Issue 15: Letter From The Managing Editor

Madeleine Broome

Dear Readers,

As one who has long struggled with depression, I have developed a shorthand for saying that I have lost my way, that I feel like I want to spend a few weeks curled up in a ball watching old Law and Order reruns with the curtains drawn. During those occasions, I’ll send some message to my good friend and our Editor-in-Chief that I am having “a crisis of faith.” Having known me for several years now, she knows such crises come and go and once responded something like “Gee, Madeleine, that’s too bad. Could you put it on hold until we get the issue out?” I go through a lot for you folks.

Today, Dear Readers, I have to say that I’m having a crisis of faith, but one that deals with this publication moreso than the inner workings of my mind. The staff here has been gamely putting out the magazine for a lifetime by SL standards — a little over two years. We’re averaging slightly over six isssues a year. And frankly, I’m proud of the work. I once had a reader and fellow journalist who said that maybe not every story our all-volunteer staff put out was the best, “but the bullshit level is low” and that even when the writers weren’t the most articulate, they were honest. Well, I’ll dream of “highly articulate,” but yeah, I’ll take “honest” too.

For this issue, Eva and I finally put together what I think is a decent little story on the potential legal dangers BDSM practitioners, particularly Dominants, can face. Just doing the research opened my eyes to issues concerning consent and self-protection I’d never considered. I was also introduced to the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom, which the story shows is an organization in the United States that is working as hard as any I have come across to make people like us accepted both socially and politically. I hope everyone takes a look at the story and finds some take home message in it. It’s exactly the kind of article I’d like to be doing more of. If you are still with me through that little piece of self-congratulation, you might be wondering, “Okay, but what’s the crisis?”

I have lost count of whether it was four people or five people who originally agreed to do that article at one time or another. Each time, someone would take it, I’m sure with the best of intentions, and then it never materialized. Some folks begged off. Some were never heard from again. At least one, after a message asking “Hey, how’s that article going?” unfriended me. I think this odyssey started a year ago. And this is my crisis, Dear Readers — I am unsure how many more stories that have honesty and some level of articulateness and usefulness we can continue to put out if we don’t get a few more writers who are willing to talk to others in the community, address the tough issues, and then write something coherent about what they learned.

I can understand that a fair bit of work for no pay but our undying appreciation doesn’t sound like a particularly great deal. Think of it a way to showcase your talents. Hell, think of it as something you might want to do for Lent. Most of all, think of it as contributing to one of the few resources serving the Femdom community at-large with as little bias and personal agenda as possible. We still think the thirst for this point of view is out there and we’ll keep trying to bring it to you. If you’d like to help us, I’d love to hear from you. Just email me at maddiebroome@gmail.com.

Until the next issue,