The Talk of the Town Scouting Report by Mark Singer. Talk story about tryouts for the Greenwich Village Little League, which were recently held in the Manhattan Community College gym. Writer interviews twelve prospective players, including Jeb S., whom writer describes as a talented PS 41 third grader still undecided whether to quit school and enter major-league draft as...

Profiles ORNERY by Bryan Di Salvatore. PROFILE of country musician Merle Haggard. Tells about his life. Before the sweeping democraphic shifts that followed the Second World War, country music was a popular phenomenon primarily in the Southeast and the Southwest--and, to some extent, in California, because of Depression-era migrations. Occasionally, a country song would...

Around City Hall New Look by Andy Logan. In Jan. Mayor David Dinkins made his first appearance at a meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Washington. He was named as co-chairman of their task force on the census in which N.Y. has more than an academic interest. The failure of the 1980 census to make...

Comment Comment, Pt. I by Mark Hertsgaard. Comment about cutting the US military budget. That the military budget is at last back on the table as a legitimate subject of political debate marks a historic turning point--an unmistakable sign that the Reagan era, when the Pentagon was gorged with literally more money than it knew what...

Fiction Summer Session by Veronica Geng. This play, set in July of 1962, is a conversation between Steve, recently graduated from high school, his sister, Ronnie, who is soon to graduate from college, and their father. The kids want to go bowling, but Dad is reluctant to let them go, because, he says, it is late...

The Theatre SPECIALISTS by Edith Oliver.

Musical Events by Andrew Porter.

Books by John Newhouse.

The Talk of the Town Roadside Attractions by Mike Cannell. Talk story about Lance Mallamo, the director of Suffolk County Historic Services. Lately he's been busy assembling a Suffolk County Museum of Roadside Culture-a kind of outdoor repository for the region's more audacious commercial landmarks. Mallamo and his deputy Richard Martin, took the writer for a tour of roadscide...

Comment Comment, Pt. II by George W. S. Trow. Comment about the layers of American culture-- that American culture is as thickly layered as European. The writer starts by mentioning an urban renewal project in Chicago, which demonstrates traditional American values. Then he jumps to a story about his friend who fought in WWII and was bombarded by thousands...

Fiction Psychophant by Primo Levi. A sophisticated, exclusive coterie of friends in Italy gathers at Tina's house. Now that they are older and have families, she is the only one who really enjoys having people over. Alberto, a charming, charismatic doctor, arrives late and brings with him a sort of parlor game. It is a...

Our Far-Flung Correspondents OLD-FASHIONED GIRLS by Susan Orlean. OUR FAR-FLUNG CORRESPONDENTS about attending a "quinceanera" in Phoenix. This is a ceremony that takes place when a Hispanic girl turns 15 years old, celebrates her passage into womanhood, her commitment to Catholicism, and her debut in society. In the last decade, the number of Hispanics in Phoenix has...

Poetry As We Drove by Alex Stevens. The announcer through the static warned of flash floods...

Poetry The Return by Laurie Sheck. And then he entered the city:" in the old stories...