James Akenson
Being a professor ain’t always easy. People think we’re lazy and couldn’t hold a ‘real’ job if our life depended on it. It ‘don’t matter ‘one eye-oh-tuh’ what you think. I try to work hard. I want folks to think “I done good.” For all my years at Tennessee Tech University www.tntech.edu ‘I have went’ to work every day plus worked some on weekends.
So….how might I do some good for this world. Here’s one way. In Fall Semester 2023 graduate student Tyree Cripps needed one more course to round out his schedule.
Tyree Cripps was interested in an Independent Study. As an education major, he needed a topic that would do him some good in his professional development as well as be interesting to him.
What could be more worthwhile than an Independent Study course under my direction dealing with Dolly Parton? Dolly Parton champions education through her Imagination Library program to name but one of her efforts. I even have a Dolly Parton Imagination Library license plate on my vehicle.
Let’s not forget that one of my former students, Sandy Graves Puckett, is a teacher in East Tennessee. Her husband plays in a band at Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Sandy also works with Dolly archiving Dolly’s material.
So….as an exalted tenured Full Professor, shouldn’t I be able to concoct a valid Independent Study for Tyree Cripps? Maybe yes. Maybe no. But here is what I came up with.
Course description
CUED 7150 is an independent study with specific assignments. Participants must be self-directed and proactive in order to gain maximum benefit from the class. This class focuses on the career and gender role dimensions of Dolly Parton including her roles as:
- Songwriter
- Country Music artist
- Author
- Film and television personality
- Links to genre’s outside of Country Music
- Role as businesswomen and CEO and
- Cultural icon with appeal to LGBTQAI+ and other cultural groups.
Required Texts:
Oermann, Robert and Bufwack, Mary “Finding Her Voice: The Saga of Women in Country Music.” Nashville, Tennessee: Vanderbilt University Press/Country Music Hall of Fame, 1993.
Parton, Dolly with Oermann, Robert. “Dolly Parton Songteller: My Life In Lyrics” Chronicle Books: San Francisco. 2020.
Akenson, James. “Icon For The People: Good Golly Ms. Dolly. 12 December 2021.
Did the Independent Study actually require some work? Here are the specifics.
Course Assignments
- A weekly 3-5 page discussion/media presentation of reading and viewing of suggested texts/sources connected to one or more of the seven themes of Dolly from Friday 1 September through Friday, 3 November 2023.
- Two detailed lesson plans following the Generic Teaching Model format from SEED 4124 dealing with some aspect(s) of Dolly Parton’s career. Due Friday 1 December 2023.
It looks to me as if Dolly Parton could be a bit of work. I tried to link Dolly to major ideas, issues in Country Music as well as to important issues in the culture of the United States.
Actually, the issues regarding Dolly go far beyond the borders of the United States. Race, class, and gender issues don’t just belong to the United States by any means.
Let’s look at some of the tasks that Tyree Cripps produced based on Dolly. If you think Dolly is strictly about singing Country Music then you might find this discussion about Dolly as a business woman and Chief Executive Officer to be interesting. Tyree Cripps learned that:
Dolly Parton is many things: A Legend, Musician, Actor, Businesswoman and CEO. Since her step into the spotlight at a young age, Dolly continues to show her success both inside and outside the realms of country music.
Looking at Dolly as a businesswoman and CEO showshow her story of “rags to riches” has come to fruition over the course of her life. With her uncanny success in the business world, Parton focuses also on the community and the people that have helped her reach the pinnacle that she stands on today.
Looking at her Power through publishing and her success in DollyWood provides a unique insight into Dolly’s life and role as both a Businesswoman and CEO.
In this assignment, Tyree Cripps dealt with elements such as staring her own publishing company so she owned the rights to her songs including “I Will Always Love You” which pop diva Whitney Houston recorded and made iconic in the broader U.S. culture.
DollyWood theme park in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee reflects a commitment to job creation in her home region of East Tennessee with an economic impact of $1.8 billion dollars per year.
As Tyree Cripps stated “Who knows what Dolly will do next, but I am sure of two things: It will be a smart business woman’s decision along with a community centered approach.”
Tyree Cripps also wrote about Dolly and books. There are lots of books about Dolly. Tyree Cripps focused one of his assignments on Dolly’s work with the Imagination Library and as an author.
The Imagination Library works with local donors or municipalities that choose to partner with the Imagination Library to provide an early intervention of literacy amongst its child population. Dolly’s Imagination Library became an instant hit in her hometown, which prompted her to expand the program to four other countries outside the United States.
Dealing with Dolly as an author focused on works such as Run Rose Run as well as Dolly Parton Song Teller: My Life in Lyrics written in collaboration with Robert Oermann. Tyree Cripps suggested that being an icon can take a toll as seen in Dolly’s song 1992 song Livin’ a Lie.
“Livin’ a Lie” describes just how Dolly feels about the title of icon. The lyrics are as follows: “All the fame and fortune, glory and prestige can’t make you happy if it goes against what you believe. And I’ve sacrificed my honor, my values, and my pride. Livin’ and lie….livin’ a lie.”
Books are important to Dolly as an author and in her Imagination Library program to develop early literacy skills for all children. There are loads of books and articles about Dolly. You can’t escape them.
During the Independent Study, Tyree Cripps not only submitted typical written assignments, but he synthesized his research about Dolly into creative forms. Take a look at some of the less conventional ways to presenting evidence of Tyree Cripps work. Dolly In Film, Dolly Parton The Songwriter, and A Study of Dolly Parton flyers indicate that Tyree Cripps did indeed deal with a wide variety of concepts related to Dolly.
How about yet another type of presentation to show that Tyree Cripps is versatile. The Power point with narration deals with Dolly’s major educational initiatives. He concludes that Dolly is an educational icon as she is in Country Music.
But what about Dolly Parton and lesson plans? Can Dolly Parton be justified in term of lesson plans? Aren’t there more important topics from the Revolutionary War to Slavery to the Civil Rights Movement to the Vietnam War….and a whole lot more?
A fifth grade Tennessee Standard states that students should Identify influential Tennesseans from the late 20th century, including:
- Al Gore, Jr.
- Alex Haley
- Dolly Parton
- Discuss the development of the music industry in Tennessee, including (T.C.A. § 49-6-1028): • Country music (e.g., Grand Ole Opry, WSM, and the Carter family)
• Blues music (e.g., W.C. Handy and Bessie Smith)
• Rock ‘n’ roll (e.g., Elvis Presley, Stax Records, and Sun Studio)
That puts Dolly in some ‘high cotton’…as they say down South. Dolly is viewed in the same light as former U.S. Senator and Vice President Al Gore, “Roots” author Alex Haley, and is a dynamic part of the Country Music industry. We won’t even touch Dolly’s recent induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
In his lesson plans, Tyree Cripps focused on even more specific Tennessee social studies standards.
TN.SS. 61 – Identify the contributions of influential Tennesseans of the era, including: Dolly Parton
TN. SS. 62 – Identify major attractions and events that that fuel the tourism industry in Tennessee, including the impact of: Pigeon Forge (i.e. Dollywood)
Tyree Cripps stressed “In the first lesson, students will come to know Dolly as a business woman, songwriter, actress. The second lesson students will then conduct research on educational philanthropic acts by Dolly to create brochures that will be used to teach the whole class about her philanthropic acts. This study provides a unique learning experience to students while also covering curriculum standards as set by the State of Tennessee. Both lessons are gauged toward 9th-12th grade levels.”
Well now. For an Independent Study for a graduate student working on his M.A. degree I thought Tyree Cripps ‘done good’…as they say in the English Department. What did Dolly think? Well, according to my former student, Sandy Graves Puckett, Dolly approves.
Hey Dr A:
I love this and Dolly does too. Dwight showed her your email! She loves it.
Merry Christmas
Sandy
That’s good enough for me. I ‘reckon’ that Tyree Cripps did some very fine work as he explored the many aspects of Dolly. If he isn’t careful, I’m afraid he will think that he could do a PhD dissertation on Dolly. That’s fine. There still a lot that could be written about Dolly. What a woman!
