Elisabeth J. Fox's Threads

"History,"

says Theodore Zeldin,

"with its endless procession of passers-by,

most of whose encounters have been

missed opportunities, has so far been

a chronicle of ability gone to waste."

But there is hope

"...today the earth is in the early stages

of being criss-crossed afresh by invisible

threads uniting individuals who differ by

all conventional criteria, but who are

finding that they have aspirations

in common."

Does the Web provide a pathway

for these invisible threads? If so,

I offer some of mine:

I was born here in Hardwicke, Gloucestershire, England..

...grew up and was educated in Cairo,

(I went to the English School in Heliopolis

...where are my classmates now?),

Montreux (Switzerland), and London, where

I went to Kings College Hospital

Medical School and where

I still have a small apartment that I

sometimes let other people rent, and

where I can indulge my passion for

the theater.

"What brought you to America?" people ask.

"My former husband," I reply (and I'm so glad he did!).

Chapel Hill is not only the

Southern Part of Heaven but probably also

the center of the Universe.

Duke educated me some more,

(having survived its gruelling program,

when men were men and so on, I vowed

always to be kind to residents), and after

some years in New York I came back

on the faculty, and eventually became

a student again and completed the Master

of Arts in Liberal Studies program

(my final project was about Egypt,

colonialism and identity),

a vastly civilizing experience.

The Wall Street Journal finds it

unaccountable that anyone might think

that pictures of their children were worth

downloading, so I'll leave them out of this,

though you might well want to visit

WebWare Corporation, (where my youngest works),

to find the solutions to some of your problems.

I suppose the WSJ's strictures apply to

grandchildren too, though perhaps just one?

The smallest?

Does nobody want to download my cat?

Now that I have been emeritized

(just in time to avoid being metamorphosed

from a physician into a health-care-provider),

I have taken to this life of leisure--

I shall wander round New Zealand

with a Lonely Planet in my pocket, carry

on struggling with Russian,

play chamber music and music for

two pianos, and who knows what else.

[Vacation]

I hover between the overly optimistic inscription

on my harpsichord, Omnia Vincit Amor,

and the thought that Spinoza may be right,

and that the elements of biography are all the same...

Biography's all about gloire,
Sensuality, money, pouvoir--
I am somewhat morose à
Cause de Spinoza:
It's always the same triste histoire!

Send e-mail if you:

Went to the English School in Heliopolis
Qualified at Kings College Hospital Medical School
Would enjoy a "virtual" iced coffee at Groppi's or a grand crème at Les Deux Magots
Are a former colleague or resident or long lost friend
Would like to rent my London apartment or exchange it with yours
Love to play music for two pianos, (and can think of a way to do this on-line)
Have actually managed the russification of your Macintosh

Last updated 10 May, 1999