1989

I promised in my last column that I would devote this column to a catch-up on my FSP group London, fall 1987 "London as Historical Laboratory. " The idea came to me after seeing one of our professors David Starkey dapper expert on the British royals all over the media after the death of Princess Diana. So what happened to Professor Starkey's eager students of history after that fall of the Great Hurricane, the stock market crash, Consort House parties, and the improvised Thanksgiving feast?

I thought I would begin with Ariel TaborMacTavish's recent return to London. "In the summer of 1996 I had the chance to travel to London on business. I ventured out for a walk through the park. I walked all the way across the park to Bayswater and Queens Way, and you will be happy to know it hasn't changed a bit still the eclectic mixture of Indians, Arabs, punk rockers, and British housewives. The extortionist store is there and the Consort House with its row of buzzers. I did not see the big doorman we used to talk to [Ferdinand], but everything else appeared unchanged the tube stop, the money machine across the street, the Lone Star cafe." Ariel is living and working in Miami, Fla., for Cordis Corp., a division of Johnson & Johnson, where she works on regulatory affairs for new product development. She has been married for almost six years to Cliff, who will be opening a small Italian restaurant in the next couple of months in Hollywood, Fla. Pat Giersch (who accompanied Ariel and me to Wales one weekend) has emerged as one of several loyal history students in the bunch he is pursuing his degree at Yale in Chinese history. Beth Wood and Dave Frey who got married a few years out of school, also continue the history tradition. Beth has been teaching history for several years at my former high school in New York, while Dave is pursuing his Ph.D. in Eastern European history at Columbia. They and their daughter Anna are living in Budapest for the year while Dave does dissertation research. From what I remember, they barely noticed each other in London.

Jennifer Downs O'Shaughnessy, our class president, is living in the Chicago area, practicing law at a Kansas City firm, thanks to the wonders of telecommuting, and is still quite the history enthusiast" Husband Danny is finishing business school at Kellogg. The pair plan on moving to New York City this fall. Polar opposite politicos Andy Fields and Brian Frazier, London roommates, both became lawyers Andy in New York and Brian in Nashville. I would heartily enjoy having a pint with them both and listen to a Fields-Frazier argument on ascendent Marxism and the breakdown of society. John Britton and Eric Bunting both went the business route. John is a broker in New York. Eric, last I heard, had just graduated from Stanford Business School. As I have mentioned before, I am a budget analyst for Congress but I do use my knowledge of the court of Henry VIII to navigate the perilous rules of Congress. I have not heard from Missy Neubert, EmilyBrew, or Peter Lurie, but I hope that you are all are doing well.

My final words are on Paul Gould who recently passed away. One of the nice memories from London was that of Paul playing his saxophone at Consort House parties and coming back from playing in the Underground with a bag full of coins.

Jeanne De Sa, 127 3rd St., NE, Washington, DC 20002;