Molly Ivins passed away this past Wednesday, and with her, it seems, we’ve begun to lose part of a grander tradition.

In opinion writing, particularly for campus newspapers or journals, there is a tremendously fine line between whining, and what I’ll call introspective commentary. When it comes down to it, the best writers are the ones who know their audience, and seek to find means of exploiting this knowledge to subtly force their readers to think outside the realm of daily life and personal interest.

Molly Ivins is one of the best examples of this type of writing. Her ability to undercut political correctness, and the reputation and following she garnered across both ‘blue’ and ‘red’ states is a testament to that. She was truly capable of showing Americans, no matter what their political orientation, the importance of participation in democracy. And she liked to remind them of it.

In addition to the fact that I’ve found her to be inspirational, there are a great many other reasons I feel that her death should be particularly noted. Not only was she constantly pressing ordinary citizens to be more involved, but also she knew her stuff. When she criticized budget policies or political injustices, she knew exactly what she was talking about. I find that to be particularly admirable in this day and age.

It’s easy to lose sight of the purpose of opinion writing, and it’s even easier to spiral into a cycle of narrow-mindedness and ignorance. Actually, it’s pretty easy to suck at writing in general, especially when math and science are touted as the most important disciplines of our day and age. All the mathematical capacity in the world won’t do a thing if you don’t have the ability to communicate intelligently. Or in a language other than binary code.

I guess that what Molly Ivins’ death should really remind us goes beyond even the necessity of understanding and activism. Most importantly, especially in this time of purported growth in connectedness, is communication. To move beyond the LOLs and COS(X)s, into the realm of eloquence and compassion (not to mention wit), is really the next step.

‘ Molly Ariotti is a sophomore with a lot of majors, and fully admits that she is prone to opinion whining along with the best of them.