RIP, Molly Ivins
The "People I'd Like to Meet" section of my MySpace page has yet another person with "RIP" beside their name tonight.
A respected but either loved or hated political journalist and inspiration of mine, Molly Ivins, died today at 62, claimed by the cancer she'd been fighting for some years now.
The self-described "hellraiser" was a newspaper reporter and columnist in Texas and unrelenting critic of Republicans, the good ol' boy system and, lately, the present Bush Administration. Her humor, wit and blunt, often abrasive style were introduced to me in high school by one of my most influential teachers, the one who inspired me to study journalism after serving for two years on West Florence's newspaper staff. I've read and own some of Ivins' books and kept up with her columns (irregulary, I'm ashamed to admit) in the Fort Worth Star-Telgram.
I credit at least some of my irreverence, dislike of the status quo and The Right to her style. She never, ever backed down and was never afraid to speak her mind through her columns. The news of her death is saddening to me and I'll greatly miss her influence on the American political scene.
A respected but either loved or hated political journalist and inspiration of mine, Molly Ivins, died today at 62, claimed by the cancer she'd been fighting for some years now.
The self-described "hellraiser" was a newspaper reporter and columnist in Texas and unrelenting critic of Republicans, the good ol' boy system and, lately, the present Bush Administration. Her humor, wit and blunt, often abrasive style were introduced to me in high school by one of my most influential teachers, the one who inspired me to study journalism after serving for two years on West Florence's newspaper staff. I've read and own some of Ivins' books and kept up with her columns (irregulary, I'm ashamed to admit) in the Fort Worth Star-Telgram.
I credit at least some of my irreverence, dislike of the status quo and The Right to her style. She never, ever backed down and was never afraid to speak her mind through her columns. The news of her death is saddening to me and I'll greatly miss her influence on the American political scene.