Minestrone

Seventeen Magazine

Pastels by Vicki Smith

Hello,

Growing up in the ‘60s and ‘70s, glossy magazine subscriptions defined what a family was interested in or their politics. Life magazine, National Geographic, Esquire, Sports Illustrated for my brother, and Seventeen for me came in the big rural mailbox weekly or monthly. In addition to magazines, the Schenectady Gazette was deposited in the paper box daily, and the New York Times was purchased at Veeder’s drugstore most Sundays. My dad saved issues of Life with cover stories about Marilyn Monroe, Queen Elizabeth riding on an elephant during a tour of India, and the Warren Report on JFK’s assasination. The only Esquire issue that survived has a cover story entitled “A Man’s World in N.Y. City.” I’m sure he held onto publications that defined the times. Perhaps he even thought they would have monetary value someday, but he could not possibly foresee digitization and the way collectibles have been devalued since the rise of eBay. Tagging along to the beauty parlor with my mother was marked by the cheesy tell-all magazines that chronicled the love lives of movie stars and were leafed through by patrons sitting beneath bubble-shaped hair dryers. My mom subscribed on and off to various women's magazines that featured recipes and home decorating tips, but they were never stored away in the attic.

By the time a girl turned seventeen, she had probably outgrown Seventeen magazine, but for the those early teen years, it was an aspirational tome of what your school wardrobe could look like. Helen Valentine transformed a movie review magazine into Seventeen, becoming the first magazine that catered to and recognized the spending power of teenage girls. She had previously worked at Mademoiselle, a publication that focused on women in college. All 400,000 copies of the first issue of Seventeen, published in 1944, sold out within six days. Estelle Ellis, the visionary promotional director, created marketing materials called “Life with Teena,” including stylized line illustrations of Teena, a composite reader of the magazine, that are now archived at the Smithsonian. These publications included statistics about the average reader that were mailed to prospective advertisers. Teena was described as 16 years old, 5’4” tall, 118 pounds, a public high school student expecting to attend college, marry, and become a housewife. To its credit, Valentine wanted Seventeen to represent well-rounded readers with interests beyond fashion and dating advice, such as science and current events. I can’t say that I remember those.

This recipe for minestrone appeared in the magazine, and I still make it occasionally. My mother had the recipe mimeographed at the school where she taught to share copies with friends. It makes for a hearty dinner or lunch served with a chunk of crusty bread. I recently discovered the Seventeen brochure, pictured below with my high school charm bracelet, tucked away in a bookcase. Yoga and jogging, both relatively new to Americans in the 70s, are featured along with drawings of very waif-like teens pursuing their exercise of choice. I eventually wound up doing black and white spot illustrations for Seventeen. The magazine exists only online today and, thankfully, represents a broader spectrum of teenage girls. Needless to say, they don’t need to survey their readers today, as our preferences are noted every time we go online.

Minestrone

Ingredients

16 oz. Cannellini beans, cooked

1/4 lb. bacon

1 lb. sweet Italian sausage

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 large onions, chopped

1 c. sliced celery

1 large zucchini, sliced

1 c. diced turnips

1 c. sliced carrots

1 can (28 oz.) diced tomatoes

4-6 cups chicken stock

1/4 t. ground pepper

1 large bay leaf

2 t. salt

2 c. finely shredded cabbage

1/2 c. uncooked macaroni

grated parmesan

chopped parsley

Directions

Cook bacon and sausage in a large Dutch oven. When bacon is crisp and sausage is browned, remove from pan and discard all but one tablespoon of the drippings. When the sausage has cooled slightly, slice it and return to the pan with garlic, onions, celery, and carrots. Stir well and cook for one minute. Add turnips, tomatoes, 4 cups of the stock, salt, pepper, bay leaf, and basil. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for one hour. Add additional stock if needed. Add macaroni, cabbage, zucchini, and beans. Cook for 15 minutes. Serve topped with parsley and parmesan.

Do you or did you own a charm bracelet?

Thanks for reading,

Vicki