The Talk of the Town Loft Wars by Mark Singer. Talk Story about Mitchell Korn who is in his mid-thirties. He is a guitarist and composer who made his debut at Carnegie Hall recently. The first piece he played was "Loft Wars"; it was dedicated to his landlords. Korn was inspired to write this piece because of the problems...

Annals of Law THE ASBESTOS INDUSTRY ON TRIAL I-A FAILURE TO WARN by Paul Brodeur. ANNALS OF LAW about the health hazards of asbestos and lawsuits filed on behalf of ill workers...

The Sporting Scene AUSTIN AND AUGUSTA by Herbert Warren Wind. THE SPORTING SCENE about Ben Crenshaw and the 1985 Masters Tournament. Crenshaw won the 1984 Masters, at the Augusta National, but his year since then was not very successful, and he was not expected to win the Masters this year. It was won by Bernhard Langer of West Germany. Crenshaw's...

Dancing by Arlene Croce.

Musical Events by Andrew Porter.

Books by Whitney Balliett.

The Talk of the Town Grace by William McKibben. Talk story about a trip to Prall's Island where a sanctuary for herons has just been established. Writer went with the Audubon Society. Prall's Island, in the Arthur Kill, off Staten Island, is a grassy strip bordered on three sides by tank farms and factories. Writer couldn't believe that it...

Obituary by William Shawn. Obituary of Carmine Peppe, who was the makeup editor of "The New Yorker" for fifty years. He was born in 1907 and died on Wed., May 22, 1985. He came to work in 1925 as an office boy and decided to retire in 1977...

In the Garden The Wedding in the Garden by William Trevor. This story is set in Ireland. Ever since Dervla was 9, the people of the Royal Hotel had fascinated her. Its proprietors were the Congreves. The Congreves had 3 children. Dervla's father used to say that they had "great breeding in them." When Dervla grew older she worked in the...

Comment by Fred C. Shapiro. A middle-aged reporter on our staff writes about Philadelphia. His earliest memories are of a row house on Osage Ave in W. Phila. & he was dismayed last month as he watched (on TV) a Phila. police helicopter bombing an almost identical house & setting off a fire that...

Fiction The Middle Ages by Alice Mattison. The Talented and Gifted Program convened on Thursday afternoons all year, gathering children from half of the city. For their annual Medieval Fair, the children put on a play about a knight and a princess. The knight's parents watched and after the play, they joined the rest of the parents...

Books by Whitney Balliett.

The Theatre by Edith Oliver.

Around City Hall AROUND CITY HALL HIGH KICKERS by Andy Logan. It is partly because of a masterly manipulation of television and other branches of the media that New York's Mayor Edward Koch is being treated as a virtual shoo-in for reelection this year. A recent poll showed him 45 points ahead of Carol Bellamy, his nearest rival. Except for...

The Talk of the Town Video Games by Orville Schell. Talk story about an essay written by a fourth grad Chinese girl. Writer talked to Lonna Jones, who works with the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the Center for U.S-China Arts Exchange at Columbia University administering an elementary school arts-education exchange. She recently returned from Peking, bringing with her...

Poetry Nanjing Night by Vikram Seth. Full moon, the Nanjing walls, bicycle bells...

Poetry The Feather by Sandra McPherson. I accept its descent, a trace...

Poetry Dread by Lizbeth Rosenberg. Every time the door swings shut...