Fear and Mourning

The Good Doctor was always a tough pill to swallow, but the news of his passing is still caught in my throat.

I won't presume to euologize Hunter Thompson, leaving that to those who know him and his work far better than I. But I do reach out to everyone else who is feeling shocked, confused, lost or hurt, and say, I hear you, brother.

What saddens me most is that he has left us at a time we really need him. Just in the last month, I've gone back and read some of Hunter's writing during the Nixon era to remind myself that politics have been a whirlwind shitstorm before and may yet get better. To me at least, that's the beauty of his words. He documented what it feels like to live under a liar like Nixon. Now that we're enduring a liar on the scale of George W. Bush, though it sometimes feels like we're blindfolded and inching ever closer to the edge, Hunter is there to remind us that we've walked here before. It's a sincere comfort.

I heard the news while driving with my wife through a rainstorm along the California Central Coast. Flipping channels, searching for a weather report, the news came to us from the lips of Matt Drudge. Drudge - the Godfather of Get It Now News that pummels us with information but gives us no kind of understanding. I hope there are far fewer Matt Drudges and more Hunter Thompsons.

And I really wish the Doctor were around to lead us on another shark hunt.