Katelyn Spidle

Freelance Writer

Canada

A love for preserving culture and enriching communities led me to graduate with a B.A. in Anthropology and Journalism from Concordia University in 2014. My first journalism gig was in 2010-11, when I worked for the Concordian newspaper as Music Editor. Working with a tight-knit team of student journalists, I planned a three-page section each week covering the best of Montreal's local music scene.
After graduating, I completed an Editorial Internship at CIM Magazine, an industry publication focused on Canada's mining sector. This position allowed me to get my feet wet writing a variety of stories, from 50-word briefs to 700-word news and 2,000-word feature articles.
Volunteering has been a great way to hone my skills and connect with the community. I have led a memoir-writing workshop for seniors at the The Yellow Door in Montreal, edited website copy for CoconutLime Nutrition in Toronto and written for Montreal music blogs LIVENLOUD and Midnight Poutine. I also freelance as an academic editor for university students, including MA and Ph.D candidates.
I currently contribute food features and profiles to the Montreal Gazette and Ottawa Citizen's style magazines, Urban Expressions and Ottawa Style. My work has also appeared in Vice Magazine and This Magazine.

Portfolio
This Magazine
06/01/2015
That's a wrap

The Burrito Project combats hunger across Canada

The Concordian
09/04/2012
Dawson City Music Fest: through the eyes of Bryant Crooks

According to Andrew Laviolette, who makes up one half of folk duo the Bryant Crooks, one phrase kept echoing off of the sloping tent walls that covered the main stage at this year's Dawson City Music Festival: "This is the farthest north I've ever been!"

VICE
03/27/2014
How I Conquered My Fear of Strip Karaoke | VICE | Canada

Strip Karaoke, aka Bareoke, is just what it sounds like: you choose a song from the songbook, go up on stage, and perform a striptease while you sing. It happens the second Thursday of each month at Cabaret Playhouse, a former strip club, in the Mile End neighbourhood of Montreal.

Cim
Underground connection

In 1999 Hard-Line - a Sudbury-based heavy equipment remote control supplier - tested wireless technology in Falconbridge's Craig mine. Hard-Line was using Aironet technology, now part of Cisco Systems, to develop new communications solutions for the mining industry. Its key focus was to discover how wireless technology, relatively new at the time, could improve the safety and security of workers.

Cim
A tale restored from the slag pile

Viking explorers constructed eight buildings at present-day L'Anse Aux Meadows, Newfoundland in AD 1000, two of which were used to produce iron from nearby wetlands | Flickr/André Carrotflower Emerging from his quarters one day in AD 1000, Vik­ing explorer Leif Eriksson finally saw what he had sailed across the North Atlantic in search of: a rocky shoreline looming in the distance.

Cim
Crushing it at camp

It used to be that a job in mining often meant joining communities and putting down roots in towns created to serve a mine. But the last of those in Canada - Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia - was built more than 30 years ago.

Montreal Gazette
06/15/2015
Caroline Bernier: Beautiful inside and out

Fashion industry veteran Caroline Bernier grew up thinking that with the nickname "motor mouth" becoming a family lawyer would be the perfect way to harness her gift of gab. But fate offered her something quite different: a career that allowed her to be true to herself and empower thousands of girls worldwide to do the same.

Montreal Gazette
06/16/2015
Melting with delight: Three ice cream parlours worth a visit

We love ice cream for what it represents: pleasure. It's the respite from a hot summer day, the reward for a job well done and relief if you're feeling blue. Ice cream brings comfort, excitement and wonder. Memories are made with ice cream, and these three stand out from the rest.

Montreal Gazette
09/24/2015
Holly Gauthier-Frankel is born for the stage

Gazing sanguinely into the small dressing room mirror, Holly Gauthier-Frankel paints a glittery layer of deep red gloss onto her widely parted lips. A large poinsettia hairpiece pins back her lush black curls, revealing a set of smoky, thick lashes.

Montreal Gazette
10/06/2015
Izakaya Kabocha: A touch of home

I want to try to keep the traditional way, but the local people like a lot of food," head chef Yutaka Abe said with a hearty laugh. Originally from Tokyo, the former Big In Japan chef fulfilled a long-held dream in February when he opened Izakaya Kabocha with co-owners Nori Hashimoto and Takeshi Sugawara in the lower Plateau.

Montreal Gazette
08/23/2014
Montreal Diary: Commercial lofts, to community to Fattal Fest

MONTREAL - Jeff was at home when gallons of hot water came gushing through a mouldy spot in his ceiling. The hot water tank in the apartment above his had a rusty pipe, and when it burst, Jeff's apartment flooded. He cleaned up the mess and threw out most of his furniture, which was beyond repair.

Montreal Gazette
04/06/2015
Grumman'78: Tex-Mex with a twist

Chef Marc-André Leclerc found a career in French cuisine, but he's made a name for himself cooking Tex-Mex. Oddly enough, he claims to not know a thing about Latin American cooking. "I'm just kind of winging it," he confessed.

Montreal Gazette
07/31/2015
Slackliners achieve a fine balance

Maybe you've noticed them at the Tam-Tams, hovering a few feet above the ground, balanced on a one-inch thick rope that's tensioned between two sturdy trees: slackliners. A decade ago, they were few and far between. But since Julien Desforges founded Slackline Montreal in 2006, what was once a fringe sport has become a wildly popular activity that is taking over the city's parks.

Ottawa Citizen
09/14/2015
Healthy body, mind and soul

Signing up for a fitness class or choosing a new gym can be daunting if you've let your exercise slide. Three unique Ottawa studios that offer innovative approaches to fitness are also in the business of helping people maintain not just a healthy body, but also a healthy mind.

Ottawa Citizen
10/16/2015
Luv2Groove's Julia Gutsik is breakin' it down

Animated and dressed in an oversized colourful Adidas T-shirt, ripped jeans and with her hair pulled back in a high ponytail, Julia Gutsik is a woman in constant motion. The Ottawa dance teacher commands attention and inspires action.

Ottawa Citizen
12/18/2014
Capital City Bikers' Church is not your typical place of worship

Addicted to crack, cocaine and alcohol, earning a living through criminal activity and heavily involved in the Ottawa biker scene, he had nowhere to turn but back to the Christ he knew from childhood. Now 17 years sober, he's convinced that his recovery had nothing to do with willpower, but that he had experienced deliverance.