08/28/2026
Well, s**t.
Last year I started writing a book about the end of the world. It’s basically about plants taking over, ousting humans from our alpha-prime position, demoting us, essentially, to houseplant status while harvesting our qualia (our vibes, basically) in a virtual reality-like network run by The Plant Nation and plant-powered AI humanoid robots. (Wish me luck when I start shopping for an agent for that 🥴)
Somewhere along the way, Dollie (with an ie) showed up - a seventy-something Black former Dolly Parton impersonator who spent her younger years performing from Memphis to the Gulf and, apparently, never saw any reason to stop dressing for the part.
Dollie has been wandering around the apocalypse with bottle-blond hair, rhinestones, sequins and red satin pants ever since.
This week, while finishing the book, I wrote a scene where Dollie sings her smash hit ‘I Will Always Love You’ as Moxie, Jack, Earl, and Petty (some other main characters) leave her behind in Nashville.
And then Dolly Parton died.
So I’ve been having a little Post Parton Depression.
As somebody who was partially raised by a Nana who started life as a poor little farm girl from a holler just on the other side of the Smokies from where Dolly was born and raised, Miss Dolly was always special to me, like a famous Auntie I didn’t ever get the chance to meet. My Nan, a few years older than Dolly, is luckily still with us, and I was always thankful to Dolly for showing her that a barefoot little mountain girl who came from a little less than nothing could be such a big something to so many.
Here are a few of my favorite Dollie moments, written while the real Dolly was still very much alive. xox
