I have always harbored a latent desire to write for a living, like every other lazy ass male in the country. I always imagine myself traveling around having these great adventures and then whipping out endless pages of brilliance that all revel in. Then I have some sort of marginal adventure (at least in my mind), come home and a post some photos with a few captions. Apparently being a good writer takes a little bit more effort than most lazy ass males possess.

I have come to realize that I most likely won't become the next great writer and that's okay. I enjoy writing and really do it simply as an expression and outlet. Now Hunter S. Thompson, he craved writing and he craved perfection. Obviously his reputation precedes him, both from his body of work and his ability to party. However, I don't think most people know how hard he worked at the craft and fully appreciate the dedication he had to it. I know I didn't have a full understanding of this.

I just finished "Gonzo: The Life of Hunter S. Thompson", the much debated oral biography by Jann Wenner and Corey Seymour. The book pulls together a mountain of quotes from virtually every person on the planet that personally knew the good Dr. which turns out to be virtually every person on the planet, myself excluded. It has been argued, primarily by Hunter's widow Anita, that the book casts a overly negative shadow on his work from the later years. There is some merit in this claim, I guess, but in my humble opinion this book still provides an uniquely naked look at the life and times of one of the most influential and original writers in recent memory. I think you should read it. Seth

On July 2, 1974, I started work as deputy Washington bureau chief for Rolling Stone magazine. My unlikely boss was Richard Goodwin, the former Kennedy speechwriter, who invited me to join him in temporary residence at Ethel Kennedy’s home in McLean, Va. (the owner was in Hyannis for the summer). On July 3, Hunter Thompson joined us. Much of what ensued that holiday weekend is lost in the mists of history and a fog of controlled substances. There were extensive conversations about the viability of renting a truck, filling it with rats and dumping them on the White House lawn. There was also an effort to remove all the Andy Williams songs from the Kennedy jukebox and replace them with Otis Redding. But mostly I remember having a marathon conversation with Hunter about books and writers, settling finally on Joseph Conrad’s exhortation in “Lord Jim”: “In the destructive element immerse!”

This was, no surprise, one of Hunter’s favorite lines, and it led him into an astonishingly candid assessment of his own career, which was then at its peak. He had published his two brilliant “Fear and Loathing” books, and he was worried about what came next. He didn’t want to become a dull parody of himself but feared he lacked the gumption to jump the gravy train. I asked if he’d ever thought about stowing the psychedelic pyrotechnics — his “gonzo” journalism — and sitting down and writing a serious, straight-ahead novel. Well, of course he had. But, he said, “Without that,” and he glanced over at the satchel in which he carried his array of vegetation and chemicals, “I’d have the brain of a second-rate accountant.”
Joe Klein
www.nytimes.com

The American nation is in the worst condition I can remember in my lifetime, and our prospects for the immediate future are even worse. I am surprised and embarrassed to be a part of the first American generation to leave the country in far worse shape than it was when we first came into it. Our highway system is crumbling, our police are dishonest, our children are poor, our vaunted Social Security, once the envy of the world, has been looted and neglected and destroyed by the same gang of ignorant greed-crazed bastards who brought us Vietnam, Afghanistan, the disastrous Gaza Strip and ignominious defeat all over the world.

The Stock Market will never come back, our Armies will never again be No. 1, and our children will drink filthy water for the rest of our lives.

The Bush family must be very proud of themselves today, but I am not. Big Darkness, soon come. Take my word for it.
Hunter S. Thompson
www.espn.com