My RSS feeds have brought me the majorly bad news that Hunter S. Thompson committed suicide on Sunday. Here's a clip from his hometown Aspen Times:
Hunter S. Thompson, legendary author, political commentator and "gonzo" journalist, shot himself to death tonight at his home in Woody Creek, sources within the Pitkin County Sheriff's office have confirmed.
Sheriff deputies and an ambulance responded to a call around 6 p.m. for a self-inflicted gunshot wound at Thompson's residence, a neighbor said. By 6:30 p.m., Thompson's home at 1278 Woody Creek Road was sealed off by a sheriff's van.
See this Google News search for more info.
I changed majors as an undergrad (from an engineering to a writing major) in large part due to having read a chapter from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas in my first-year honors English class. In grad school, one of my favorite papers was from a presentation I wrote on Gonzo journalism for a class on style. Damn, I'll miss him.
[via metafilter.com and several dozen other sites]
Posted by johndan at February 21, 2005 01:22 AM | TrackBack