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CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
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WHEREAS, The Lone Star of Texas shines a little less brightly |
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today with the loss of the fearless, funny, independent-minded |
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journalist Molly Ivins, who died in Austin on January 31, 2007; and |
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WHEREAS, Born Mary Tyler Ivins in Monterey, California, on |
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August 30, 1944, she was the daughter of Jim and Margot Milne Ivins; |
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after her family moved to the River Oaks neighborhood of Houston, |
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Ms. Ivins attended St. John's School, where she was the editor of |
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the student newspaper; and |
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WHEREAS, She developed her love of the outdoors during hiking |
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and sailing trips with her family; she also received her earliest |
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training in political debate through lively and freewheeling |
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discussions with her father on the issues of the day; and |
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WHEREAS, Following in the footsteps of her mother and |
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grandmother, Ms. Ivins attended Smith College in Northampton, |
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Massachusetts, graduating with a bachelor's degree in journalism in |
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1966; she also attended the Institute of Political Sciences in |
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Paris and earned a master's degree in journalism from Columbia |
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University in New York; and |
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WHEREAS, Her long and colorful career in journalism began |
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with summer jobs as a reporter at the Houston Chronicle, where she |
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was known for her interest in socially significant stories; her |
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first full-time job was with the Minneapolis Tribune, as the |
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paper's first female police reporter; she also created her own |
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"Movements for Social Change" beat at the paper, writing about, as |
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she later put it, "militant blacks, angry Indians, radical |
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students, uppity women and a motley assortment of other misfits and |
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troublemakers"; and |
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WHEREAS, Returning to Texas in 1970 to become co-editor of |
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the Texas Observer, she further developed her distinctively witty |
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prose and populist stance; she took great pleasure in the high style |
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of Texas politics, calling it the best free entertainment in |
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Austin; she later called her years at the Observer "a happy, golden |
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time, full of sunshine and laughter and beer"; and |
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WHEREAS, In 1976 she moved to the New York Times, working as a |
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political reporter in New York and Albany, and then as the Rocky |
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Mountain bureau chief in Denver; in the staid culture of the Times, |
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she stood out by wearing jeans, working barefoot, and bringing her |
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dog to work, and she often sparred with the editors over her love of |
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jokes and salty metaphors; and |
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WHEREAS, She returned to Texas in 1982 as a columnist for the |
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Dallas Times Herald, where her strong opinions and pointed wit |
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amused and sometimes outraged the paper's readers, often at the |
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same time; when subscribers complained and several advertisers |
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pulled their ads, the paper responded by putting up billboards in |
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Dallas that read, "Molly Ivins Can't Say That, Can She?", which |
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became the title of her first book, a collection of her columns; and |
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WHEREAS, After the Times Herald folded in 1993, she wrote for |
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the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, and then began her syndicated column, |
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which has been carried twice weekly in 400 newspapers nationwide; |
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she compiled several collections of her columns, and with Lou |
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Dubose she wrote two best-selling volumes on national politics; and |
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WHEREAS, Over a long and storied career, Ms. Ivins won many |
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awards, including the William Allen White Award from the University |
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of Kansas, the Eugene V. Debs Award in the field of journalism, and |
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the David Nyhan Prize from the Shorenstein Center at the Kennedy |
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School of Government at Harvard University; she was a finalist for a |
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Pulitzer Prize in commentary in 1985 and 1988; yet she often used |
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her awards as trivets during dinner parties and said that the two |
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honors she valued most were having the Minneapolis Police |
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Department name their mascot pig after her when she was covering |
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them, and being banned from speaking on the Texas A&M campus during |
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her Texas Observer days; and |
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WHEREAS, Considered by many to be a crusading satirist on a |
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par with Mark Twain and Will Rogers, she will be remembered by her |
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many readers across the nation for her deeply held convictions, her |
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plainspoken but pungent prose, and her unsparing wit; she will also |
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be remembered for her appearances on 60 Minutes, The MacNeil/Lehrer |
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News Hour, NPR's Morning Edition, and other programs where she |
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explained to the nation the mysteries of her home state in a sly |
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Texas drawl; and |
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WHEREAS, Molly Ivins never wavered in her love of Texas; she |
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was straight-talking, passionate, boundlessly energetic, and |
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always the funniest person in the room; a brilliant raconteur and |
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hostess, she opened her home to a lively crowd at a monthly event |
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known as Last Friday; a true and loyal friend, a brilliant writer, |
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and a tireless campaigner for the causes she believed in, Molly |
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Ivins will be remembered by all as a force of nature, a woman who |
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lived life right to the end without the brakes on, with style and |
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spirit and great good humor; now, therefore, be it |
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RESOLVED, That the 80th Legislature of the State of Texas |
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hereby honor the life of Molly Ivins and offer sincere condolences |
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to the members of her family: to her sister, Sara Ivins Maley; to |
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her brother, Andy Ivins, and his wife, Carla; to her nephew, Drew, |
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and her niece, Darby; to her niece, Margot Hutchison, and her |
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husband, Neil, and their children, Sam, Andy, and Charlie; to her |
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nephew, Paul Maley, and his wife, Karianna, and their children, |
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Marty, Anneli, and Finnbar; and to her other relatives and many |
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friends; and, be it further |
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RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution be |
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prepared for her family and that when the Texas House of |
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Representatives and Senate adjourn this day, they do so (though |
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she'd scarcely believe it herself) in memory of Molly Ivins. |