism.  He looked pretty straight, but inside, he was anything but.

qr2jhfliaw3hlmjdHe loved his substances. But his brain worked brilliantly. And differently.

TCnbK

 Every year on this day I think of Hunter and toast the good life, “wherever it happens to be.”

8 comments on “Toasting the good life–and Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
  1. Jay Lickus says:

    The man said it so eloquently…………

    “As things stand now, I am going to be a writer. I’m not sure that I’m going to be a good one or even a self-supporting one, but until the dark thumb of fate presses me to the dust and says ‘you are nothing’, I will be a writer.”

  2. Ryder Ziebarth says:

    Doonsbury.
    ( 1976?) He came to my college once to sit in on a class with our creative writing teacher, Charles Gaines, a friend of his. Gaines wrote Pumping Iron and Stay Hungry, among other books and essays. When Gaines left, Russell Banks took his place.It was the only good thing about my school-that and the student newspaper. Anyway, I digress, because want I remember most about Thompson want that he kept reaching into the top of his sock where he stashed his pills, periodically popping capsules and tablets into his mouth swallowing them without water.
    Funny memory to have.

    • admin says:

      That’s hilarious–and how lucky you were. Was he coherent? Did he say anything memorable? You had great creative writing courses, I’ll bet.

  3. Karen says:

    One of his sayings has been my mantra for many years: “When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.” Oddly, it works.

  4. What a character he was. There’s no one quite like him out there anymore.

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