… the weird turn pro.
Any fan of “gonzo” journalist Hunter S. Thompson will recognize that line from the self-proclaimed “hillbilly” writer and early practitioner of the art of participatory journalism.
My favorite of Thompson’s writing is still the 1972 classic “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” in which the drug-crazed journalist and his Samoan lawyer crash a convention of district attorneys.
That book, like much of Thompson’s work, began life as an article in Rolling Stone. This week, the Internet site Gothamist published a 1971 letter, purportedly written by Thompson, on Rolling Stone stationery, to Mike Peterson, a South Bend man who had submitted an article to the magazine.
Thompson was a master of excess in every way, but especially in his writing. Nevertheless, the letter is a classic, a blistering rejection note that manages to be delightful at the same time. Who wouldn’t want to send a letter like this to an unworthy correspondent? Who wouldn’t want to have this type of rejection letter in his or her file?
Forewarned: The language is as vulgar and abusive as it is creative.
keithroysdon 