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The last theme this blog had featured a quote from Hunter S Thompson up front. Not one of the over used (online at least) quotes about drugs and alcohol or indeed anything from Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas. It was from a letter he wrote in 1990 and you can read the whole thing here. The part I quoted was this:
Suddenly I had my own gang. My own army, my people, my friends, my warriors… They came from all points of the compass and all points in time, and we stomped on the terra like champions. It was something to see, folks, and beautiful to be a part of…
When I first started this blog it was mostly me railing against the world. Complaining about the things and people that annoyed me. By the time I came to plant that quote up top I’d fallen sideways into social media and the focus of the blog changed somewhat. Sure, there was still a lot of complaining, but there was a lot more sharing too.
Those few lines of Hunter’s just sang to me when I reread them in Songs of the Doomed and it seemed important to wear them here like a badge.
I think the last year or so has taught me the real value of having like minded people to stomp on the terra with and I don’t think I need the same daily reminder of that. It’s still one hell of a quote though and it felt important to have it somewhere in the guts of the blog again.
The value in a writer like Hunter I believe is not just in his style. That’s proven every time I read something by some fuckwit who thinks mimicking his sentence structure while talking about a drinking problem puts them in the same camp.
What you take from Hunter is passion. Or to clarify that, his passion comes through so strongly that it makes you wish you cared about something in the same way. And when you put the books down for a moment you realise, of course, that you do. It’s why I read all his sports columns even though I didn’t give a damn about the teams or indeed organised sport of any kind.
Hell, it’s the reason I have the last line he ever wrote tattooed on my arm.
I guess that’s another reason why I don’t need the other quote somewhere permanent, like the header of my blog.
love the quote, and as you say, perfectly sums up what this whole ‘social media thing’ is about. i read hey rube religiously and same as yourself, didnt know or care about the sport, it was thompson i was interested in. hunter and his clear raw passion was the reason i took up journalism which has ultimately lead me side-stepping as well, into this social media world, i liked reading it every time i came here, but also good to see that although you don’t need the reminder, that you want it ‘in the guts’ somewhere, hope all the slingers stuff is going well dude.
yes.
You description of what one walks away from Hunter with reminded me of something Ken Kesey said. He said something along the lines of “You can’t teach anyone to write. But you can teach them to be warriors.”
Now I am curious. What is the last sentence HST wrote?