We all knew this day would come, but it doesn’t make it any less brutal. Dolly Parton was my first influence in entertainment and is largely why I wanted to be a performer. She was funny and glamorous – a combination I was always told can’t exist. She did not tolerate disrespect, but handled it with class and grace, and showed us that the best way to handle disrespect is often with playful humor. The best response to disrespect is to not take it too seriously or that validates it. And it seemed the more sexism she faced, the more she doubled down on her femininity: the more people made fun of her hair, the bigger it got. The more people criticized her make up, the more make up she wore – a true gangster. She was a shining example of what it means to be what being American was supposed to mean: tolerant, fair, fiercely original, contrarian, hopeful, and ambitious but not at the expense of other people. All the times I wanted to give up, and when I thought the solution was to just act more like a dude, dress more like a guy, downplay my femininity, she reminded me that being a woman can actually be fun if you don’t let ‘em get you down. At one of my most lost moments, I saw this quote of hers and it changed my brain, “"find out who you are. And do it on purpose.” I am not entirely sure where we go from here, but I think its fair to say Dolly, we will always love you.
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