Cape Karen
Living in the Great Smoky Mountains, you learn all about Dolly Parton, whether you want to or not. She was born right here in Sevier County, and her bronze statue sits outside the Town Hall in Sevierville. Her theme park, Dollywood, reigns supreme in Pigeon Forge, and her many relatives have businesses all over the place.
Every year, in April, there is a Dolly Parton parade down the main drag called The Parkway, to officially open Dollywood for the season. I have yet to go and see her in person because I don't like the crowds, having to fight the traffic and trying to find a place to park. Maybe this year I'll make the effort, and I'll bring my digital camera along. I really do admire her, and I'd like to see that surgically-shaped body up close.
I have, inadvertantly, learned a great deal about Dolly in the nine years I've lived and worked here, and it's all been positive. There isn't one blemish on this woman's character; her fame is not just about glitz and glamor, her medically-manufactured big boobs, or her well-earned tons of money and multiple Grammy Awards. Not at all!
This is a woman who has risen from absolute obscurity and extreme poverty. A woman who was raised in a sibling-crowded family shack, without any running water, deep in the Tennessee mountains. And, today, she is one of the most well-known and well-loved personalities of our times. She is obviously intelligent and talented, has a wonderful sense of humor, and she has done many good things for this, once nonexistent, 'vacationland' community ~ an area that now receives over 15 million visitors a year.
How many of us could have achieved what she has achieved, especially given those humble beginnings?
The first-ever cloned sheep was named for her because it was cloned from a mammory cell, and she even has her own beautiful "Dolly" rose. Now, that's fame for sure!
Perhaps, Dolly Parton might be considered a rather strange role model for women, if it were only based upon her choice of dress and her enhanced body image; but, as far as her many talents, her intelligence, her business savvy and her good character ~ we women could do a whole lot worse!
Posted by Karen at October 26, 2005 11:29 AM