Fiction Scenes From The Thousand and One Nights by William Steig. Eight drawings of scenes from the tales...

A Reporter at Large I-GREAT PLAINS by Ian Frazier. REPORTER AT LARGE about the Great Plains, about 2500 miles long and about 600 miles at their widest. Their area parallels the Rocky Mountains, which make their Western boundary They extend from the southeastern U.S. well into Canada, but no single state or province lies entirely within them. They include...

Dancing by Arlene Croce.

The Theatre MIXED BAG by Edith Oliver.

A Critic at Large by John Updike. A CRITIC AT LARGE about the life & career of cartoonist Ralph Barton, who committed suicide at age 39, in 1931. Barton's drawings, like his signature, have a squared-off quality, a frame of high intention that suggests an aspiration beyond the momentary smile most cartoons are content to induce...

The Talk of the Town Whereabouts by E. J. Kahn. Talk Story about a visit to Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, where for the last few years each of the entering freshman has received, compliments of the faculty, 2 Rand McNally publications: a World Atlas & "World Facts in Brief." Sol Gittleman is the university provost who started the idea...

The Talk of the Town Weather Report by Deirdre McNamer. Talk Story about the big Arctic front that wedged into Montana, pushing wind-chill temperatures toward 80 deg. below 0. The writer calls her friend in Missoula, Montana who reports that it's 15 deg. below 0 & the wind is blowing at 35 mph. Her friend conducts a number of...

The Talk of the Town Good Times by Lisa Walker. Talk Story from a young woman we know who got out her high school yearbook recently--something she does whenever she is bummed out with adult life. The yearbook is black leather with a sketch of a white Thunderbird, the school mascot, on front. The yearbook theme that year was...

The Art World (The Art Galleries) by Adam Gopnik.

Fiction Une Vie De Chateau by Sybille Bedford. Writer recalls living with her father in Feldkirch, village in Germany in 1919. Her mother has left her father a few months earlier. Before the war, in her mother's time, the chateau was lively--there was her half sister, the governess, maids, & a cook. Now the household is down...

The Current Cinema MARRIAGES by Pauline Kael.

Comment by Gwen Kinkead. Comment about the death of Francisco Mendes Filho, the assassinated Brazilian environmentalist. In St. Peter's church in our nation's capital a few weeks ago, leader after leader stood in front of the photograph of Mendes. Senator Robert Kasten, of Wisconsin, called Mendes his "friend" and "ally." William Reilly, the administrator...

Musical Events by Andrew Porter.

The Talk of the Town No Swimsuits by Mark Singer. Talk story about writer attending a party for a preview screening of "Sports Illustrated: The Making of the Swimsuit Issue". A lot of people who aren't actually reporters themselves but who think they know how reporters operate have this idea that all it takes to get the story is a...

Jazz by Whitney Balliett.

Poetry Moon Clock by Donald Hall. Like an oarless boat through midnight's watery...

Poetry Reports From the Front by Eamon Grennan. The cows spread slow unreadable ideograms...

Poetry My Cousin Muriel by Amy Clampitt. From Manhattan, a glittering shambles...