The Southern Issue - Atlanta Magazine

Atlanta Magazine


How Southern Are We? What does it mean to “be Southern,” and how do we fit into the picture? Does it even matter? Birthplace of both Margaret Mitchell and Martin Luther King Jr., Atlanta embodies the collision of Old and New South myths. Read about our identity crisis Essays Grounded We knew it was hard to starve in the country by: Daniel Black The south holds memories of my people. Beneath blistering suns and torrential rains, we toiled that someone else might prosper. Read More 0 0 Don’t You See? We gossip because we care by: Kathryn Stockett Technically I’m Southern because I was born on the corner of State and Carlisle in Jackson, Mississippi. But I suppose that’s not what we’re talking about here. Read More 1 1 Just Being Myself I’ve spent decades  analyzing Southern identity, but that doesn’t mean  I can explain my own by: James C. Cobb Asking someone who has made a career out of studying Southern identity to share his feelings about being a Southerner himself is a bit like asking a dermatologist to describe his own skin. Read More 0 0 Growing Home Family roots are perennial by: Isabel Wilkerson The first thing i did was plant marigolds in  the red earth. I didn’t know what I was doing or why I was doing it. I didn’t especially like marigolds. Nor would they last long in the shade garden I had acquired upon moving to Atlanta. Read More 0 1 Southern Kosher It wasn’t easy being God’s chosen in Alabama by: Hank Klibanoff You have asked me, as a Southern writer, to produce a short personal essay on my Southern identity. I cannot do it. Read More 0 0 Interwoven My piece of africa came by way of Mississippi by: Ronda Racha Penrice When I got to New York, it was an entirely different story. As a Columbia student in the early 1990s, I found the self-professed NYC melting pot very anti-South. Read More 0 0 My  Haunted South I’m trailed not so much by guilt, but ghosts by: Rachael Maddux The South is supposed to be haunted—crumbling houses and graveyards crowded with specters, spirits dripping like Spanish moss from ancient gnarled trees. Read More 1 1 10,000  Souths I may seem like a prototypical Southerner. But there is no such thing. by: Charles McNair To most of the world, I’m your standard-issue Cracker, a good ole boy who loves his mama and bourbon and Jesus (order subject to change). Read More 0 0 Photo Essay If there’s one time of week that Atlanta is indisputably Southern, it’s Sunday morning View Album MORE SOUTHERN STORIES A mountain feud · Our food scene must move past Southern clichés · Is there an Atlanta accent? · Examining "bless your heart" and everything else · Where does Dirty South come from ? · Classic and contemporary works of Southern entertainment · Emory's expert on predicting elections · Natasha Trethewey on poetry and identity · Spreading grandmother's ashes all over Atlanta · The state of biscuits · Hollis on collards MORE IN THE MAGAZINE Honey Boo Boo and other signs of the apocalypse · A mathematical examination of four Southern glossies · The ritual of cotillion > Get it all in the digital edition > Learn about the digital edition	Ham Style Hospitality Staycation Quiz How Southern are you? Do you know your SEC from your ACC? Got Grandma's sweet potato pie recipe? And what do you know about potlikker? Measure your Southern IQ Stats Behold, the results of our "How Southern Is Atlanta?" survey, which ran on our site in July 2012. Featuring your thoughts on sweet tea, the SEC, and saying "Yes, ma'am." See all the stats Pig Tattoos Pork dominates Atlanta's menus, so it should be no surprise to find pigs adorning the tattooed arms of our restaurants cooks. View a slideshow of tattooed chefs A Southern Feast Carvel Grant Gould's She-Crab Soup with Hot Butter Crackers Linton Hopkins's Southern Greens Darryl Evans's Fried Chicken over Cracklin’ Cornmeal Waffles Darryl Evans's Sweet Potato-Macaroni Soufflé Aaron Russell's Fried Apple Pie and Creamsicle Sherbet

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