Oates Symposium

The "Specters of Feminism in the Work of Joyce Carol Oates" symposium went well. There were only nine speakers, in the end, so that made for a nice, relaxed pace that everyone claimed to enjoy. In addition to the speakers, and colleagues who came to chair panels, three other colleagues stopped in for some of the time and there were about a dozen Masters and PhD students in the audience, so there were probably between twenty and thirty people in the room the whole time, which made for a nice little audience. Here I am giving my paper on Saturday morning:

I made cookies to share with symposium-goers, which were much appreciated: Choc-Oates-Chip (credits to Dad for the pun!) and Mudwoman Patties (Except I didn't come up with that title until after the event was over. These are actually Evan's Molasses Ginger cookies.).

The Friday evening event dinner was held at a restaurant in Aix called Yves. It was new to me and came recommended by our administrative staff. It was excellent! A gastronomique meal in a small restaurant where the chef is the only one working. The restaurant was privatized for our small group of twelve for the evening. I had a poached egg, followed by a white fish with Jerusalem artichoke and cauliflower, and then a sort of upside-down no-bake cheesecake for dessert. Everything was fancily presented for the eyes and delicious to the tongue! I think everyone was quite impressed. I, for one, have never had such a fancy work event meal.

Our friend Gérald stayed over until this afternoon. Yesterday, we went for a hike to Le Village des Juifs to play a couple rounds of Mölkky, as it was a nice sunny day.

Before he left, this afternoon, Gérald remarked upon how well he thought all the participants in the symposium had been treated. It's true that more and more, it's unusual to get treated to a dinner, two lunches, and a welcome gift of tote bag, folder, note pad, pen and water bottle - not to mention the homemade baked goods.

My hope is that all of the special treatment will help charm people into not only submitting their articles from this event for the conference proceedings, but also encourage them to write something for my upcoming special issue of the Journal of the Short Story in English on Oates short stories!