How wonderful is Dolly Parton? Think COVID vaccine. THAT'S HOW WONDERFUL!

We knew last spring - in our darkest hour (or one of them: Trump's still not gone) - that Dolly Parton had donated a cool million to coronavirus research. Turns out that Dolly's money:

... supported the development of the [just announced] Moderna vaccine, which shows 95% protection from the virus....The 74-year-old country music icon’s donation has also supported convalescent plasma study at Vanderbilt – treating infected people with the plasma of others carrying antibodies against the virus – as well as the development of several research papers pertaining to the virus. (Source: The Guardian)

I'll be happy to get whatever vaccine they have for me when they start asking us geezers to roll up our sleeves and get injected. But Moderna believes it will be able to produce a billion doses by the end of 2021, so maybe I'll be one of them. Plus Moderna's just over the salt and pepper bridge in Cambridge - a hop, skip and a jump from where I live. I can walk over and get vaccinated. That said, I think I heard that Moderna's vaccine doesn't need to be stored at the extreme cold temp that Pfizer's vaccine does, so it will probably end up distributed in places that have less sophisticated medical centers. 

But I'm a Dolly fan, so it would be kind of fun to get a Dolly dose, wouldn't it? 

When Dolly's COVID-related donation was announced in May, Pink Slip did a bit of an ode to her. So we all know that in addition to her support for medical research, Dolly has plenty of other philanthropy going on. Her big thing is the Imagination Library, a literacy program that sends a book each month to kids, from newborn up until the age of five. The point is to instill a love of reading. To date, about 150 million books have been distributed by her organization. 

I already have a love of reading, instilled in me as a very young child. I don't recall ever not loving books. So I'll just say the Imagination Library helps instill in me even more love for Dolly.

Anyway, I wanted to say thank you to Dolly, so I made a small donation to the Imagination Library. And I went an ordered her new damned Christmas album, even though I don't need yet another damned Christmas album. And if I did, I'd want one that was made up entirely of classics. When I put on a Christmas album, I want to sign along. The last new-fangled Christmas song I liked is All I Want for Christmas Is You, which seems new-fangled to me, but which is - amazingly - 26 years old. Looks like I'll be learning some new tunes this year, but I don't imagine I'll be adding anything new to my personal playlist. 

Of course, all I really want for Christmas is COVID over and Trump gone. 

Thanks to Dolly, one of those is on its way to becoming a reality.