Kathy Shaidle (7 May 1964 – 9 January 2021) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

columnist A columnist is a person who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Column (newspaper), Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs. They take the fo ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

and

blog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...

ger. A self-described "anarcho-peacenik" in the early years of her writing career, she moved to a

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

position following the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...

, 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 FiveFeetofFury blog. Her views on

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

political correctness ''Political correctness'' (adjectivally: ''politically correct''; commonly abbreviated ''PC'') is a term used to describe language, policies, or measures that are intended to avoid offense or disadvantage to members of particular groups in socie ...

freedom of speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recogni ...

, and other issues ignited controversy.

Literary career

Born in

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Shaidle studied at

Sheridan College Sheridan College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning (formerly Sheridan College of Applied Arts and Technology) is a public polytechnic institute of technology located in the west-Greater Toronto Area in Ontario, Canada. Founded in ...

. Beginning in the mid-1980s she worked in Toronto, eventually taking up a post at the ''

Catholic New Times ''Catholic New Times'' was a Canadian Roman Catholicism, Roman Catholic newspaper founded in 1976 by social activists, including Mary Jo Leddy, Fr. Jim Webb SJ, Fr. Tom McKillop, Fr. Bud Smith SFM, Sr. Margaret Ordway IBVM, and Jim Morin who propos ...

'' 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 is a collection of autoimmune diseases in which the human immune system becomes hyperactive and attacks healthy tissues. Symptoms of these diseases can affect many different body systems, including joints, skin, kidneys, blo ...

. 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 A chapbook is a small publication of up to about 40 pages, sometimes bound with a saddle stitch. In early modern Europe a chapbook was a type of printed street literature. Produced cheaply, chapbooks were commonly small, paper-covered booklet ...

with the Toronto indie press Lowlife Publishing, which also published works by

Lynn Crosbie Lynn Crosbie (born 7 August 1963) is a Canadian poet and novelist. She teaches at the University of Toronto. Life and career Crosbie was born in Montreal, Quebec, and now lives in Toronto, Ontario. She received her PhD in English from the Univer ...

and

Maggie Helwig Maggie Helwig (born 1961) is a Canadian poet, novelist, social justice activist, and Anglican priest. Academic career Her early education was at Kingston Collegiate and Vocational Institute in Kingston, Ontario, graduating in 1979, then at Trent ...

. Her book-length poetry collection
''Lobotomy Magnificat''
, was nominated for a 1998

Governor General's Award The Governor General's Awards are a collection of annual awards presented by the Governor General of Canada, recognizing distinction in numerous academic, artistic, and social fields. The first award was conceived and inaugurated in 1937 by the ...

. Critic Wendy McGrath, writing in the ''

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 ...

'', praised the poetry for how it "effectively relates sacred images or text to present day events and images." In contrast, the Montreal ''

Gazette A gazette is an official journal, a newspaper of record, or simply a newspaper. In English and French speaking countries, newspaper publishers have applied the name ''Gazette'' since the 17th century; today, numerous weekly and daily newspapers ...

s reviewer was critical of the book's "diet of smart phrasing... and fabricated insights."

Blogging

Shaidle wrote the blo
Relapsed Catholic
ref name=CBCKS> (2000–2007) and a column for the Catholic weekly ''

Our Sunday Visitor Our Sunday Visitor (OSV) is a 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, i ...

''. She left the latter post in April 2007 after the newspaper refused to publish a column she had written criticizing

Earth Day Earth Day is an annual event on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protection. First held on April 22, 1970, it now includes a wide range of events coordinated globally by EarthDay.org (formerly Earth Day Network) including 1 b ...

. In September 2007 she began a new blog
Five Feet of Fury
a reference to her petite stature and combative writing style. After the

2011 Norway attacks The 2011 Norway attacks, referred to in Norway as 22 July ( no, 22. juli) or as 22/7, were two domestic terrorist attacks by neo-Nazi Anders Behring Breivik against the government, the civilian population, and a Workers' Youth League (AUF) ...

, she wrote "‘Anders Breivik stole the counterjihad movement from freedom fighters. We’re stealing it back’". Shaidle also guest hosted and moderated the popular Canadian conservative blog,

Small Dead Animals Small Dead Animals (SDA) is a Canadian blog, focusing largely on politics (Canadian, U.S., British and international) from a conservative perspective. Saskatchewan-based blogger Kate McMillan founded the blog and is the primary contributor. Small ...

Defamation

In 2008, human rights lawyer

Richard Warman Richard Warman is an Ottawa-based lawyer who is active in human rights law. Warman worked for the Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC) from July 2002 until March 2004. He is best known as the primary instigator of actions related to Internet ...

sued Shaidle,

Ezra Levant Ezra Isaac Levant (born February 20, 1972) is a Canadian conservative media personality, political activist, writer, broadcaster, and former lawyer. Levant is the founder and former publisher of the conservative magazine, The'' Western Standard''. ...

, Kate McMillan of

and the ''

National Post The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper available in several cities in central and western Canada. The paper is the flagship publication of Postmedia Network and is published Mondays through Saturdays, with ...

'' over links to comments criticizing him at a Canadian internet forum, freedominion.ca. The ''National Post'' settled with Warman soon after the suit was launched and, in June 2015, Shaidle, Levant and McMillan all settled in exchange for undisclosed amounts and the issuance of public retractions and apologies.

Other work

Also in 2008 Shaidle and journalist

Pete Vere Pete or Petes or ''variation'', may refer to: People * Pete (given name) * Pete (nickname) * Pete (surname) Fictional characters * Pete (Disney), a cartoon character in the ''Mickey Mouse'' universe * Pete the Pup (a.k.a. 'Petey'), a character ( ...

wrote and published ''The Tyranny of Nice'', a critique of the Canadian human rights tribunals. Shaidle's writing also appeared in outlets such as

FrontPage Magazine ''FrontPage Magazine'', also known as ''FrontPageMag.com'', is an American political website edited by David Horowitz and published by the David Horowitz Freedom Center. It has been described by scholars and writers as right-wing, far-right, and ...

Pajamas Media PJ Media, originally known as Pajamas Media, is an American right-wing subscription-based commentary website. It was founded in 2004, with its majority owner being software entrepreneur, billionaire and angel investor Aubrey Chernick, founder ...

Examiner.com Examiner.com was an American news website based in Denver, Colorado, that operated using a network of " pro-am contributors"' for content. It had various local editions with contributors posting city-based items tailored to 238 markets throughou ...

and

Taki's Magazine ''Taki's Magazine'', called ''Takimag'' for short, is an online magazine of politics and culture published by the Greek paleoconservative commentator and socialite Taki Theodoracopulos and edited by his daughter Mandolyna Theodoracopulos. Initia ...

. She appeared on the Michael Coren Show,

The Agenda ''The Agenda with Steve Paikin'', or simply ''The Agenda'', is the flagship current affairs television program of TVOntario (TVO), Ontario's public broadcaster. Anchor Steve Paikin states that the show practices long-form journalism. Each hour- ...

(on

TVO TVO (stylized as tvo), formerly known as TVOntario, is a publicly funded English-language educational television network and media organization serving the Canadian province of Ontario. It operates flagship station CICA-DT (channel 19) in To ...

), the Charles Adler Show,

The Political Cesspool ''The Political Cesspool'' is a weekly far-right talk radio show founded by Tennessean political activist James Edwards and syndicated by the organizations Liberty News Radio Network and Accent Radio Network in the United States. First broa ...

Vatican Radio Vatican Radio ( it, Radio Vaticana; la, Statio Radiophonica Vaticana) is the official broadcasting service of Vatican City. Established in 1931 by Guglielmo Marconi, today its programs are offered in 47 languages, and are sent out on short wave, ...

MSNBC MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and political ...

, and

Radio. She was also on the board of advisors of the International Free Press Society.

Awards and recognition

* 1998: poetry finalist,

s * Canadian Church Press: four awards (humour, best national columnist, etc.)

Bibliography

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. (hardcover), (paperback).

Essays

* ''God Rides a Yamaha: Musings on pain, poetry, and pop culture.'', Northstone, 1998. . * ''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 Lulu may refer to: Companies * LuLu, an early automobile manufacturer * Lulu.com, an online e-books and print self-publishing platform, distributor, and retailer * Lulu Hypermarket, a retail chain in Asia * Lululemon Athletica or simply Lulu, a C ...

, 2007. Digital download only.

Nonfiction

* ''The Tyranny of Nice'' (co-authored with

). Interim Publishing, 2008. .

References

External links

Audio: Shire Network News Interview
with Kathy Shaidle and Kate McMillan of

about the Warman lawsuit.
Free Press report re London ON speaking engagement
News report on London speaking engagement. {{DEFAULTSORT:Shaidle, Kathy 1964 births 2021 deaths 20th-century Canadian poets Canadian bloggers Canadian women bloggers Canadian women columnists Canadian columnists Canadian women poets Counter-jihad activists Journalists from Ontario Writers from Hamilton, Ontario Roman Catholic writers Writers from Toronto Canadian Roman Catholics Sheridan College alumni Canadian women journalists 20th-century Canadian women writers Canadian critics of Islam Deaths from ovarian cancer Deaths from cancer in Ontario Christian critics of Islam