No more Molly

Molly Ivins is dead. It makes me sad. She was an inspiration to me. Tough and funny and Southern and iconoclastic. And when I lived in Texas for a summer at the tender age of 21, her coverage of Governor Ann Richards and the antics of “the leg” helped nurture in me an interest in local politics, which sadly, still remains.

I’m not the only one who’s sad:

NewsComa

She made me want to be better, and have a hard edge with a smile on my face, ignoring adversity. She asked the hard questions, and took a beating sometimes. She never pretended that she wasn’t human, and she made me want to write editorials for a newspaper. She created an environment where she trusted that newspapers had an objective voice, against the odds of ownership and political pressure, regardless of shrill critics.

Katie Allison Granju

tonight I just want to say that Molly Ivins made me want to write better. She made me laugh my ass off many times. And unlike most of the rest of the American press circa 2007, she never, ever, ever stopped asking the hard questions, or digging deeper.

George W Bush

Molly Ivins was a Texas original. She was loved by her readers and by her many friends, particularly in Central Texas. I respected her convictions, her passionate belief in the power of words, and her ability to turn a phrase.

Did Molly make me want to be better? Nah. But that doesn’t mean she didn’t inspire me. To be even more irreverent in the face of local politics. An approach that now pays my mortgage.

Read more tributes to Molly at The Texas Observer

Make mine a double

There’s a fair bit of turmoil over at Suburban Turmoil. All over whether to drink or not to drink at a play date. Really, how are you going to get those kids to relax and nap unless you spike their bottles?

No apparently, the controversy is whether it’s morally reprehensible or not for moms to have a wee glass of wine while they sit around shooting the breeze watching their kids play. This apparently all stems back to a piece on The Today Show featuring people I’ve never heard of (I’ve been away for a while.)

That’s why I was pretty damned irritated to watch Meredith Vieira attempt to rip Melissa Summers of Suburban Bliss a new one in a Today show segment on cocktail playdates.

All, I can say about this is…is well, only in America. (Or maybe Saudi Arabia.) Good lord people, we’re not talking about mother’s ruin here. In England, this topic would be laughed right out of the road. And apparently a lot of American mommy bloggers are just as perplexed by the furore, via Blonde Mom Blog:

It’s tempting to criticize others for their parenting choices. Sometimes I drink a glass of wine or a beer in front of my girls. Does that make me a bad mother?
…
All kidding aside, when next year’s presidential candidates discuss the issues that are of utmost concern to the average parent, moms occasionally drinking a glass of wine in front of their kids will not be part of their talking points.

Now of course, in England, the middle classes generally are louches. It’s quite common for parents to finish off a bottle of wine between themselves of an evening. And while I’m not sure about the concept of the cocktail playdate, families with small children getting together and serving food would almost certainly serve alcohol as well.

Playdate, London style (Thanks Northwestern Library)

To drink or not to drink

I was recently asked by colleagues if I had cut back on my alcohol consumption during pregnancy. (Note people said “cut back” not “quit”.) I replied since I was always more a binge drinker than an every day drinker, the pregnancy thing had definitely but a dent in my lifestyle. What I meant by that is I do keep bad company and we did have a habit of knocking back a few of the weekend – but for most of the year I’m not in the habit of drinking every day. Clearly that style of drinking is not appropriate during pregnancy.

But I’ll admit – I probably still drink a half-glass to a glass of wine each week – and no more than a half-glass at one sitting – and during a formal meal. You might as well start as you mean to go on…

I’m very much aware that my hard drinking days are probably over for quite some time, but I will continue to drink. And in England, at least, that will go completely unremarked upon.

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HT to NiT