MOLLY IVINS TO SPEAK IN FINAL QUEST 2000 EVENT ON "TRUTH, MEDIA, SPIN AND THE 2000 ELECTIONS"
Jan. 2, 2001
Molly Ivins, syndicated political columnist and best-selling author, will be the featured speaker in the final program of Quest 2000, "Truth, Media, Spin and the 2000 Elections," Jan. 17 at 7:30 p.m. at the University of Richmond.
On stage at the Modlin Center for the Arts, she will discuss news coverage of the most controversial presidential election in American history.
Never one to pull punches when observing political truth, Ivins recently published "Shrub: The Short but Happy Political Life of George W. Bush." Written with Lou Dubose, it offers frank assessments of the president-elect, such as "George W. Bush is a wholly owned subsidiary of corporate America" and "If you think his daddy had a problem with the 'vision thing,' wait 'til you meet this one."
Tickets are required but available free on a first-come, first-served basis from the Modlin Center box office (804-289-8980). In addition to the live program in Alice Jepson Theatre, a big-screen, closed circuit telecast of the event will be presented simultaneously in Camp Concert Hall, where tickets will not be required.
"Nobody can or does ignore Molly Ivins, and no one questions her honesty," says philosophy professor James H. Hall Jr., director of Quest 2000. "Her basically liberal stance will rattle the cage for most of our basically conservative community. That will be good for us."
The university's Quest program seeks to involve the entire campus in the year-long examination of a single, penetrating question posed by a student. The winner, selected by faculty, receives a year's full scholarship (or cash equivalent, if a senior). Quest 2000's topic, "Is truth in the eye of the beholder?" was submitted by then-senior Larina Orlando, formerly of Warrenton, Va., and now a graduate student at the University of Virginia.
The Richmond Quest 2002 competition is already underway. Students must submit their questions and rationale by Jan. 31, and the winner will be selected in the spring.
Ivins will bring her experience, insight and formidable wit to bear on the question in a lecture opening the program. She began her career in the complaint department of the Houston Chronicle and, as she puts it, rapidly worked her way up to the position of sewer editor. She served a stint at the Minneapolis Tribune before returning to Texas as co-editor of The Texas Observer, a magazine covering the legislature and other political and social stories.
In 1976, Ivins joined The New York Times as political reporter, first covering City Hall, then the statehouse in Albany. The Times later made her Rocky Mountain bureau chief covering nine states. She returned to Texas in 1982, honing her success as a syndicated columnist, writing two bestsellers, and penning articles for Esquire, Atlantic, The Nation, Harper's and other major magazines. She is a frequent guest commentator on network television and radio.
She earned a bachelor's degree from Smith College and a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University, and studied at the Institute of Political Science in Paris.