Iconic Dolly Parton is a force of nature. Her penchant for staying busy, even during a pandemic, makes even myself look like a slacker. Anyone who knows me, knows that nothing stalls my hustle. I wrote, produced and directed three short films during the lockdown, for example. I also cranked out three 60 minute television pilots. Oh, and I also finished my academic degree in French and graduated from film school in 2020 – all the while running my dog walking company in Los Angeles. I got nothin’ on Dolly, though. Dolly’s proclivity for staying busy, coupled with ambition and moxie, is poetry in motion.
During lockdown, Dolly Parton released a Christmas album, a Netflix holiday musical, released the book Songteller ( a collection of her lyrics that also promotes her songwriting career), a baking line for Williams Sonoma and a signature ice cream with Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams. “It’s a way of life for me,” Dolly Parton says. Her work ethic and in-turn “star power” have never waned. It did not happen by accident. Dolly is one of the top most appealing female celebrities in the USA because she keeps at it. At a moment when most Americans are in a continual state of disagreement, Dolly Parton remains driven, positive and productive. And it was not easy. No one gave her her success. She is the 4th child of 12 siblings born in a one-room cabin on the banks of a river to an illiterate sharecropper Father from East Tennessee.
I suggest reading a Steinbeck novel to get familiar with the weight of her struggle. In a 1984 interview with Andy Warhol, Dolly said “I’m still not the success that I’m going to be.”
I couldn’t agree more. Yes, we are pained and stressed from the pandemic. But at the end of the day, it’s up to no one but ourselves to free our minds from mental slavery. Let’s take the chip off our shoulders, stop complaining and just do the work. If Dolly can do it, I reckon anyone can.
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