My hero.

I just went to the Washington Post website to check the weather forecast, and happened to catch sight of a headline telling me that Molly Ivins just died of cancer. She was only 62 years old. I didn't even know she had cancer.

I don't really have heroes, or even role models, exactly, but Molly Ivins was my exception. I knew hardly anything about her (as evidenced by the fact that I didn't even know she was sick), but I saw her speak at Smith my freshman year and was completely blown away by her. It was parents' weekend and the weekend of the new college president's inauguration, and in its honour there was a panel discussion by Smith alums. At this point, to be totally honest, I don't really remember what the discussion topic was, but I think it had something to do with women in the working world. It featured Gloria Steinem (class of '56—ten years ahead of Molly Ivins), and she was the main draw to the panel, but although she was interesting enough, Molly Ivins was about ten times as interesting, much wittier, and generally more original. She had a lot of things to say about women in the workplace and the way that the professional world is often set up so that women are forced to choose between a career and a family. And even though I had heard it all before, it didn't sound old to me at all. That was when I decided that if I had a hero, it would be Molly Ivins.

She was amazing. It is truly sad to see her die so young.