Field Note #7: Bug or Feature.

Here’s an idea I learned in software development about a feature that started as a bug, really an unfixable bug, so it got to become a feature. A good thing.

That’s exactly how I retroactively experienced Dolly Parton. 

I would’ve thought it was a bug that my bosom was twice the size of the rest of my body, but she let it be a feature. And that’s just one of the things.

I don’t know how I would possibly have been able to do that, given the ideas I inherited about women’s bodies.

But she did. Not only that, she entirely capitalized on it. Not that it didn’t blow back on her, but she just let her bosom carry her through her entire life as a feature accompanying other things she let blossom, such as her voice, her ability to write songs, to speak with her twang, to be everything she was, full out. Apparently the bosom didn’t cause her the problems I would’ve feared.

Knowing that makes me ever more curious about Dolly.

Back to software. When we were making computer games, there came the inevitable moment where the time for creating became the time for shipping, ready or not. I remember Studio Director Kelly Flock at LucasArts saying “everyone asks “is it done?” When the more important question was “is it good?” And I remember being on the development side, testing, testing and at some point, when a bug could no longer be ‘fixed’, of necessity it became A FEATURE.

When I think about Dolly Parton, I see how she used everything about herself as a feature, even though others might have declared it a bug. Her proportions. Her twang. Every single bit of it added up to Dolly Parton. A woman the whole world seems to agree was a success beyond anyone’s wildest imagination. 

I look around and see people’s idiosyncrasies and see features. I say to myself, “that’s awesome. I wonder what they’re doing with that?” Like - do they even realize the opportunity? 

Today I turn it around upon myself. My idiosyncrasies that appear to be flaws? They’re part of the total magic. 

What are you doing with that, Robin?

Today I harvest.