If you see a short someone trudging around town with a bright orange backpack, shorts and fumbling with a camera it’s probably me–I’m the new reporter at the Revelstoke Review.
I recently graduated from the masters of journalism program at Carleton University in Ontario and specialized on the oil industry in northern Alberta, in particular the impact of seismic lines.
I grew up in Jasper National Park.
I have prior media experience working at the CBC in Whitehorse, Yukon, as a writer for houseporn.ca (no, it’s not what you think - it’s a website dedicated to celebrating Canadian architecture and not sweaty human entanglement), and the Edson newspaper in Alberta.
I spend most of my free time scrambling pointy things, survival skiing, setting off the fire alarm as I try to bake with my 23-year-old sourdough starter named Petunia, or spending time in road ditches identifying plants.
I love traveling to cold and miserable places, as long as I have a steaming mug of tea and good grub to fry in bacon fat.
I’ve spent a couple years living in Iceland and Norway, studying glaciology, volcanology, arctic biology and what makes jokes funny.
I’m currently trying to cook a meal from every country in the world, the last one being Egypt.
The mere memory of bread dumplings with hanger steak served with heavy heavy cream sauce from the Czech Republic still leaves me drooling, but the scrambled egg papaya soup from Aruba leaves me unsettled and running for the bathroom (I also discovered that Aruba isn’t a country - oops!).
This is the second time I’ve lived in Revelstoke. Many summers ago I worked in the area collecting moose poop for biology research. The days were long, hard and usually involved thrashing through devils club up steep slopes in the pouring rain, being chased by mosquitoes. It was the kind of job that “builds character”. I’m happy to say that my new job has a roof, a tea kettle and fewer insects.
I look forward getting to know the town, covering stories, talking to locals and having a scone at the Modern Bakery. I apologize beforehand for any mix-ups/spelling mistakes as I learn the lay-of-the-land and Revelstoke life.
It will be a large learning experience and a great opportunity to step into community news. If you have any stories, tips, cool plant photos, need a ski buddy, or want to cook a country dinner together drop me a line at liam.harrap@revelstokereview.com.
See you around town!