02/10 - Merced College

Blue Devils’ Advocate News Page 6
The Great of Gonzo Gone at 67
By Megan Kumler
Advocate Staff Writer
famous pieces include Fear and Loathing in Las
Hunter S. Thompson, the father of gonzo journal- Vegas, The Great Shark Hunt and The Campaign
ism, died at 67 from a self-inflicted .44 Trail of ”72. He was also called the father
bullet to the head late Sunday afternoon of —gonzo journalism“, a term picked up
in the comforts of his home located from a fan letter which applies only to
outside of Aspen, Colorado. His son, him. He wrote about the whole scene, and
Juan Thompson and grandson William not just about one part of the experience.
were at the home at the time of the He did not miss a single piece of the
suicide. —I believe he thought it was his action. If it wasn‘t writing about politics
time to go,“ his son said to the USA and superbowls, it was letting the world
Today. know about drinking and drugs.
As a journalist, I believe that every Thompson, a member of the National
writer would like to be able in some Rifle Association, enjoyed his dobermans
way or another to write and express and hand guns and liked to —get loaded on
themselves like Thompson, but that will Hunter S. Thompson mescaline and fire my .44 out into the
truly never happen, because there was only one dark, that long blue flame.“ People
Hunter S. Thompson. There is not a big market in connected with him and many have written about
modern journalism for alcohol and drug-induced him since our time of loss. I would like to say cheers
rambling that Thompson patented with his writing. to him, and that your memory will live on in the
He was short from a genius as a writer. Some of his minds of many.
By Jessica Dugan
Advocate Staff Writer
Death of a Playwright
The title of America‘s greatest living playwright is
now up for grabs. On February 10, Arthur Miller died
at the age of 89 of heart failure at his Connecticut
home.
The play that put Miller on the map was 1949‘s
Death of a Salesman, for which the play won the
New York Drama Critics Circle Award, three Tony
Awards and a Pulitzer Prize. Salesman tells the tragic
story of Willy Loman, a regular guy losing his grip of
reality. He is fired from a job that he barely got by on
by a boss young enough to be his son; while his rival
is living large and doing better than Loman. Miller‘s
view of the American Dream won him both acclaim
and criticism by critics everywhere.
In 1953, as an allegory for McCarthyism and the
Red Scare, Miller wrote The Crucible, which is
based on the events surrounding the 1692 Salem
Witch Trials. In the 50‘s, the world was obsessed
with Communism and anyone associated with
communism was blacklisted immediately. Miller
himself was jailed for withholding the names of
people suspected of Communism to the House
Committee of Un-American Activities. When Miller
adapted the Crucible into a movie in 1996, it earned
him an Academy Award.
Some say his five year marriage to Marilyn
Monroe put him on the media map. During this time,
Miller‘s work disappeared until the 1961 The Misfits
which was a screenplay written with Monroe as a
character. It was directed by John Hughes and was
Monroe‘s last completed film.
Twenty-five plays and four screenplays later,
Miller‘s last award was received May 1, 2002 from
Spain-the Principe de Asturias Prize for Literature as
—the undisputed master of modern drama.“