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The Daily Dose/November 13, 2008
By Gaylon Kent
The Writer's Shack
   
Notes from around the Human Experience...
CAPSULE BOOK REVIEW: The Proud Highway: Saga of a Desperate Southern Gentleman, 1955-67, The Fear and Loathing Letters, Volume 1, By Hunter S. Thompson, Edited by Douglas Brinkley: Hunter S. Thompson, it turned out, was a prolific letter writer. And, conveniently for us, he made carbons of every letter he ever wrote, though Thompson, like Louis L'Amour certain he would be a famous writer, no doubt made copies of all his letters for the benefit of future generations.
Every one means every one, too, be it a query letter to a magazine, a letter to his mother or a letter to the New York state unemployment board. Every goddamn one. Not only that, Proud Highway checks in at almost 700 pages and Brinkley reports that only one in seven letters - one in seven! - made the final cut.
Dry, Technical Matter: The first letter is dated Sept. 22, 1956, when Thompson is in the Air Force, writing for the Elgin Air Force Base newspaper, to a childhood friend. The last is dated Dec. 7, 1967 with Thompson, by now a successful writer thanks to Hell's Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs and finds Thompson whining to a friend about the trouble caused by a cops badge the friend had given him to get him out of trouble. Thompson also reported he had stopped writing and had blown "…$6,500 worth of assignments in two weeks…" and was being sued by his agent.
Hunter Being Hunter: In between, Brinkley gives a picture of a rather odd young man trying to live his bizarre life as he sees fit. From the start there are several themes that Thompson fans will recognize: he liked to drink, a lot, and he enjoys his firearms, sometimes enjoying both at the same time. Very early on he recognized his calling to be a writer, but he also recognized his duty to be himself and spends a good portion of the first half of the book identifying the terms he is going to live by. Even for someone so young, his prodigious talent for the written word is plain.
FunFact: Thompson even has foreshadowings of his own suicide decades later, saying he couldn't handle any life he couldn't end whenever he wanted to.
Somewhat Poignant Matter: Thompson's last line in his last letter is: Sow and ye shall reap...
We Interrupt This Column For A Word From The Ratings Department: Following is the Official Writer's Shack rating scale:
EX - Excellent; as good as the medium can produce in every respect.
VG - Very Good. Well worth your time.
GD - Good. Worth your time.
AR - All Right. Not completely without merit.
SP - Nothing of substance; a steaming pile, utterly without merit.
Final Rating: GD. If you are not a Hunter S. Thompson fan, don't bother. If you are a casual fan, I wouldn't bother either, because you probably know all you care to know about Thompson. But if you've read several of his books, and find him an interesting character, you will probably enjoy it. Included are some of Thompson's other writings from the period, as well as a forward by his friend, novelist William Kennedy, and the introductions to virtually every letter by Brinkley are fun to read, too.
AND THE BOTTOM TEN: Benjamin Franklin, in a letter dated this date in 1789, said "In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes".
Who The Hell Wants To Go To New Jersey Anyway? On this date, in 1927, the Holland Tunnel, connecting Manhattan and New Jersey under the Hudson River, opens.
Next Stop, The White House: On this date, in 1956, the United States Supreme Court declared Alabama state and Montgomery, Alabama municipal laws requiring segregation on busses illegal. The Montgomery Bus Boycott, brought on by Rosa Parks' refusal to give up he seat to a white man the previous December, would continue for another few weeks. It is estimated the bus company lost over $750,000 during the boycott.
Dry, Technical Matter: The Court affirmed a ruling by a special three-judge Federal court that held the challenged statutes "violate the due process and equal protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States."
FunFact II: The Fourteenth Amendment provides that no state shall deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law nor deny to any citizen the equal protection of the laws.
Dry, Technical Matter II: This was not the first time the Supreme Court had taken up the matter of bus segregation. Earlier in the year it had dismissed a case on South Carolina bus segregation laws on a technicality.
One Small Step: On this date, in 1971, Mariner 9 becomes the first spacecraft to orbit another planet, settling in above Mars. After patiently waiting out a dust storm, Mariner 9 would send pictures of Mars back until it was shut off in October, 1972. It is still in Martian orbit, scheduled to remain there until falling into the Martian atmosphere in the 2020's.
Somebody Contact Rand-McNally Please: On this date, in 1985, the town of Armero, Colombia is destroyed after a nearby volcano erupts. The lava melts a conveniently located glacier, and the resulting lahar covers Armero in over 150 feet of mud and debris. From the time the volcano erupts to the time the town is destroyed is about 15 minutes. About 23,000 of the 29,000 residents die.
The Sweet Science: On this date, in 1982, one of the most significant boxing matches ever takes place, when American Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini beats South Korean Duk Koo Kim by technical knockout 19 seconds into the 14th round, in a bout at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.
Uh-Oh: The fight would ultimately claim three lives. Kim would collapse into a coma shortly after the fight and die a few days later. Kim's mother killed herself by ingesting a pesticide three months after the figh and referee Richard Green, still anguishing over his role in the fight, would kill himself the following July.
Also: The fight had other implications, too. Pre-fight exams for fighters were turned into complete physicals instead of mere blood pressure and heartbeat checks, and title fights were shortened from 15 to 12 rounds.
Uh-Oh II: On this date last year, Pakistan opposition leader and former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto demands the resignation of President Pervez Musharraf. For her efforts, Bhutto would be assassinated the following month.
Thought For The Day: Not everyone lives like the Cleavers. - Hunter S. Thompson
Answer To The Last Trivia Question: 114 men have garnered votes for President in the Electoral College since the first Presidential election in 1789. We encourage others to check our math, though.
Today's Stumper: There is no trivia question today! You get the day off.
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