February 2015: You Got to Dance with Them What Brung You (Ivins)

Post date: Feb 16, 2015 4:46:42 PM

Thanks to Katherine for hosting a group of 11 on February 11 to discuss You Got to Dance with Them What Brung You, a collection of essays by (Smith alumna) Molly Ivins. Around half of us had seen the recent play about her (Red Hot Patriot) at Berkeley Rep, which was the impetus for this book selection. Those of us who had seen the play generally felt that it did not do her justice and were especially glad to have read this collection of essays, as they gave a much broader picture of her. There was some discussion of whether her true "voice" was captured in the theatrical performance, with Deebie remarking that she'd heard Ivins speak and felt that she was much gentler and more gracious than Kathleen Turner's rather hard-boiled portrayal. All of us were struck by how relevant many of the essays are, in spite of the fact that they were written in 1999, and loved her ability to paint a picture of the absurd. Her concerns about money and politics were right on when she wrote the essays, we agreed, and things have only gotten worse since. We pondered her reaction to living in Berkeley while teaching at Cal, and Jennie pointed out that here in Berkeley she was just another liberal voice, whereas in Texas she was more visible, and enjoyed the limelight. We also felt that she thrived on having something to push against, not to mention her downright glee with the craziness of Texas politics and politicians. With Jon Stewart's announcement of his plans to leave the Daily Show fresh in the news, we were struck by how clearly Ivins had blazed the way with political reporting as comedy.

As might be expected, the talk turned to other political issues (how to achieve campaign finance reform, ranked choice voting, dismal off-year election voter turnout) and it was nice to be at the home of Katherine Gavzy, since she's the president of the Oakland League of Women Voters and more than usually informed on such subjects.