Alumna Monica Kidd: One of Calgary’s most compelling citizens
January 6/2023
Monica Kidd (FGJ ’22) named one of Calgary‘s most compelling citizens by the Calgary Herald.
Seabird biologist. CBC science reporter. Poet, novelist, essayist. Documentary producer. Animated filmmaker. Family physician. Medical humanities professor. Owner of Whisky Jack Letterpress.
“When I have to fill out a form that asks for an occupation, I’m not sure what to put,” says Dr. Monica Kidd, who lists all of the above as current or past jobs. “I put doctor, because people get that.”
The 50-year-old, who grew up in Elnora (current population 285), about 175 kilometres northeast of Calgary, spent last year as a family physician while also releasing The Storm, her first animated short for the National Film Board.
The four-minute feature, animated by Duncan Major, explores how a world infused by death and isolation — whether the pandemic or war in Ukraine — still saw life and hope continue, as women gave birth.
Kidd first considered becoming a doctor after high school, but “became more concerned about the natural world than human medicine.”
A University of Calgary science degree (biology/zoology) was followed by a master’s at Queens and seabird field work in remote areas of Quebec, Labrador and Norway. Documentaries led to the CBC, eventually as science reporter, and an editor at Quirks and Quarks. She is also a published novelist and poet.
At age 32, Kidd went back to medical school.
Why a career in both sciences and arts? The mother of three says medicine came “because I wanted to help people in a direct way, delivering babies and setting broken bones.”
But “stories were a kind of medicine, too. Stories help us make meaning of our lives. I’ve been telling stories for as long as I can remember and I’ve had to hold space for that alongside practicing medicine.”
This year sees her continue both. She has a novel in the works, will continue writing and producing documentaries on substantive community issues, and hopes to get back into her print shop.
“I’m not looking for the hero cookie or to fill gaps in my CV. I’m just really curious . . . I do the work that is meaningful to me.”
Monica Kidd was a fellow in the Dalla Lana Fellowship in Global Journalism in 2022.