Gonzo

Hunter S. Thompson influenced me to be skeptical of politicians and people with agendas. His irreverence towards them, and the fact that he got away with it and made a living from it, exposed their weaknesses to people like me. The first book of his that I read was Hell's Angels. David Yeates and I read it when we were in high school back in the late 60s. We thought we were pretty cool to be reading about such real outlaws. In Hammond, Louisiana in those days Honda 50s were cool and Honda 90s were big bikes. A Harley was California and the Angels. I was a junior at LSU when Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas hit the scene. To quote the phrase of the day "it blew me away." I still have my original first edition in dust jacket (though price clipped) in very good condition. On the rear flyleaf of the DJ is this quote from Thompson "As true Gonzo journalism, this doesn't really make it - and even if it did, I couldn't possibly admit it. Only a goddam lunatic would write a thing like this and then claim it was all true." I also have in my collection the following first editions in dust jackets; Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72; Songs of the Doomed; and The Rum Diaries. In view of his decision to take his own life I thought perhaps the following quote which is on the page following the dedication page of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas would be appropo. "He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man" -Dr. Johnson. Thompson spent some time in Mobile and The Eastern Shore in the 1970's. My friends Skip Jones and Lewis Mayson are among those who met and conversed and partied with him at the time.

Forkland

Headed South from Tuscaloosa
you see your world the way it is
catfish ponds through cedared fence lines
brahmas at the round bales
Meadowbrook, Joe Rice
Deerfield Farms
and do my eyes deceive
saltwater shrimp here
Forkland
St. John Baptist Church
just call Jock, 866 LawJock
Boligee to the right 10 miles
I know a girl from there
Acta Non Verba
Is that the tin man?
I guess we're not in the present anymore.

Fairhope, Alabama Public Library

I've just come from a very productive meeting of the Fairhope Public Library Development Committee which was held at my bookstore. The Primary reason it was such a good meeting was Anne Clinton Groom. She has just come on board with ideas and energy that will enliven all of us and make our final goal of raising $1,500,000.00 much easier. Anne Clinton and her husband Winston are no strangers to the world of books and the new technologies that comprise modern libraries. But more than that she has that keen sense of a fund raiser who totally understands the premises of philanthropy. Tomorrow, I will accompany another Library Trustee, Dr. Hollis Wiseman, Library Director Betty Suddeth and Referrance Librarian Ilse Krick on a trip to the Tuscaloosa, Alabama Public Library to study it's RFID security system. That's radio frequency identification. For now I'm going to sign off and read some more of Memoirs of a Geisha. I'm halfway and am entranced by this book. More about it later.