Anita Thompson visited Ania Savage’s class, “Feature Writing” last Wednesday to speak about her husband Hunter’s revolutionary style of writing known as Gonzo journalism.

“Hunter always said the hardest part about being a writer is sitting down,” said his widowed wife.

The action and force of actually placing a person’s rear-end on the chair in front of the computer or pad of paper to begin writing is the hardest part about writing the story itself.

“The only two days Hunter woke up early and started writing almost instantly, was the day Dale Earnhardt died in the last lap of the Daytona 500 and the day the World Trade Centers were struck by terrorist-controlled planes and collapsed,” said Thompson.

Hunter S. Thompson’s career started off unintentionally. When he was a young boy he was drafted to the Air Force and was given the choice to either fight or be a writer for the Air Force. He chose journalism and had to learn how to write, photograph, and edit in minimal time.

“Hunter was a fast learner and picked up traditional journalistic styles very quickly, but because he was always causing a lot of trouble and goofing off, they gave him honorable discharge,” said Thompson.

His writing career blossomed from there.

Today, Hunter is known for his unique style of Gonzo journalism. The Gonzo writing style puts the author in his or her ownstory and is a first person narrative. There is very little editing in Gonzo journalism because it is characterized by the style, personal voice, and emotional tie to portray accuracy, whereas traditional journalism is a mixture of primary and secondary research, with multiple people editing the story, putting in their different opinions, and cutting it down.

Hunter took a lot of substances in his lifetime. When he was younger, his intentions for consuming these substances were because of his rebellious spirit, but in his later years he took them to enhance his writing.

“Hunter took a lot of substances to change his perspective when he was writing, so everything he wrote about had a variety of angles,” said Thompson. “His father died when he was really young and his mother was an alcoholic, so he used substances and his writing to build his own self confidence.”

Hunter also took very meticulous notes on everything he observed, like a journal, which is another factor that influenced Gonzo journalism. Sometimes when he had nothing to write about for a company, he would send in his unedited notes and the journalism organizations would publish them as they were.

Hunter passed away February 20, 2005, committing suicide after dealing with a multitude of health problems and substance abuse.

“Hunter has faith in the new generation and hopes that they can find their own voice in the competitive writing field,” said Thompson. “Hunter always used to say, ‘If you want to be a journalist, you need to find your audience, stick to your guns, and keep at it.'”

Since her husband’s death, Anita has began The Gonzo Foundation in honor of her deceased husband and his work.

“I founded the organization to promote journalism, literature, and political activism through Hunter’s memorial and writing,” said Thompson. “However, the organization is very broad, we do everything.”

Thompson, who is a journalist and writer herself, is currently writing a book on the history of Colorado and she is interested in organizing and preserving all of Hunter’s work from the past for future generations and scholars to use for secondary research.

The Gonzo Foundation is looking for interns to work on Hunter’s archives.