The Zone mourns Dr. Hunter S. Thompson on the second anniversary of his death
It’s hard to believe that it was two years ago that we received the shocking news that Dr. Hunter S. Thompson had taken his own life. Johnny Depp once described the Good Doctor as “the most loyal and present friend I have ever had the honor of knowing” and as “a genius who revolutionized writing in the same way that Marlon Brando had done with acting.” Anita Thompson, Hunter’s widow, has invited everyone who wishes to remember HST to “please join from your own home the quiet bon fire she is having for her husband by lighting a fire or candle at 6pm Mountain Standard Time on February 20th and reading a HST passage. She will be doing the same at her Owl Farm home with family.” We will pause in our usual festivities to honor Hunter’s memory, light a candle, speak his words, and raise a Gonzo fist to the sky.
A tribute thread called “Remembering Hunter” is currently running on the Porch; it contains members’ favorite passages from HST’s writing and reminiscences of the way Hunter has impacted all of our lives. Thanks to Joni for starting the thread and all the members who have contributed such beautiful writing of their own.
I would like to honor Hunter S. Thompson’s memory today by reprinting part of the Zone tribute I wrote two years ago: “You believed in liberty and justice–and not just for the privileged few. You screamed like a banshee at oppression and injustice wherever you found it, even if it emanated from the Oval Office. You shouted ‘Fire!’ long before the rest of us sleepy souls even smelled smoke, and you were invariably right. Often you were right and all alone, called crazy for your pains. That didn’t matter. You kept writing, warning, and shouting. I see now that you were more dedicated to the Presidential oath–‘to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States’–than some who swore those words before the Chief Justice on Inauguration Day.
“‘I have to think that a person can do some good,’ you once told a British Omnibus film crew. Fear not–you did.
“[. . .] Thank you for never giving up, or caving in, or bowing down to the status quo. [. . .] For so long you were our Atlas, carrying all of us on your broad shoulders. Now we will trail in your wake, struggling to grow up and fight our own battles without Gonzo to lead us.
But we know how.
Thanks to you.”
RIP, HST. We love you always, and we miss you, every day. –Part-Time Poet