Letter From Montreal
by Alex Traczyk
On April 8, millions of people across North America witnessed a total eclipse and I was one of them.
Over the years I have seen hundreds of pictures of the eclipse.
So when I learnt that Montreal was on the path of totality and I would be able to see a total eclipse with the corona and all, I was not particularly thrilled.
However, since it was a significant celestial and event that wouldn’t happen again for another forty years or so, I was determined to see it.
What really peaked my interest was listening to scientists talk about the event.
Some of them, who had seen a total eclipse four, five or even six times, talked about it with such enthusiasm that it was infectious …. and a couple of them even described the experience as ‘spurutual’.
What became clear is that the only way to appreciate a total eclipse is by seeing it not through a lens of a camera, but with the naked human eye.
Finally, when I did see it, I was standing with thousands of people at Place Jacques Cartier. The experience was an unexpected revelation. Something I’ll remember for the rest of my life.
Once the moon had blocked the sun completely, I took my protective glasses off and looked at the eclipse directly.
But just before I did, I took a quick look around. It was dark but it was a cobalt blue kind of dark. Everything around me including the people and the buildings turned gray like in a black and white photo. Meanwhile, the many darkened windows were reflecting flickering lights as if an electrical charge were running through them.
Once I looked up, what surprised me the most was the size of the corona. It was much much bigger than what I had anticipated …. not even close to what I saw in all those pictures in print or on television.
The black moon looked like a dilated pupil surrounded by an glowing silvery halo.
It looked like a benevolent cosmic eye looking down on us because we decided to look up at it.