Molly Ivins: A Rebel Life

Finally got through "Dearly Beloveds," the depressing last chapter of Molly Ivins: A Rebel Life, a good 2009 biography by Bill Minutaglio and W. Michael Smith.

Molly Ivins? Think Maureen Dowd, Texas-style, or H.L. Mencken and Jon Stewart combined -- or maybe Dorothy Parker riffing with George Carlin.

Ivins pushed herself nearly to the end, writing, speaking and engaging with multitudes of friends and acquaintances and political enemies. She was sharp, and complicated, and lucky not to have burned out as quickly as Jim Morrison or Janis Joplin. She made it to 62, to the year 2007.

I learned a lot from this book. Ivins would be a terrific subject for a documentary along the lines of yesterday's post.

Before finishing Molly Ivins: A Rebel Life, I picked up a copy of her first book, Molly Ivins Can't Say That, Can She? (1991). Very good collection of essays. A little snippet from her "How to Survive Reagan" gives a glimpse of her approach to life:

Beloveds, fear not, neither let yourselves despair. Rejoice, I bring you good news. As a life-long Texas liberal, I have spent the whole of my existence in a political climate well to the right of that being created by Ronald Reagan and his merry zealots. Brethren and sistren, this can not only be endured, it can be laughed at. Actually, you have two other choices. You could cry or you could throw up. But crying and throwing up are bad for you, so you might as well laugh. (-- pages 83-84).

Ivins also railed against the W. Bush presidency, and the Iraq War; and she did a lot of work for the ACLU over the years, as well.  Yes, a documentary on Molly Ivins is definitely called for. Kathleen Turner played her in Philadelphia earlier this year in Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins, a play by Margaret Engel and Allison Engel, directed by David Esbjornson (via the Philadelphia Theatre Company).  That's a start, certainly.  

Today's Rune: Warrior.