All hail Queen Dolly

Jana does a fine job of introducing herself, and she says pretty much what I was going to say, so I'll just let her say it:

Hi, Erin’s readers! I’m Jana and I blog at Jana Says and I’m thrilled to be guest posting here while Erin is back in the U.S. It’s going to be hard filling in for her but I’ll try. There more I get to know Erin, there more we realize just how much we have in common. So it came as no surprise to either of us that we both have a shared, unabashed love for, of all people, Dolly Parton. Two rocker chicks who love Dolly. How great is that? I mean, how can you not love Dolly? She’s an icon, fabulous, and pretty much all around one of the greatest entertainers and songwriters ever. And not only that, she’s in Steel Magnolias, which is a movie I quote almost daily. While you might not enjoy Dolly’s songs or Steel Magnolias as much as I do, here’s some things about her you’re sure to appreciate:

1. She keeps her private life private. In an age where we have celebrities shoved down our throats and in our faces hourly, and where celebrity marriage last as long as a roll of toilet paper, Dolly has been married to her husband Carl for 49 years and finding a picture of him is about as rare as finding a unicorn. I love that about her, keeping her husband out of the spotlight (from what I understand, at his request, too) and her marriage away from chronic gossip.
2. She owns an amusement park. Dollywood. In East Tennessee. Where she’s from. Dolly grew up in poverty and when she had the money, she bought the amusement park as a way to keep businesses and jobs in her home county.
3. She’s ridiculously accomplished. Dolly’s written thousands of songs, is an EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony) nominee, is tied with Beyonce as the most Grammy nominated woman EVER (she’s won a bunch, too), is in more Hall of Fames than would be fun to read, and she’s been honored with a bunch of humanitarian awards. Oh, right. And she wrote “I Will Always Love You” and we all know what that did for Whitney.
4. She started The Imagination Library. Like she did with Dollywood, she founded it to help her home county. The premise of the program is to increase literacy and foster a love of books among preschoolers by sending them one age appropriate book per month. FOR FREE. And there’s no income requirement. It’s expanded since it’s inception and now, almost one million kids from the US, Canada, Australia, and the UK are registered. And it’s all been done with very little publicity.
5. She says stuff like this (all images found on Mashable):

  I know that, on the surface, Dolly’s all big hair and rhinestones and makeup and plastic surgery and fake boobs but underneath all of that, is a fiercely talented, smart, savvy, creative businesswoman who embraces who she is with no excuses. It’s a special kind of awesome.  

I love this post because Dolly is fantastic and Jana is awesome and all the reasons Jana loves Dolly are reasons I love Dolly.  One more thing that I have to mention about Dolly: her look isn't unique.  In fact, she admits that she was inspired to fix her hair, do her make-up, and wear her clothes fashioned by the local backwoods hooker from her hometown.  And she OWNS that.  She owns her fake boobs, her wigs, her nails, her nips & tucks, and her vanity.  I admire and love that about her. 

Photo source