Reactions, please.

Last night my sister told me a story. I'm going to recount as much of the story as I can, just as it was told to me, and I'd very much appreciate your thoughts.

My sister's friend participates in a newsgroup devoted to a TV show. On that newsgroup, some time ago (more than six months), she began corresponding with a 13-year-old Afghan girl who was in the U.S. to attend school. The girl's guardian was her grandfather, who had very progressive ideas about educating women. Because of that, and because the girl is a math prodigy (although she writes in very broken English), he arranged for her to attend school in New York.

On September 11th, her grandfather had a heart attack and died when he saw the WTC disaster covered on TV. Her U.S. hosts were both in the World Trade Center at the time, and died in the attack. Back in Afghanistan, the rest of her close family was killed when Taliban forces burned their house down. She has therefore come under the custody of distant relatives.

These relatives do not believe in educating girls, and have forced her to leave school. They have arranged her marriage to a 60-year-old man in Afghanistan, against her will. She is still in the U.S., but they moved her a couple of times in a private plane, and she has no idea where she is. She is not permitted to leave the house or contact anyone. She is only able to contact my sister's friend because she has a handheld computer which her guardians don't realize is equipped with e-mail access. She is becoming progressively more despairing, and my sister's friend is becoming progressively more frightened for her.

My sister's friend called the FBI, and was told that without any information about the girl's location there isn't much they can do.

What do you think?

Ooooh, girly.

Bill has been kind - or foolhardy - enough to agree to make me another period costume suitable for English Country Dance.

I really should have pictures of my first costume scanned. We found a beautiful long brocade coat at a costume shop, and Bill made me a full velvet skirt skirt and a contrasting brocade bodice and a lace jabot for a blouse I already had. It's an incredible ensemble, but very hot to dance in, with all the layers of brocade and velvet. So this new costume is going to be lightweight cotton.

I've been poking around online looking at patterns and styles. There's probably a 150-year span of history in which these dances were done, mostly the 18th century, but also including the end of the 17th and the beginning of the 19th. Lots of clothing options to choose from.

Empire-waisted dresses were popular during the time period, especially in England, but they really don't suit my figure. I'm finding myself drawn to American Revolutionary War era dresses, which take this basic shape, or the paniered style which is relatively flat front and back but has side hoops. Here are some other pattern examples: a jacketed gown, a short dress which might be more practical for dancing, another shorter dress (the one on the left), and an utterly ravishing example of what a dress can look like when it's finished.

This is going to be such fun.