Dolly Parton was one of the last truly unifying pop culture figures in America. Equally beloved by Baptist church ladies and buxom drag queens, Dolly’s Southern charm drew everyone into her orbit. This is all the more remarkable because she remained so resolutely, unashamedly proud of her Tennessee roots.
To Appalachians like me, this is something like the passing of Queen Elizabeth II. Dolly was an icon, a figurehead, a spiritual grandmother. She lived up to the comparison, giving back to the community through initiatives like her Imagination Library charity, which has distributed millions of free books to children, or by partially funding the Moderna Covid vaccine.
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