would like to dedicate this project to the women who corresponded with me for the full year. How slim was that virtual thread! There were lapses, but even they became significant in their silence. They put their faith in a single interpreter and I'm extremely grateful.

I want to thank the design team of Kaiser Dicken who helped me wrap my mind around the presentation of this challenging project and design a website worthy of the subject matter. I want to thank Michael Hoard of Eight Eleven LLC, the wizard who successfully penetrated the mysteries of web technologies and miraculously finished the project on time. In Jordan, I thank Samya Khalaf, my Arabic teacher and translator, the American Center for Oriental Research — who were my hosts during the research phase — and a special thanks to Khulood Kittaneh who generously dedicated her time to helping me research.

Finally, I'd like to thank my dealer Nohra Haime whose long-standing support has allowed me to expand and explore new artistic horizons, and my partner and editor Frank Marshall. For 23 years he has never failed to correct my grammar, make me tea and remind me of how much fun our lives really are!

This project was funded by a grant from the Vermont Community Foundation.