Southern Living Magazine Covers

I was looking through some blogs from Southern Living's website and I came across this article. The article looks back at Southern Living magazine covers from 1966-1968. Almost all the covers reminded me of things that I would think about when I think of the American South.

This picture reminded me of a Southern belle.


This picture reminded me of rich, Southern aristocrats in their ruffle collared shirts and crazy, large hats, watching the Kentucky Derby.


This picture reminded me of SEC Saturdays and the saying that "Southern women know their football."


This picture just looks Southern. Two grown men are on a lake, with a hound dog, doing some bird hunting. The man closest to the dog has a smoking pipe in his mouth, looks like he has a Confederate uniform on, and he is holding a rifle. This picture is shouting, "I am the South!" Also, the caption on the bottom right reads, "They leased a Southern Plantation for hunting, fishing." That just sounds like something that a Southerner would do, right?

All these pictures showed me something that I could relate to the South. After I looked at these pictures, I went to Southern Living's website to look at the most recent magazine covers and this is what I found. This is the March 2010 issue.

I was very upset. This picture did not scream, "I am the South!" like the older pictures did. These are flowers. They have these in the North too. If Southern Living is trying to tell me that this is the South and this is what Southerners do, I would not be interested in their magazine. Is it really a Southern thing to be interested in gardening? Are plants really something that define the South? This is just too postmodern for me. I wish Southern Living would look at the South like it really is today.

-Rajeev

Images from Southern Living