nehing CANADIAN MAGAZINE FOR WOMEN JUNE/JULY 1974 $1.00 Out MS. MOTHER GOOSE MIRIAM MANDEL - AWARD WINNING POET POLITICS - NELLIE McCLUNG AND AFTER WOMEN IN MUSIC QUOTE CANADIAN! Contents Every Issue Staff letters Coordinating editor editorial whose name? Meg Shatilla 3 Susan McMaster both sides now the mating game Judy Sinclair 4 Fiction here and there Roberta Kalechofsky Susan McMaster perspectives the affair Ellie Tesher 35 Helen Rosta book ends - Diary of the Seduced Roberta Kalechofsky 39 Meg Shatilla people in this issue Non-fiction Sharon Batt Mary Alyce Heaton Features Naomi Loeb Susan McMaster Political women in the west Marilyn Assheton-Smith 7 Meg Shatilla Ms. Mother Goose Nancy Mi/far 10 Art and photography Ifl Bater quotes Canadian Alice Baumann-Rondez the federal election Mary Alyce Heaton 18 lona MacAllister June Sheppard woman in the media Dona Harvey 22 Crete Schnepper Where are the recommendations of yesteryear? Georgina Wyman 25 Promotion and advertising Women in music should we be surprised? Beverley Ross 37 Sharon Batt Cheryl Boon Women in the Arts Eleanor Norrie Production Karen Bardy My prairies Miriam Mandel 12 Alice Baumann-Rondez Three photographs Eunice Willar 13 Maureen Carrington lona MacAllister Fireplace Eva Van Loon 16 Beverly Mack Juliet of the geriatric ward Elizabeth Brady 21 Janice Riddel Grey Mrs. Old Valerie Stuart up from the mattress Pascale Taquine 30 Business From: Chou Dynasty Book of Odes submitted by Evelyn Blakeman 32 Mary Alyce Heaton Possessions Susan Musgrave 33 Promise I made to friend Sparkle Hayter 36 For Marcus (in memory of times) Branching Out is published every two months by the New Women's Magazine Society, Edmonton, Alberta. Please send all correspondence to Box 4098, Edmonton, Alberta T6E 4T1. Submissions should be typed, double-spaced and accompanied by a stamped, self-addressed envelope. Advertising rates are available on request. Volume 1, Number 2, June/July 1974. June/July 1974 1 Congratulations on a super March/ I am pleased to inform you that a April issue. Canadian women have pre­ Citizenship Development grant of cious few publishing outlets and it's $2,500.00 has been awarded to your encouraging to see more springing up. organization. You will be receiving a cheque in the near future. Pat Davies, Fiction and Poetry Editor, It is encouraging to learn of the letters Miss Chatelaine objectives of your organization. I am certain that the proposed activities will contribute to the quality of com­ Glad to hear about Branching munity life. Out. Down here in rural N.S., where May I offer you and the members We welcome letters to Branching I'm branching out as a tow-truck of your organization my congratu­ Out on any topic. We lations and best wishes for success. reserve the right driver, male chauvinism is of the part­ to edit letters, and will assume we may icularly virulent, macho-frontiersman J. Hugh Faulkner Secretary of State publish part or all of any letter strain; your magazine, I hope, will be received unless the sender states otherwise. like vitamin therapy for my soul. Until today, when I heard a Shelia Connell Chester, Nova Scotia snippet of an interview on CBC radio's This Country in the Morning I was delighted to find it a good look­ broadcast, I was unaware such a pub­ I applaud the concept of a Can­ ing, interesting, serious, and varied lication was available. As an ex-home­ adian (!) feminist publication. The lay­ magazine....! believe very deeply that steader's daughter, ex-farm housewife out and content of the two issues I what women publish should be very and currently underemployed journal­ have read is first class. I wish you con­ good because we are still vulnerable to ist, I'm very interested in exploring tinued success in your presentation of comments which suggest that we can't Branching Out and assessing present a forum for feminist opinion, report­ write or argue or report as well as men. feminine trends as reflected in its ing and talent. So, keep your standards high. pages. Marion Alblas Allan Vancouver, B.C. Jean Mallinson West Vancouver, B.C. Jean M. Holt Slave Lake, Alberta I was surprised to find myself en­ I've had disappointing experiences joying the short story and the poetry with some women's publications, since in this issue - I've always been they operate on a shoestring and have heavily non-fiction oriented. (Who am a very uncertain lifespan. I hope your I kidding, I usually don't even under­ publication enjoys a long and healthy stand poetry. I keep repeating to life. myself "green symbolizes rebirth, Janet Carney Halifax, Nova Scotia water means spiritual cleansing.") In short, the "Women in the Arts" sect­ ion was especially pleasing for me. Very few people understand what Candy Fedoruk Edmonton, Alberta courage, talent, labor and love are needed to launch any magazine today Your enterprise, courage and - let alone one of the obvious quality ambitions are admirable and your you are producing. magazine, Branching Out is a work of The response of your readership art. I congratulate you. However, the indicates already that you can attract a application of a little soap and water loyal and perceptive following, and my in the right places would do no harm. hope is that the business world will Education should carry some refine­ now have the good sense to lend a de­ ment and dirty language is offensive, served and helping hand by way of the as are the tales of a slut no matter how advertising so necessary for any pub­ artistic the framework. Surely educa­ lication's survival. tion gives us better words to express The varied range of subject matter ourselves than those too often seen on gives Branching Out national appeal. public washroom walls. Pollution is in­ In addition, there is depth, decency Picked up your magazine in sidious and pops up in unexpected and honesty to the contributions that Jasper. Very good! Keep aiming for places. Also, are we so superior we can today's readers will surely welcome. quality....An honest interview [with a refer to the members of any one Can­ I salute you and truly wish you man] would be interesting. There are adian industry as "stupid"? well. All concerned deserve the highest lots of manly guys who don't belong In this struggle for equality let us praise for their efforts. to "Men in Groups". They're the rare civilized birds and we don't hear pause from time to time and take a John Patrick Gillese, Director enough from them. good look at ourselves. We should like Literary Arts Branch, Department what we see. of Culture, Youth and Recreation Doreen M. Wilson Burlington, Ont­ Mary Langley North Battleford, Sask. Government of Alberta ario Branching Out EDITORIAL whose name? "Only a very complicated girl,"said our bewildered by it. Many do not know how to ad­ lawyer, "would keep her own name when she mar­ dress me, not understanding that it is exactly the ried." That is probably the most interesting same as it always was. I often wonder about our reaction to the fact that, when I married, I retained postman, thinking how confused he must be when my maiden name. Other reactions range from he finds mail to Ms. or Miss or Mrs. Shatilla, Mrs. scepticism to tolerant amusement to a "how could Shatilla-MacDonald, Mrs. MacDonald, and so on. you do that to your poor husband" attitude. He has not quit delivering, though, so he must be I could and I did. I don't know where or when managing. the desire to keep my own name began, but the As for my "poor husband", he was in favour more I thought about it, the more determined I of my retaining my name. He felt that if it were was to retain it when I married. At the time the important for me to do so, then I should. He does reasons for keeping my name were hazy, but they not feel insecure or any less a husband because.of hinged on a dislike of the idea of being just "Myles this, contrary to what some people think. He has MacDonald's wife", which I later realized was a even taken in his stride being called Mr. Shatilla the fear of losing my identity. People argue that there couple of times it has happened. is nothing in a name and this may be so, but as I Many women who marry today are retaining have not found one good reason to take another their names. Some others who married and who name, I am keeping mine. Besides, I like my name. took their husbands' names are going back to their And, the time has come to start breaking a few names. There are many, too, who would like to go customs. back to their names but are uncertain of how to do When I decided to keep my name (I hate the it and so may put it off or forget about it entirely. expression"maiden name") I was not even certain The two main things to remember are that that I could. I did not know if there were laws in there is no law in Canada requiring you to take Canada stating that women had to take their hus­ your husband's name, and you never lose your own bands' names. As it turned out, there are no laws name. However, going back to your name may vary to this effect, but this does not mean that every­ from province to province.