Ticklish Ideas

I got a Rolling Stone coffee table book with my Christmas money when I was about 13. I read it cover to cover, scary pictures of Sid Vicious cutting himself and all. Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72' was in there, complete with Ralph Steadman pictures of drunken debauchery and naked ladies. I was shocked. Thrilled. The phrase "Fear and Loathing" entered my vocabulary at that tender age. I skimmed the story - I didn't much care about a political campaign 5 years before I was born - and I paused to appreciate sharp observations and to savor well-stated contempt for the men who abuse power.

Hunter S. Thompson was a master of his craft.

RIP