Molly Ivins Won't Keep Quiet, Thankfully

Molly Ivins facing third round of cancer
Nigh hairless, not hopeless, Austin writer won't let disease keep her quiet.

The California native, who grew up in the tony River Oaks section of Houston, fielded her latest (and third) cancer diagnosis around Thanksgiving. Surely she could be excused for feeling sorry for herself or slowing down.

"Actually," she said, "I feel pretty good." Renewed chemotherapy appears to be helping.

Ivins has all but forbidden gifts of food and other items. She was overwhelmed with well-intended advice and goodies after she wrote of her initial diagnosis of breast cancer in 1999. The outpouring kept her from telling readers of the recurrences in 2003 and two months ago, her assistant, Betsy Moon, said.

Lately, Ivins has urged friends and fans to give instead to The Texas Observer, a liberal biweekly of politics and literature run on a shoestring for 51 years. Ivins, co-editor with Kaye Northcott from 1970 to 1976, even let the magazine put her face on a $10 gourmet chocolate bar available online and at the magazine's ramshackle Austin office.

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