Photograph by Stephanie Eley
Speaking with famed stripper Blondie (real name: Anita Rae Strange) is a ride: You have to hang on, but you can’t wait to hear what she says next. When we chat by phone, she’s in her hotel room in Decatur. Blondie recently had to find a new place to live, but she remains unfazed. “I got on my T-shirt that says, ‘Pray about everything, worry about nothing,’” says Blondie. “It’s my favorite T-shirt because that’s what I do. I don’t worry about nothing.”
The 67-year-old Blondie is best known for her supreme ability to crush beer cans with her breasts. She’s been doing it since 1979 at Clermont Lounge, where she still dances a few nights a week. “I’ve gotten bruises on my breasts from doing certain cans, so I only do Pabst Blue Ribbon now,” says Blondie. But she also taps into another creative side: that of a poet.
Blondie took writing classes at Emory University in the ’90s, where she dipped her toes into all sorts of writing formats: articles, shorts stories, and more. She even wrote op-eds for a long-gone magazine called Sideshow. In one from the ’90s, she ruminates on gay pride (some may say it still rings true today): “I don’t care who they sleep with, just run our country. What’s the problem to me is that the politicians committing adultery and accepting bribes are the same politicians who won’t allow same-sex marriages.”
It was poetry, however, that really resonated with Blondie. She taps into everything, including giving thanks to “different things that have happened in my life.” Blondie even wrote a poem about Mick Jagger, who gave her a shout-out at a concert at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in 2021 (sadly, she was home sick with a cold). On our call, she reads me a poem, a sweet musing on Thanksgiving:
We gathered together on this holiday
to give thanks to the Lord for the good that has come our way
lest we forget to help others as well,
but they are not able to provide for themselves
friends and family and those
we love dear
will celebrate this occasion
from far and near.
These days, Blondie doesn’t dedicate as much time to poetry as she used to. Instead, she focuses on her prayer, which she does first thing in the morning for about three hours a day. She prays for everyone and everything: friends, the local KFC, enemies. She even added me to her list. Things aren’t easy for the stripper laureate, but she’s unflappable.
“You can’t stop me from just keeping on keeping on,” says Blondie. “I’ve never had Covid and I did more drugs than everybody, so I’m just very blessed.”
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This article appears in our February 2025 issue.
