Dolly Parton, became a torch bearer for everything that was positive, appreciative and playfully fun in the American way of life. Coming as she did from a poor Appalachian family, she appears to have never lost the common touch that could easily reach over boundaries of class, race or gender. Her superlative songwriting ability saw her accumulate many musical accolades. And with the wealth and the fame, she consistently found new ways of putting them to beneficial use. Whether that was distribution of free books or funding the development of life saving vaccines. She demonstrated how to put your good fortune to the benefit of the disadvantaged. Founding numerous trusts to support philanthropic causes that will continue helping beyond her own death. The honest good heartedness of this woman was truly exemplary.
Dolly's image, the way she chose to dress, became over the decades a deliberately self constructed parody. In this she exemplified the Quentin Crisp maxim that you should do deliberately what you previously did by nature or accident, in order to get the joke onto your own terms. She saw Dolly Parton as this persona she adopted, that she could quite easily have become a drag queen. And she was more than willing to publicly send herself up, which was simultaneously endearing and disarming. Because no one could accuse Dolly of being performative, ingratiating or disingenuous, because she never hid who she was, the boobs, the plastic surgery, the ridiculousness of showbusiness fame. She made it all seem so natural and unaffectedly true to her life. She was one very impressive human, that everyone will mourn the loss of.
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