An upcoming panel discussion on Louisville native Hunter S. Thompson will include remarks by Dr. Eric Roorda, a political science professor who is surely one of the late writer's biggest fans at Bellarmine University.
Roorda said he was immediately excited when he was invited to be part of the panel on Thompson.
"For years I’ve preached that Hunter S. Thompson was prophetic, and I’ve often assigned his writing in my courses," said Roorda
In a recent class on U.S. history, Roorda said he used four of Thompson's books and two essays about Louisville: “A Southern City with Northern Problems” and “The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved.”
Tickets to the event are $14 and include admission to an exhibit focused on Thompson's unsuccessful 1970 campaign to become sheriff of Colorado's Pitkin County on the "Freak Power" ticket. The event, part of a citywide
Year of Gonzo, is free for museum members.
The other panelists are:
- Stephen George, Louisville Public Media's president
- Pam Platt, former Courier Journal editorial director
- Tom Eblen, former Lexington Herald-Leader columnist
- Mark Hebert, a former political reporter who is now director of programming and production at the University of Louisville
Roorda holds a bachelor's degree from the College of William and Mary, and a master's and doctoral degree from Johns Hopkins University. Earlier this year, he spoke at TEDxBellarmineU on the life of Rev. John Loftus, Bellarmine's founding academic dean.
That presentation was titled "
The Peace Loving Soul of Bellarmine University."