ustxtxb_obs_2007_02_09_50_00020-00000_000.pdf

Reprinted by permission of The Austin American -Statesman 11.10; 0111111,11.13,, eano Lo iL o y 11 100,1 “194411:1111K-0,46″!th”—Irlit. trr 51-t. t, r7r,t! e lrlf / t / an rr, ‘ “fret, 1″r wolf ia 4tt, three Texas themes are religiosity, anti-intellectualism, and machismo. They all play well politically …” Then she went on to analyze Bush in terms of the narrow, privileged part of Midland, where he had partly grown up. She quoted a Texas ACLU board member who was asked if there had been any problems with gay-bashing in Midland. “Oh, hell, honey,’ she drawled, ‘there’s not a gay in Midland who will come out of the closet for fear people will think they’re Democrats.'” Molly’s legendary ability to laugh and to make others laugh was not just a skill she happened to have. She believed in it; it was part of her stance toward the world. She knew that nobody who battles against war and injustice, discrimination and poverty, can do so for a lifetimeand certainly can’t expect to get others to come on board without laughter, without enjoying the very fight itself. Nothing can serve as a better epitaph for her than this ending to one of her Mother Jones columns; she was writing about someone else, but I think she was also writing about herself: “On the occasion of the bicentennial of the Constitution, the ACLU was fixin’ to lay some heavy lifetime freedom fighter awards on various citizens and one of ‘ern was Joe Rauh, the lawyer who defended so many folks during the McCarthy Era and the civil rights movement \(note that the Raugh was sick in the hospital at the time and asked a friend of his to go down and collect the award for him. His friend went to see him in the hospital and said, ‘Joe, what you want me to tell these folks?’ “So there was Rauh lyin’ there sick as a dog, thinking back on all those bad, ugly, angry timesthe destroyed careers, the wrecked livesand he said, ‘Tell ‘ern how much fun it was. Tell ’em how much fun it was.’ “So keep fightin’ for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don’t you forget to have fun doin’ it. Lord, let your laughter ring forth. Be outrageous … rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce. And when you get through kickin’ ass and celebratin’ the sheer joy of a good fight, be sure to tell those who come after how much fun it was.” Adam Hochschild was a co-founder of Mother Jones. He has written for numerous newspapers and magazines and authored several books. 20 THE TEXAS OBSERVER FEBRUARY 9, 2007