Molly Ivins

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Mary Tyler "Molly" Ivins (August 30, 1944 – January 31, 2007) was an American newspaper columnist, political commentator, and best-selling author from Austin, Texas.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early Life and Education 1.2 Professional Life 1.3 Death 2 Writing style 3 Quotations 4 Awards 5 Bibliography 6 References 7 Notes 8 External links

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early Life and Education

Ivins was born in Monterey, California and raised in Houston, Texas, graduating from St. John's School. In high school, she was active in extracurricular activities, including the yearbook staff. She had her first pieces of journalism published in The Review, the official student newspaper, and later became co-editor of the arts section. She participated frequently in theater productions and earned a lifetime membership to Johnnycake, the drama club.

She matriculated to Smith College, earning a BA in 1966, and then earned a master's degree at Columbia University's school of journalism. She then studied at the Institute of Political Science in Paris for a year.^[1][2]

[edit] Professional Life

Her first newspaper job was in the complaint department of the Houston Chronicle, followed by the position of, as she put it, "sewer editor," responsible for reporting on the nuts-&-bolts of local city life. She went on to the Minneapolis Tribune, where she was the first woman police reporter in that city and, later, the reporter who covered a beat called Movements for Social Change, where she notes that she wrote about "militant blacks, angry Indians, radical students, uppity women and a motley assortment of other misfits and troublemakers." She left the Tribune to write for the Texas Observer from 1970 to 1976. The New York Times, concerned that its prevailing writing style was too staid and lifeless, hired her away from the Observer in 1976^[3], and she wrote for the Times until 1982. During her run at the Times, Ivins became Rocky Mountain bureau chief, covering nine western states, although the writer was known to say she was named chief because there was no one else in the bureau.^[4] Her more colorful style clashed with the editors' expectations, and in 1982, after she wrote about a "community chicken-killing festival" and called it a "gang-pluck," she was dismissed. She then wrote for the Dallas Times Herald from 1982 until the paper's demise in 1992, moving in that year to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, which was her home paper until 2001, when she became an independent journalist. Her column, distributed by Creators Syndicate at the end of her life, appeared in nearly 400 papers nationwide.

She was also a board member of the Texas Democracy Foundation, which publishes the Texas Observer in Austin.^[5]

[edit] Death

In 1999, Ivins was diagnosed with stage III inflammatory breast cancer. The cancer recurred in 2003 and again in late 2005. In January 2006 she reported that she was again undergoing chemotherapy.^[6] In December 2006 she took leave from her column to again undergo treatment.^[7] She wrote two columns in January 2007, but returned to the hospital on the 26th for further treatment.^[8] Ivins died at her Austin, Texas home in hospice care on January 31, 2007, at age 62. President George W. Bush, a frequent target of her barbs, said in a statement, "I respected her convictions, her passionate belief in the power of words, and her ability to turn a phrase. She fought her illness with that same passion. Her quick wit and commitment to her beliefs will be missed."^[9]

[edit] Writing style

Written from a generally liberal perspective, Ivins' style consisted of down-home homilies, peppered with colorful phrases to create the "feel" of Texas. When outraged by instances of what she considered malfeasance or stupidity on the part of public officials, she couched her argument in an air of stunned amusement. She enjoyed telling stories about the Texas Legislature, which she simply called "The Lege." She contended that it is one of the most corrupt, most incompetent, and funniest governing bodies in the nation—a well she dipped from on a regular basis. For example:

Practice, practice, practice, that's what Texas provides when it comes to sleaze and stink. Who can forget such great explanations as "Well, I'll just make a little bit of money, I won't make a whole lot"? And "There was never a Bible in the room"?^[10]

In 2003, she coined the term "Great Liberal Backlash of 2003," and was a passionate critic of the 2003 Iraq War.^[11] She is also credited with applying the nickname "Shrub" to George W. Bush.

[edit] Quotations

"We are the people who run this country. We are the deciders. And every single day, every single one of us needs to step outside and take some action to help stop this war." (from her last column ^[12])

"Having breast cancer is massive amounts of no fun. First they mutilate you; then they poison you; then they burn you. I have been on blind dates better than that."^[13]

"So keep fightin' for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don't you forget to have fun doin' it. Lord, let your laughter ring forth. Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce. And when you get through kickin' ass and celebratin' the sheer joy of a good fight, be sure to tell those who come after how much fun it was."—quoted by John Nichols for The Nation^[14] Original source: "The Fun's in the Fight" column for Mother Jones, 1993.^[15]

On Bill Clinton: "If left to my own devices, I'd spend all my time pointing out that he's weaker than bus-station chili." (Introduction to You Got to Dance With Them What Brung You^[16])

On James M. Collins, US Representative, R-Dallas: "If his IQ slips any lower we'll have to water him twice a day."^[17] This quotation engendered substantial controversy, with calls and letters pouring into her newspaper, The Dallas Times Herald. The newspaper turned the controversy into a publicity campaign, with billboards all over the city asking, "Molly Ivins can't say that…can she?"—which she employed as the title for her first book.^[18]

[edit] Awards

• William Allen White Award from the University of Kansas (2001)^[19]
• Smith Medal from Smith College (2001)^[20]
• Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2001)^[21][22]
• Ivan Allen Jr. Prize for Progress and Service (2003)^[23]
• Pringle Prize for Washington Journalism from Columbia University (2003)^[21]
• Eugene V. Debs Award in the field of journalism (2003)^[21]
• David Brower Award for journalism from the Sierra Club (2004)^[21]
• David Nyhan Prize for Political Journalism from the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics, and Public Policy at Harvard University (2006)^[24]

In addition to these formal awards, Ivins said that she was particularly proud of two distinct honors: having the Minneapolis police force's mascot pig named after her, and being banned from the Texas A&M campus.^[25]

[edit] Bibliography

• Who Let the Dogs In?: Incredible Political Animals I Have Known (Random House, 2004) ISBN 1-4000-6285-3
• Bushwhacked: Life in George W. Bush's America with Lou Dubose (Random House, 2003) ISBN 0-375-50752-3
• Pipe Dreams: Greed, Ego, and the Death of Enron by Robert Bryce, foreword by Molly Ivins (PublicAffairs, 2002) ISBN 1-58648-138-X
• Sugar's Life in the Hood: The Story of a Former Welfare Mother by Sugar Turner and Tracy Bachrach Ehlers, foreword by Molly Ivins (University of Texas Press, 2002) ISBN 0-292-72102-1
• The Betrayal of America: How the Supreme Court Undermined the Constitution and Chose Our President (2001) with Vincent Bugliosi (Thunder's Mouth Press, 2001) ISBN 1-56025-355-X
• Shrub: The Short But Happy Political Life of George W. Bush with Lou Dubose (Random House, 2000) ISBN 0-375-50399-4
• You Got to Dance With Them What Brung You: Politics in the Clinton Years (Random House, 1998) ISBN 0-679-40446-5
• Nothin' But Good Times Ahead (Random House, 1995) ISBN 0-517-16429-9
• Molly Ivins Can't Say That, Can She? (Random House, 1991) ISBN 0-679-40445-7
• The Edge of the West and Other Texas Stories with Bryan Wooley (Texas Western Pr, 1987) ISBN 0-87404-214-3

[edit] References

• ^ Ivins, Molly. "Bush-hater strikes again". The Free Press. October 16, 2003.
• ^ Ivins, Molly. "There Goes the Electrical Grid". AlterNet. July 12, 2005.
• ^ Ivins, Molly. "Who Needs Breasts, Anyway?" Time Magazine. Feb. 18, 2002.
• ^ King, Florence. "Author, Author!" The American Enterprise. November/December 1995 Issue.
• ^ King, Florence. "Molly Ivins, Plagiarist". The American Enterprise. September/October 1995.
• ^ Robert Siegel and Wade Goodwyn, "Molly Ivins Dies at 62 After Bout with Breast Cancer", including interviews with and commentaries by Ivins, NPR, January 31, 2007.

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• Molly Ivins tribute A tribute to Molly Ivins, written by her long-time editor Anthony Zurcher.
• Remembering Molly A tribute to Molly Ivins, written by Terry O'Rourke.
• Tribute in her own words Aired on Minnesota Public Radio, 2/1/07.
• Philosopedia mention of her dislike of organized religions
• Molly Ivins' column in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram with archives
• Stories by Molly Ivins at AlterNet
• Minneapolis Tribune article by Ivins on Honeywell protest, April 1970
• Molly Ivins' Inflammatory Breast Cancer Site
• Molly Ivins' campaign contributions
• Selected Molly Ivins quotations
• Interview excerpts on Fresh Air with Terry Gross from Oct. 3, 1991 and Oct. 7, 2003
• Texas Observer Tribute
• Guardian obituary