A few Spacing editors will be in Montreal this upcoming weekend. While we’re there, we’d like to chat with anyone who’d like to blog about Montreal for Spacing. If this sounds interesting to you, please send us an email and we let you know where/when we can meet up to chat (we are in the process of finding a quiet pub to chat with potential contributors).
photo by Chris deWolf
4 comments
for heaven’s sake, nobody in montreal wants to meet at a pub when there are a million more interesting public spaces and drinking establishments all over that city! sheesh!
Doesn’t pub mean drinking establishment though? Public House. It doesn’t have to look like an english “pub” pub.
How about inviting bloggers from beyond [the old city of] Toronto to contribute?
I’ve just spent a few months in Brampton, and boy is this area in desperate need for some alternative/critical media attention and healthy public space debate. Local papers out here are nothing more than advertising supplements, public spaces are woefully neglected (at least Toronto HAS street furniture!) and not surprisingly, debates about public space are non-existant.
Considering the enormous number of 905ers visiting, working, and moving into Toronto, it might be a good idea to start including the expansive 905 in these discussions with hopes that they help to create a similar movement out there.
Similarly, I would love to see more North York, Scarborough and Etobicoke-specific content on this site. Not “I visited North York yesterday” tourist-like reports, or “this issue affects the whole GTA” news stories, but “I live in Etobicoke, and here’s something of concern to my neighbourhood” type stuff.
PS. Did you know that suburban Brampton actually has a pretty amazing bike path/trail system? I don’t think it gets used much/enough, but it seems pretty functional–connecting cyclists to shopping, services, and work areas without ever having to share a road with a car. Unfortunately there aren’t many places to lock up a bike.
i understand that “pub” is short for “public house” and therefore could refer to a range of drinking establishments open to the public.
however, pleasantly for us, words are a part of culture. i think that the word “pub” conjures up great britain, even if it could refer generally to bars, in the same way that the word “depanneur” conjures up french canada even if it could refer generally to convenience stores.
we probably agree that great britain’s culture is decidedly different from today’s montreal, especially in respect of public spaces. perhaps it would be more inviting to montrealers to discuss a blog about public space in an establishment that isn’t described as being a pub.
i feel, however, that a small confession is in order. i’m a torontonian who moved to montreal and back, feel the need to defend each city’s uniqueness to the other, and enjoy stirring the pot every now and then!