Dolly Parton for President. Seriously.

A college professor built a whole course around Dolly and I would like to enroll and live in it forever.

We are less than a month out from the launch of Everyone is Lying to You. That means I have to ask everyone to get those orders in! Preorders are like votes to the publisher and the booksellers. They determine how many copies get printed, how much publicity the book gets, and where it’s placed in stores.

The Instagram algorithm doesn’t want you to read this book. It would prefer you keep scrolling, stay compliant, and never question why we watch women perform perfection for free. That’s why preorders matter. They’re not just clicks, they’re acts of defiance

You get this substack for free for a year when you order!!! A truly excellent deal for about $15 plus a book.

Here is the Amazon link. I know it is often the easiest one. This is a list of more purchasing options, but it is also available at a lot of indie bookstores and you can get signed copies mailed to you here and here. Tour stops are here!

I love Dolly Parton so much it hurts. Like physically in my body. Jolene makes me weep every time and every single one of her songs are like poetry for various stages of my life.

My friend Regan has interviewed Dolly in person before. I’ve never gotten to and I am incredibly jealous. In fact the picture of Regan and Dolly comes up every time Regan calls me. It is perfect and Regan (who writes the glorious Substack The Carry-on and is the cofounder of the travel guide company Saltete) told me Dolly was as wonderful in person as we all imagine her to be.

Today’s newsletter is designed to bring you joy as we dive into Dolly’s mantras and philosophies that just make life a little bit better, which is exactly what we deserve right now.

The other day I was thumbing through the Wash U college magazine (Nick Aster went there) and I found out that there is an actual course being taught at Wash U called A Diamond in a Rhinestone World: The Performance and Politics of Dolly Parton. The syllabus is built on her music, her films, her philanthropy, and even her theme park. It uses Dolly as a lens to talk about race, class, gender, sexuality, and capitalism in America.

It might be the most hopeful thing I’ve come across in a long time.

So I invited the creator of the class, Will Bonfiglio, onto Under the Influence to talk about why Dolly Parton is the one woman who could actually unite this godforsaken country.

From Dollywood to “9 to 5” to her million-dollar vaccine donation, this is a conversation about kindness, the good kind of capitalism, and why Dolly Parton is an uber influencer in the best possible way. Also you have to read about Dolly as this summer’s fashion inspo in In Style magazine this week.

Here’s some more from my interview with Will about Dolly’s philosophies, how she can help us find hope in an often hopeless feeling world.