Kathy Shaidle
Encyclopedia
Kathy Shaidle is a Canadian
author
, columnist
, poet
and blog
ger. A self-described "anarcho-peacenik" in the early years of her writing career, she moved to a conservative, Roman Catholic
position following the attacks of September 11, 2001, and entered the public eye as the author of the popular RelapsedCatholic blog. Citing some points of friction with her faith, Shaidle relaunched her blogging career under her current FiveFeetofFury blog. Her views on Islam
, political correctness
, freedom of speech
, and other issues have ignited controversy..
Born in Hamilton
, Ontario
, Shaidle studied at Sheridan College
. Since the mid-1980s she has worked in Toronto, eventually talking up a post at the Catholic New Times
magazine. In 1991, she left the publication to write full-time on government grants, only to discover a few weeks later that she had developed lupus erythematosus
. Her four-year illness provided the subject matter for her 1998 essay collection God Rides a Yamaha.
In the early 1990s, Shaidle published two poetry chapbooks with the Toronto indie press Lowlife Publishing, which also published Lynn Crosbie
and Maggie Helwig
. Her book-length poetry collection, Lobotomy Magnificat, was nominated for a 1998 Governor General's Award
. Critic Wendy McGrath
, writing in the Edmonton Journal
, praised the poetry for how it "effectively relates sacred images or text to present day events and images." In contrast, the Montreal Gazette
s reviewer was critical of the book's "diet of smart phrasing... and fabricated insights."
. She left the latter post in April 2007 after the newspaper refused to publish a column she had written criticizing Earth Day
. In September 2007 she began a new blog, Five Feet of Fury, a reference to her petite stature and combative writing style. Shaidle has also guest hosted and moderated the popular Canadian conservative blog, Small Dead Animals.
In 2008, Richard Warman
, a frequent complainant at the Canadian Human Rights Commission
(and former CHRC employee) sued Shaidle, Ezra Levant
, Kate McMillan of Small Dead Animals and the National Post
over links to comments criticizing him at a Canadian internet forum, freedominion.ca.
As of 2010, the case has not been resolved.
Also in 2008 Shaidle and journalist Pete Vere wrote and published The Tyranny of Nice, a critique of the Canadian human rights tribunals. As of 2009, Shaidle's writing also appears in outlets such as FrontPage Magazine, Pajamas Media
, and Examiner.com
. She has appeared on the Michael Coren Show, The Agenda
(on TVO
), the Charles Adler Show
, The Political Cesspool
, Vatican Radio
, MSNBC
, and Pajamas Media radio.
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
, columnist
Columnist
A columnist is a journalist who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs....
, poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
and blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
ger. A self-described "anarcho-peacenik" in the early years of her writing career, she moved to a conservative, Roman Catholic
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
position following the attacks of September 11, 2001, and entered the public eye as the author of the popular RelapsedCatholic blog. Citing some points of friction with her faith, Shaidle relaunched her blogging career under her current FiveFeetofFury blog. Her views on Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
, political correctness
Political correctness
Political correctness is a term which denotes language, ideas, policies, and behavior seen as seeking to minimize social and institutional offense in occupational, gender, racial, cultural, sexual orientation, certain other religions, beliefs or ideologies, disability, and age-related contexts,...
, freedom of speech
Freedom of speech
Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without censorship. The term freedom of expression is sometimes used synonymously, but includes any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used...
, and other issues have ignited controversy..
Born in Hamilton
Hamilton, Ontario
Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Conceived by George Hamilton when he purchased the Durand farm shortly after the War of 1812, Hamilton has become the centre of a densely populated and industrialized region at the west end of Lake Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, Shaidle studied at Sheridan College
Sheridan College
Sheridan College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning is a diploma and degree granting Canadian polytechnic institute with approximately 15,000 full time students and 35,000 continuing education students...
. Since the mid-1980s she has worked in Toronto, eventually talking up a post at the Catholic New Times
Catholic New Times
Catholic New Times was a Canadian Catholic magazine founded in 1976 by social activists Mary Jo Leddy, Fr. Jim Webb SJ, Fr. Tom McKillip, Fr. Bud Smith SFM, Sr. Margaret Ordway IBVM and a collective of twelve people....
magazine. In 1991, she left the publication to write full-time on government grants, only to discover a few weeks later that she had developed lupus erythematosus
Lupus erythematosus
Lupus erythematosus is a category for a collection of diseases with similar underlying problems with immunity . Symptoms of these diseases can affect many different body systems, including joints, skin, kidneys, blood cells, heart, and lungs...
. Her four-year illness provided the subject matter for her 1998 essay collection God Rides a Yamaha.
In the early 1990s, Shaidle published two poetry chapbooks with the Toronto indie press Lowlife Publishing, which also published Lynn Crosbie
Lynn Crosbie
Lynn Crosbie is a Canadian poet and novelist. She teaches the University of Toronto.-Life and career:Crosbie was born in Montreal, Quebec, and now lives in Toronto, Ontario....
and Maggie Helwig
Maggie Helwig
Maggie Helwig is a Canadian poet, novelist and social justice activist.-Academic career:Her early education was at Kingston Collegiate and Vocational Institute in Kingston, Ontario, graduating in 1979, then at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario, where she graduated with an honours B.A...
. Her book-length poetry collection, Lobotomy Magnificat, was nominated for a 1998 Governor General's Award
Governor General's Award
The Governor General's Awards are a collection of awards presented by the Governor General of Canada, marking distinction in a number of academic, artistic and social fields. The first was conceived in 1937 by Lord Tweedsmuir, a prolific author of fiction and non-fiction who created the Governor...
. Critic Wendy McGrath
Wendy McGrath
Wendy McGrath is a poet and novelist from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Her work exhibits elements of experimental fiction, including stream of consciousness techniques, and both narrative and chronological shifts....
, writing in the Edmonton Journal
Edmonton Journal
The Edmonton Journal is a daily newspaper in Edmonton, Alberta. It is part of the Postmedia Network.-History:The Journal was founded in 1903 by three local businessmen — John Macpherson, Arthur Moore and J.W. Cunningham — as a rival to Alberta's first newspaper, the 23-year-old...
, praised the poetry for how it "effectively relates sacred images or text to present day events and images." In contrast, the Montreal Gazette
The Gazette (Montreal)
The Gazette, often called the Montreal Gazette to avoid ambiguity, is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, with three other daily English newspapers all having shut down at different times during the second half of the 20th century.-History:In 1778,...
s reviewer was critical of the book's "diet of smart phrasing... and fabricated insights."
Blogging
Shaidle wrote the blog Relapsed Catholic (2000–2007) and a column for the Catholic weekly Our Sunday VisitorOur Sunday Visitor
Our Sunday Visitor is a Roman Catholic publishing company in Huntington, Indiana which prints the American national weekly newspaper of that name, as well as numerous Catholic periodicals, religious books, pamphlets, catechetical materials, inserts for parish bulletins and offertory envelopes....
. She left the latter post in April 2007 after the newspaper refused to publish a column she had written criticizing Earth Day
Earth Day
Earth Day is a day that is intended to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth's natural environment. The name and concept of Earth Day was allegedly pioneered by John McConnell in 1969 at a UNESCO Conference in San Francisco. The first Proclamation of Earth Day was by San Francisco, the...
. In September 2007 she began a new blog, Five Feet of Fury, a reference to her petite stature and combative writing style. Shaidle has also guest hosted and moderated the popular Canadian conservative blog, Small Dead Animals.
In 2008, Richard Warman
Richard Warman
Richard Warman is an Ottawa-based lawyer who is active in human rights law. Warman worked for the Canadian Human Rights Commission from July 2002 until March 2004...
, a frequent complainant at the Canadian Human Rights Commission
Canadian Human Rights Commission
The Canadian Human Rights Commission is a quasi-judicial body that was established in 1977 by the government of Canada. It is empowered under the Canadian Human Rights Act to investigate and try to settle complaints of discrimination in employment and in the provision of services within federal...
(and former CHRC employee) sued Shaidle, Ezra Levant
Ezra Levant
Ezra Isaac Levant is a Canadian lawyer, conservative political activist and media figure. He is the founder and former publisher of the Western Standard, hosts The Source daily on Sun News Network, and has written several books on politics....
, Kate McMillan of Small Dead Animals and the National Post
National Post
The National Post is a Canadian English-language national newspaper based in Don Mills, a district of Toronto. The paper is owned by Postmedia Network Inc. and is published Mondays through Saturdays...
over links to comments criticizing him at a Canadian internet forum, freedominion.ca.
As of 2010, the case has not been resolved.
Also in 2008 Shaidle and journalist Pete Vere wrote and published The Tyranny of Nice, a critique of the Canadian human rights tribunals. As of 2009, Shaidle's writing also appears in outlets such as FrontPage Magazine, Pajamas Media
Pajamas Media
PJ Media is a media company that uses the Internet to present and comment on the news.Founded in 2004 by a network primarily, but not exclusively, made up of conservatives and libertarians led by mystery writer, screenwriter, and blogger Roger L...
, and Examiner.com
Examiner.com
Examiner.com is a media company based in Denver, Colorado, that operates a network of local news websites, allowing "pro–am contributors" to share their city-based knowledge on a blog-like platform, in 238 markets throughout the United States and parts of Canada with two national editions, one for...
. She has appeared on the Michael Coren Show, The Agenda
The Agenda
The Agenda with Steve Paikin is the flagship current affairs program of TVOntario, Ontario’s public broadcaster. The show practises what anchor and senior editor Steve Paikin calls "long-form" journalism. Each hour-long program tackles no more than two topics, and often only one...
(on TVO
TVOntario
TVOntario, often referred to only as TVO , is a publicly funded, educational English-language television station and media organization in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is operated by the Ontario Educational Communications Authority, a Crown corporation owned by the Government of Ontario...
), the Charles Adler Show
Charles Adler (broadcaster)
Charles Adler is a Hungarian-born Canadian broadcaster who, when he was a child, was smuggled in a backpack out of Hungary by his father during the Hungarian Revolution in 1956. Charles grew up in Montreal, where he started his broadcast career while attending McGill University...
, The Political Cesspool
The Political Cesspool
The Political Cesspool is a weekly talk radio show founded by James Edwards, and syndicated by Liberty News Radio Network and Accent Radio Network in the United States...
, Vatican Radio
Vatican Radio
Vatican Radio is the official broadcasting service of the Vatican.Set up in 1931 by Guglielmo Marconi, today its programs are offered in 47 languages, and are sent out on short wave , medium wave, FM, satellite and the Internet. The Jesuit Order has been charged with the management of Vatican...
, MSNBC
MSNBC
MSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada...
, and Pajamas Media radio.
Awards and recognition
- 1998: poetry finalist, Governor General's AwardGovernor General's AwardThe Governor General's Awards are a collection of awards presented by the Governor General of Canada, marking distinction in a number of academic, artistic and social fields. The first was conceived in 1937 by Lord Tweedsmuir, a prolific author of fiction and non-fiction who created the Governor...
s - Canadian Church Press: four awards (humour, best national columnist, etc.)
Poetry
- Gas Stations of the Cross. Toronto: Lowlife Publishing, 1990.
- Round Up the Usual Suspects: More poems about famous dead people. Toronto: Lowlife Publishing, 1992.
- Lobotomy magnificat, Ottawa: Oberon, 1997. ISBN 0-7780-1070-8 (hardcover), ISBN 0-7780-1071-6 (paperback).
Essays
- God Rides a Yamaha: Musings on pain, poetry, and pop culture., Northstone, 1998. ISBN 1896836240.
- A Seeker's Dozen: The 12 Steps for Everyone Else. CafePress, 2004. CafePress product number 10267680.
- A Catholic Alphabet: The Faith from A to Z. CafePress, 2005. CafePress product number 17385236.
- Acoustic Ladyland: Kathy Shaidle Unplugged. Lulu, 2007. Digital downloadE-bookAn electronic book is a book-length publication in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, and produced on, published through, and readable on computers or other electronic devices. Sometimes the equivalent of a conventional printed book, e-books can also be born digital...
only.
Nonfiction
- The Tyranny of Nice (co-authored with Pete Vere). Interim Publishing, 2008. ISBN 0978049012.
External links
- Kathy Shaidle official website
- Relapsed Catholic, Shaidle's former blog
- Five Feet of Fury, Shaidle's current blog
- Kathy Shaidle, Shaidle's LinkedIn profile
- Kathy Shaidle Shaidle's Facebook page
- Kathy Shaidle Shaidle's Twitter page
- http://www.kathyshaidle.ca KathyShaidle.ca
- University of Toronto: Kathy Shaidle profile, accessed 20 July 2006
- Audio: Shire Network News Interview with Kathy Shaidle and Kate McMillan of Small Dead Animals about the Warman lawsuit.
- Free Press report re London ON speaking engagement, News report on London speaking engagement.