Each Tuesday, Spacing Montreal will share with you some posts from our sister blog, Spacing Toronto. We hope it will enable constructive dialogue on the urban issues faced by both cities, though we’ll settle for some witty jibes against la Ville reine in the comments.
David Dunlop Observatory Sold
The University of Toronto has announced its plans to sell the David Dunlop Observatory. Located in Richmond Hill, the building was home to the discovery of black holes in the 1970s. This choice was made on the grounds that David Dunlop’s memory could be better preserved if the sales proceeds of the observatory went to fund the new David Dunlop Institute of Astronomy. This point seems especially relevant considering Richmond Hill’s current light pollution, which some argue makes astronomical observation impossible. Controversy over the sale of the DDO stems from a belief in the building’s community value and skepticism of the severity of light pollution in the area.
Pride Week
During the last week of June, Pride Week enlivens the streets of Toronto with parties, marches and discussions that celebrate and raise awareness of the city’s queer communities. Matthew Hague gives spacing readers a glimpse of his experience at the festival’s activities including the Toronto AIDS Candlelight Vigil, the Global Rights for Queers, What Out is About exhibit, and the Dyke March.
Naples Needs To Learn From WALL-E
Matthew Blackett draws an unlikely comparison between the moral of WALL-E, a film about the last organism on earth being left to clean up all the garbage of past generations, and the current pollution problems in Naples, Italy. The attached clip illustrates the catastrophic effects of a lack of a developed waste infrastructure in the region.