“I’m not offended by all the dumb blonde jokes because I know I’m not dumb… and I also know I’m not blonde.” – Dolly Parton. #BOTD ready for a thread. #DollyParton

One of Dolly Parton's earliest singles (which she didn't write) was "Dumb Blonde." She knew going in who she was, what she wanted to look like, how she was perceived, and she was never anybody's fool about it. #DollyParton https://t.co/Ufj8MYNKJj
I love Dolly Parton's stuff with Porter Wagoner. (I love her in duets, in general - but these, in particular, have an intensity and sincerity you can feel.) Here they are performing "We Found It". Heart-piercing. #DollyParton https://t.co/BoKuNGw3MH
Speaking of Dolly and Porter, the Drunk History episode about this collaboration and breakup ... is hysterical. He loves her so much. He slaps the table at the end! I love people who care this much about things. https://t.co/eHCOt2uiI7
A compilation of Dolly singing "Seeker" on different occasions. it's one of my favorites. #DollyParton

https://t.co/s82ZSn3J78
I've said this before: I don't have artistic "litmus tests" for people in terms of friendship. Relationships are more important than that bullshit. But if you don't like Dolly? If you lead with a crack about wigs/boobs/surgery? We will never ever be friends. Bye.
This clip keeps disappearing from YT, so watch it while you can. Dolly Parton joins Jerry Reed onstage to give the woman's side of things in his hilariously titled "She Got the Goldmine, I Got the Shaft." (I ship these two. I think THEY ship themSELVES.) https://t.co/WMbIJ84Hlx
Her recent "Lover Du Jour" is so great. She's got such a wonderful sense of humor about herself. I love the Wild West opening. And the sassiness. And how she laughs at herself in the end.
https://t.co/u265mrvz9x
Here's the gorgeous duet she did w/Don Henley. Saw an interview w/her where she said she came into the studio and realized the song was a little bit higher than she expected. she really had to dig deep to get there. I love her honesty. And the result!
https://t.co/mZKX0TYTmG
Mad props to Dolly for what she has created with her Imagination Library. I'm the daughter of a librarian. This is such a meaningful project. Life-changing.
https://t.co/HU0ZsSunbH
Let's not forget how controversial some of her early songs were. Radios wouldn't play much of it. She wrote about tough topics. Sex, men. The double standard. Or “Down From Dover,” where she’s a woman waiting for the father of her unborn child to return. https://t.co/d1izrnR6Tn
The YouTube reactor community has discovered Dolly Parton. They are all blown away - particularly her "storytelling" story songs - and it is very moving. Here is my favorite. I love these twin brothers. They are so OPEN. To EVERYTHING.
https://t.co/huFT614PYW
Closing out this monster thread with: I visit this clip often. It is very emotional. When she walks into Paídi Ó Sé's Pub in Ireland, unannounced, causing a flurry of excitement, and does a little acoustic set. It makes me so happy my heart explodes.
https://t.co/5M0HyK8I0O
There's a moment where she reaches out and touches guitarist Steve Cooney- and the look on his face looking up at her... the RESPECT there, but also the AWE that he is playing w/ Dolly. He has died and gone to heaven. 😭
AND on the flip side: HER respect of THEM. She's Dolly Parton. She's an international superstar. But they are her colleagues during this set - they are fellow musicians - and that's how she treats them. This is how it should be.
She has always had a direct channel to her audience. Nothing has interrupted that two-way current of love and identification and admiration. There aren't too many artists where I think "I AM GRATEFUL YOU EXIST." But I think it about Dolly. Often.
Dolly fans: your faves? Anxious days, let's spread some love.
I should have mentioned TRIO, the album with Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt. It was on constant rotation among my group of friends in college. Perfect harmonies.

More from Society

So, as the #MegaMillions jackpot reaches a record $1.6B and #Powerball reaches $620M, here's my advice about how to spend the money in a way that will truly set you, your children and their kids up for life.

Ready?

Create a private foundation and give it all away. 1/

Let's stipulate first that lottery winners often have a hard time. Being publicly identified makes you a target for "friends" and "family" who want your money, as well as for non-family grifters and con men. 2/

The stress can be damaging, even deadly, and Uncle Sam takes his huge cut. Plus, having a big pool of disposable income can be irresistible to people not accustomed to managing wealth.
https://t.co/fiHsuJyZwz 3/

Meanwhile, the private foundation is as close as we come to Downton Abbey and the landed aristocracy in this country. It's a largely untaxed pot of money that grows significantly over time, and those who control them tend to entrench their own privileges and those of their kin. 4

Here's how it works for a big lotto winner:

1. Win the prize.
2. Announce that you are donating it to the YOUR NAME HERE Family Foundation.
3. Receive massive plaudits in the press. You will be a folk hero for this decision.
4. Appoint only trusted friends/family to board. 5/
Two things can be true at once:
1. There is an issue with hostility some academics have faced on some issues
2. Another academic who himself uses threats of legal action to bully colleagues into silence is not a good faith champion of the free speech cause


I have kept quiet about Matthew's recent outpourings on here but as my estwhile co-author has now seen fit to portray me as an enabler of oppression I think I have a right to reply. So I will.

I consider Matthew to be a colleague and a friend, and we had a longstanding agreement not to engage in disputes on twitter. I disagree with much in the article @UOzkirimli wrote on his research in @openDemocracy but I strongly support his right to express such critical views

I therefore find it outrageous that Matthew saw fit to bully @openDemocracy with legal threats, seeking it seems to stifle criticism of his own work. Such behaviour is simply wrong, and completely inconsistent with an academic commitment to free speech.

I am not embroiling myself in the various other cases Matt lists because, unlike him, I think attention to the detail matters and I don't have time to research each of these cases in detail.

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