"In a world of Jolenes, be a Dolly" is a phrase you can buy on a plaque for your wall, a sticker for your water bottle, or a mini-sandwich board sign I bought at a Cracker Barrel in Nashville, Tennessee, last fall.

We're a nation mourning the death of Dolly Parton. She was such a hopeful, joyful presence in American culture. I'm determined to wear a little more pink and rhinestones for at least the next month, possibly longer, just as an act of gratitude and an invitation to strike up conversations about a woman who united us in a way that very few people or things seem to have the power to do anymore. The love for her expressed after her death is an indication that we have not actually lost all sense of sharing a common culture.

To be a Dolly instead of a Jolene means a lot more, of course, than not going around stealing other women's men. It means noticing the good in the world, even in our enemies. Dolly Parton........

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