"I beg your Parton?" 🤍 Advice column

Drops tonight at 6pm ET

For those of you who may be curious as to how I came up with the concept for “I beg your Parton” I wanted to provide a little background into how my love for Dolly Parton and strong southern women began.

Dear Dolly,

I’m not sure how old I was when my fascination, for southern women began, but I owe a large part of it to you.

My formative years were spent being raised by a single mother and Designing Women, A Different World, and Steel Magnolia’s often hummed in the background.  These women often came from picturesque tiny towns, dotted with magnolia trees and nosey neighbors.  

Jasmine Guy played Whitley Gilbert on A Different World. I loved watching her and Dwayne’s relationship on the show.

They had names like “Whitley”, “Truvy” and “Scarlet”.  I didn’t know anyone at school with names like that, but they sounded incredibly fancy. Their wardrobe choices were often femininity personified as if Laura Ashley had exploded all over the screen.

 I can’t pinpoint exactly if it was 9 to 5, or Steel Magnolia’s when you first inhabited my TV screen, but I remember being transfixed. I thought all the obvious, unoriginal six-year-old thoughts; how beautiful you were, how one day I wanted to look just like you. But even at that young age, there was something else about you. Something I didn’t quite have the words for yet. It was the same quality though; the same shared thread that held all these enigmatic southern women I had grown an attachment to over those formative years.

Saturday afternoons my mom would put on a movie, and I would be busy brushing the pastel manes of my little pony’s, while these women’s voices became the soundtrack to my afternoon.  It wasn’t just the accents, which I undoubtedly loved. It was the sharp wit, the often-biting comeback that made the men on the screen flinch. I really liked that.

It was during those Saturday afternoons I watched my mother, exceptionally beautiful and fiery but forced into a demure role by society’s standards. Taking on more than her fair share from the world like most single mothers do. She exerted a kind of strength that was more covert, hidden. I watched her ability to power through trying circumstances day after day.  I was too young to see it fully or appreciate it at the time.  When I think back to these women, I realize they were just like my own mom.

So the genesis of “I beg your Parton?”🤍 in many ways is simple. When I’ve faced different crossroads in my life (and there have been many), outside of close family and friends I have often reflected on what the women I’ve admired (from afar) might say when presented with life’s challenges. How would they handle a manipulative boss, an absent significant other, or would they set me straight when I knew I wasn’t being the friend I knew I could and should be.

So, what if you had the opportunity to ask Dolly Parton, anything. Sounds kind of amazing right?

Well, out of deep respect for the cultural icon that is Dolly Parton, I wanted to honor and reflect on some of the best advice she’s given to all of us over the years. Those have come through her music, her books, various interviews, and podcasts.

I will, of course, be giving my two cents as well (I mean come on, it’s me) but I’ll be sharing Dolly-isms, throughout this journey.

I must say, I didn’t expect the response I’ve already received in terms of questions for “I beg your Parton?” 🤍. Some of you are funny!

I’m grateful though, and I encourage you to share your own words of wisdom if you feel so inclined. Let’s have fun with this while honoring Dolly. 🤍

Please submit all questions/comments to: ibegyourparton19@gmail.com

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Dolly Parton is not only a well-respected public figure but an individual whose name and likeness will be referenced through verified and copyrighted quotes from the artists. Any mentions of a narrative outside of publicly identified quotes are entirely fictional. My imagined dialogue for Dolly Parton abides by the known facts of her as an amazing human. Aka, this requires imagination and, at the very least, a sense of humor.

Please consider donating to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library: Here