It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything about exploring new parts of town or sights on the island. The fact is, I haven’t been on very many this year. A family situation which required me leaving Montreal for three weeks in June, busy times at work, and unseasonable heat and humidity have all prevented expeditions.… [Read More]
(If you didn’t see them, here are part 1 and part 2)
Jumping back to Mona Awad’s reading list, we’ll start with The Geography of Pluto, Christopher DiRaddo. You might think the story of a gay man breaking up with his ideal boyfriend and losing his mother to cancer would be awfully bleak, but this book manages to make the protagonist’s struggles with loss and grief into something oddly optimistic.… [Read More]
(This is a continuation of the Montreal Reading List, part 1).
In the last installment, I was using Mona Awad’s Reading List as a starting point for my own. So far, most of the authors and books mentioned were from the 1940s-1960s, and described the Montreal of those periods and earlier.… [Read More]
TW: racism and sexual predators (prison sentencing link)
Last month, the CBC ran this story about a Canadian woman sentenced to three years in prison for committing a unique kind of fraud: by falsifying birth information for her two daughters and claiming they had Indigenous heritage, she was able to access government funds earmarked for Indigenous people.… [Read More]
I’ve been meaning to write on the subject of fiction set in Montreal for quite a while. I’ve been trying to read as many books as I can that are set here.… [Read More]
I read the news in French every morning to build my vocabulary and keep apprised of local goings-on.
As a result of this article (it’s in French only, sorry) about a cyclist who was injured after sliding on a newly-painted pedestrian crossing, today I learned the term dos d’ânes, or “donkey backs.”… [Read More]
Canicule = “heat wave” to you and me. Also vague de chaleur. Either way–much, much hot.
Temps are going to be “dangerously high” this week in Montreal and Ontario: 30C-35C, with humidex values of up to 45.… [Read More]
A subtle cultural layer you discover in a new city is the locally-sourced humor, i.e. the local problems that are joked about by the people who live there. Per my post yesterday about the Grand Prix, Dan Ramos Comedy posted the above graphic on Reddit with the headline, “I Fixed the F1 Poster.”… [Read More]
♫Another F1 race day, and it’s gonna be wet…♫
The Grand Prix du Canada is back in Montréal this weekend, with all its economic boom and ecological doom. It’s estimated that 1.2 million kilos of equipment get hauled into town for this event (that’s 1,320 tons to you and me) and then it all gets shuffled off to Madrid for the next race on June 23.… [Read More]
I’ve been trying to write a post here about the situation with the unhoused in Montreal in comparison to Los Angeles. It’s turning into a term-paper-like research project, though.
So in the meantime, here are some nice spring flowers at the Jardin Botanique.
