Dolly Parton was caring, generous, smart and kind, a good businesswoman and beloved by people of all backgrounds. She knew what she didn’t know and would have joyfully recruited people who knew more than her to her staff or a Cabinet.
She represented beautifully what’s best in America. Rest in peace, Dolly.
— Mark McKelvey, Chicago
Appropriate tribute to Parton
So many flowers have been laid in tribute to Dolly Parton. I think (and Dolly would agree) that if just one flower was purchased and $10 donated to a food pantry in her name, that would be a better tribute to a remarkable woman.
— Jacqueline Nussbaum, Wilmette
‘Jolene’ offers important lesson
Congratulations to Chris Jones (“Why I loved Parton and her Dollywood,” Aug. 26) for his truly original and historically significant front-page homage to Dolly Parton — the “one American” who “belongs to everyone,” as Jones accurately notes — as well as for Tess Kenny’s excellent, down-to-earth coverage (“‘How do we go back to normal?’ Chicagoans mourn death of Parton,” Aug. 26) of Chicagoans’ tribute outside Edgewater’s Lytle House at the mural honoring the legendary queen of country music.
America, not just the industries and institutions Parton gently touched, has lost a wonderful human being and perhaps the one American everybody in America genuinely loved and admired.
She never took explicit political sides. But if I had to choose one of Parton’s teachings that would make a positive difference today and in the years to come at the White House, the Pentagon, Capitol Hill and the Supreme Court, it would be what she implores Jolene to do in her unforgettable 1973 song by the same name: Don’t use power against anybody “just because you can.”
“Jolene, Jolene, Jolene. I’m begging of you, please don’t take my man. … Please don’t take him just because you can.”
Parton taught us, directly and indirectly, why we should care about our fellow human beings, no matter our gender and sexual orientation, no matter our skin color, no matter our political preferences and no matter our economic realities and privileges — all while always uplifting those who needed to be uplifted.
Thank you to Parton for all she did and how she did it! Rest in peace.
— Alejandro Lugo, Park Forest
Parton earned her plaudits
Don’t get me wrong. I liked Dolly Parton as much as the next guy or gal, but her demise is being treated as though a head of state has passed. In fact, flags have been lowered to half staff through the weekend. But then we do love our celebrities, don’t we?
At least on this occasion, the plaudits have been earned, and her modesty precedes her to the grave.
Safe travels, Dolly!
— Bob Ory, Elgin
Parton never forgot her roots
It’s difficult to believe that singer-songwriter, actress, businesswoman and philanthropist Dolly Parton is no longer with us. Parton was dazzling and simply larger than life with an over-the-top personality that simply radiated. And there is no question that Parton gave at least 150% of herself when she performed and will no doubt be remembered as one of the greatest performers of the 20th and 21st centuries.
From humble beginnings to great success, Parton never forgot her roots. Goodbyes are always sad, and Parton will be sorely missed.
— JoAnn Lee Frank, Clearwater, Florida
Tribune’s neglect of the Sky
I was truly disheartened to see the Tribune story on the front page of the Aug. 26 Sports section (“Team owner Alter defends Kanter Freedom’s ejection”). The story is about the brouhaha between a publicity-seeking former NBA player and talented Chicago Sky player Natasha Cloud.
Throughout this WNBA season, I have been waiting for the story that would earn the Sky space on Page One. Maybe when Sydney Taylor hit a last-second 3-point shot Aug. 1 to beat last year’s WNBA champion the Las Vegas Aces? Or maybe when Taylor repeated the performance last week to defeat the current second-best WNBA team the Golden State Valkyries? Or maybe Cloud’s recent stellar outing against the always-competitive New York Liberty with 35 points, nine rebounds and six assists?
No. No. And no.
Instead of admiring and celebrating these athletic moments, the Tribune gave oxygen to a misogynistic male slug. Sky owner Michael Alter is quoted but not Cloud or a single Sky player.
Come on! We the sports fans of Chicago deserve better.
— Toni Coorlas DiOrio, Clarendon Hills
Tide turning against misogyny
Regarding the op-ed “The Tate brothers and the amplification of misogyny” (Aug. 24): Jodi Bondi Norgaard is right to argue that every click, share and view helps determine what our culture rewards. Andrew Tate’s influence is a story about what happens when misogyny becomes profitable, entertaining and, eventually, influential.
But there is another part of cultural change worth considering: how something goes from being considered normal to being considered unacceptable.
Revisit enough comedies from the 1980s or ’90s, and someone will inevitably say, “Well, that didn’t age well.” A joke about sexual harassment or a woman’s appearance can now make an audience uncomfortable. No law required that change. The culture changed. We stopped celebrating those ideas. Eventually, they lost their status.
We can do the same with misogyny. And we should not mistake backlash for evidence that we have failed to make progress. History suggests the opposite. Major advances in women’s autonomy have often provoked efforts to reassert older hierarchies. A figure such as Tate does not mean women have lost ground. It may mean the ground is being contested. Women have made enormous gains in education, employment, political power and legal rights in a single generation. The backlash is real, but so is the progress that produced it.
That means more than simply refusing to click. We can name the people and companies profiting from content that degrades women and then vote with our dollars. We can choose not to buy their products, watch their shows, subscribe to their platforms or give our attention to people whose conduct and values we find unacceptable.
And we should say why we are opting out. Naming something as unacceptable is part of changing the norm around it. Publicly saying, “I don’t support this, and I won’t spend my money or attention on it,” is a form of accountability.
We have changed social norms before. Domestic violence was once dismissed as a private family matter. Sexual harassment was once treated as an unavoidable part of working life. Those attitudes did not change because everyone suddenly experienced a moral awakening. They changed because society gradually stopped accepting, excusing and rewarding them.
Misogyny will not disappear overnight. But it can lose its cultural status. At some point, future generations should encounter Andrew Tate the way we encounter some of the movies that “didn’t age well”: as evidence of how far the culture has come.
— Melissa Breger, professor, Albany Law School, Albany, New York
What public service can teach
The idea of mandatory national service, outlined in U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi and Scott Galloway’s Aug. 24 op-ed (“Mandatory service can renew young people’s faith in America”), has long been something my husband has espoused. A Vietnam War-era veteran, Bud credits his time as a draftee for opening his world to the diversity of our country that the ethnic community he grew up in did not provide. Due to Parkinson’s disease, he can no longer speak or write, so I am writing for him.
Our country’s youths need a gap year to get to know each other, learn how government works for us and make an investment in the country that they can be proud of.
— Margaret Sents, Glenview
Note to readers
Construction on Chicago streets and bridges this summer has created headaches for many drivers. We’d like to hear from you about your frustrations with the delays and the city’s management of the closures and detours. Send a letter of no more than 400 words by Wednesday, Sept. 2 to letters@chicagotribune.com. Be sure to include your full name and city/town.
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