Cafe #10: Cafe Trevi

Location: 294-296 Lygon St, Carlton
Date: Thursday, 22 February 2007, 9.50pm
Coffee: $3.00, latte - excellent
Reading: Interpretation as Pragmatics

This is a restaraunt, really. Pizza, calzone... Hmmm, should try a calzone some time. The place has an old-fashioned, elderly type feel to it, with speckle tile floor, lacquered wood tables, black vinyl chairs with rounded back panels, wood panelled walls, a bar down the side, pizza ovens in the back right quarter and framed football jerseys on the walls. A pleasant people hum is all around. There are large cakes in the front window and a blue and pink neon sign. A short distance from my table there is a line of four short black containers on the floor, flush with the wall, catching air conditioner drips.

Erin and Duncan left for New Zealand this morning. I attended a little "reception" for the commencing postgrads in the Critical and cultural theory department. There are 10 or 12 or so of us, only three women and only three (I think) Masters students. My superviser, who is also the graduate convenor, seems lovely, smile-prone and concerned for everyone. The Head of the Department, a youngish woman, was there as well and she also seems enthusaistic. Other students are doing Phds and Masters on creating inter-faith dialogue (or something bringing religions together), Houllebec, and, well, that's all I remember. While I was entering an elevator next to one of the other women, young, also a Masters student, I mentioned to her, that we seemed outgendered, but she didn't much respond to the comment. Later, the other woman, older, said to me she had been waiting for the two of us (other females) to arrive (I was late). I think i'll like her.

So I am now enrolled and underway. My first class is next Wednesday - Critical Theory: A Survey. I opted for a 9.00am course on Thursday, Semiotics and Poststructuralism, because I want to learn those concepts well, rather than the other course choice, also on Wednesday so much more convenient on Walter Benjamin on violence. I hope I didn't make a mistake - not only will I have to wake up at 7.00am to get there on time, but the reading looks tough: Foucault and Lacan and Kristeva and Deleuze and such. Mostly I am familiar with these theorists, but not properly. The 5500 essay topic choices are full on and there is also a 2000 word presentation to be marked on and a 1500 word exam, which can be taken home.

I still haven't properly checked out the campus. I spent too much time waiting in line for that. The student union building is pretty institutional looking and there was no air conditioning in the office where the "reception" was held. Tomorrow I will go to a seminar at 5.00pm and check out the library beforehand.

I did lots of reading today - finished a Harold Bloom chapter that is reading for my first class. It pissed me off. Bloom thinks writers who want to be canonised want to be immortal, that reading does not lead to social change or make anyone a better person, that literary theory destroys literature by not appreciating its aesthetic purpose, and he hates the people who want to 'open up' the canon because, you know, a black female writer doesn't write well enough to deserve to be there. She's not Shakespeare! Fuckwit.

I did some vaccuming, cleaned the toilet and shower and took a walk with Ann. I'm going to move in with her. Probably next weekend.