Molly Ivins

Molly Ivins (born August 30, 1944, as Mary Tyler Ivins) is an American political commentator, journalist, and author based in Austin, Texas. She is a syndicated columnist with nationwide distribution; her column appears in over 300 newspapers across the United States. Her articles have appeared in Esquire, The Atlantic Monthly, The Nation, Harper's, The Progressive, The Progressive Populist, and Mother Jones. She has been a commentator for NPR, The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, and 60 Minutes.

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August 30 - 1944 - American political commentator - Journalist - Author - Austin - Texas - Columnist - Newspaper - Esquire - The Atlantic Monthly - The Nation - Harper's - The Progressive - The Progressive Populist - Mother Jones - NPR - The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer - 60 Minutes

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Ivins was born in Monterey, California, and grew up in Houston in a staunchly Republican family. Her father was a corporate lawyer; her mother was a homemaker who held a B.A. in psychology from Smith College. She attended prep school in Houston where she and future president George W. Bush had mutual friends. Ivins made her way to liberalism on issues of civil rights ("once you realize they're lying to you about race everything else follows") and the Vietnam War. She graduated from Smith College in 1966 and later attended the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, where she recived her M.A. Ivins also studied for a year at the Institut d'études politiques in Paris, France.

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Houston - Republican - B.A. - Psychology - Smith College - Liberalism - Civil rights - Race - Vietnam War - 1966 - Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism - M.A - Institut d'études politiques - Paris - France

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Her first newspaper job was in the complaint department of the Houston Chronicle, followed by the position of sewer editor. 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."

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Houston Chronicle - Minneapolis Tribune

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1970 brought Ivins back to her home state of Texas as co-editor of the Texas Observer, a muck-raking monthly, where she specialized in covering the Texas Legislature. In 1976, Ivins joined the New York Times, first as a political reporter in New York City and Albany. She was then named their Rocky Mountain Bureau Chief. She says there was no one else in the bureau. Ivins, who is known for her colloquial, humorous style, has described her idea of hell as "being edited by the Times Copy Desk for all eternity," and she was eventually fired for referring to a chicken-killing as a "gang pluck."

Related Topics:
Muck-raking - Texas Legislature - New York Times - New York City - Albany - Hell

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In 1982, she returned to Texas as a columnist for the late Dallas Times-Herald. After the newspaper closed, she spent the next nine years with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. She became an independent journalist in 2001 and also in that year won the William Allen White Award from the University of Kansas. Her other awards include the Smith Medal from Smith College, the Pringle Prize for Washington Journalism from Columbia University, and was elected to the National Academy of Arts and Sciences. She was the 2003 recipient of the Ivan Allen, Jr. Prize for Progress and Service. She is part of the journalism network of Amnesty International and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.

Related Topics:
Dallas Times-Herald - Fort Worth Star-Telegram - William Allen White Award - University of Kansas - Smith Medal - Pringle Prize for Washington Journalism - National Academy of Arts and Sciences - Ivan Allen, Jr. Prize - Amnesty International - Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press

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She has stated that her two greatest honors are that the Minneapolis police force named its mascot pig after her and that she was once banned from the campus of Texas A&M.

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She is noted for her generally liberal views. She has stated her admiration for William Cowper Brann, a late 19th-century Texas journalist, several times.

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In 1999, Ivins was diagnosed with stage III inflammatory breast cancer. Joking about it, she said, "One of the things I said was that I had been in great hopes I would become a better person as a result of confronting my own mortality, but it actually never happened. I didn't become a better person." After two mastectomies, Ivins is now a speaker on surviving breast cancer.

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