Instead of having a relaxing summer I've been on one weird assignment after another. This time it was talking with the infamous Shirley Phelps-Roper of Westboro Baptist Church, an organization many consider to be a hate group.

Years ago I saw her dad, Fred Phelps, on a talk show and couldn't believe the stuff that came out of his mouth. I wondered if what he was saying was just for show or if he actually had the opinions he was spewing left, right and centre. His messages were simple: everything in the world is hated. He went on about homosexuality being wrong, how God hates pretty much everything and that we're "doomed."

Now with Fred off the media circuit, the new mouthpiece for the church is his daughter Shirley. Could she be as outrageous as her spunky father? Absolutely.

When word got out the American group was planning to picket the funeral of a murdered Winnipeg man, local media jumped on the story and citizens objected to the churchgoers coming to Canada. Rather than cast judgment before knowing the reason it wanted to come here, I turned my attention to gathering information and hearing Shirley's side of the story.

It was the day before the scheduled protest when I called the church through the phone number on the issued press release about McLean's funeral. A young boy answered. I asked for Shirley. He asked who was calling. I was nervous so I made up a fake name. He passed the phone to "mom" and Shirley said she was more than happy to chat with me. I told her I'd call her back after preparing a few questions and we did a 40-minute radio interview… and we were going live, which added to the nerves.

The tape was rolling the whole time we chatted and I found it funny when we were on the air she had this outrageous personality and would go on rants, but as soon as we broke for commercial she was calm and cool and didn't have all that much hate-filled stuff to say. (Excuse me, she told me she's not the one who hates everything, it's God who does that.) But how can you go into an interview and not be opinionated when talking to a woman who dresses up children wearing "God Hates Fags" T-shirts?

Before doing the interview I knew it would be one of the most controversial topics I ever covered. I'd be talking to a woman I thought hated everything about me without knowing a thing about me. She came across as very friendly and easy going but as a reporter it caught my ear how she never answered a personal question with a personal answer, but rather a scripture quote. There were times she'd beat around the bush for a while and then eventually give her opinion. I've never experienced someone who steamrolls the interviewer and answers questions that aren't asked.

Only a couple people knew of the interview taking place and I was unsure about how to go about my approach. Naturally with someone like Phelps-Roper you want to go on the defensive and attack her when she makes such radical claims. In fact, I was encouraged to shred her and put her in her place, as is the SpeakFree motto. But I went into the call with an "educate me" sort of approach. I wanted to hear her out and see if I could have an actual conversation with her. Very quickly I knew it wasn't possible... well, at least until we went to commercial.

Did I learn anything throughout this? No, not about myself. I got a better understanding of how attached she is to her Bible and believes every word of it, and maybe she reads a little too much into its contents. As for the actual point of the protest at McLean's funeral, I'm sure the message is in the phone call somewhere but I have to decode it to see what she actually means.