Around City Hall DEFINITIONS AROUND CITY HALL by Andy Logan. Mayor Koch has made only muted attacks on the Reagan economic plan, which, by his own estimates, will cost the city government more than a third of a billion dollars in federal payments next year. His attitude toward the President has been generally deferential, assumedly because he wants the Republican...

The Talk of the Town Cultural Roundup by Jane Boutwell. Talk story about some of the cultural events that took place last week. Writer visited the Whitney Museum, which is running "The Boston Tradition," an exhibit of 78 paintings which traces the development of proper-Bostonian taste, from elegant, English-inspired portraits of the 18th century to Impressionist landscapes of...

The Air Hunting the Passive by John Pijewski. The air's pushing 80. Open all the windows...

Fiction Shots by John Rolfe Gardiner. The Dabneys have moved into a new house in Worton, Virginia. Their neighbors can see, as the Dabneys unload their "Adventures in Moving" rental trailer, that they are a poor family. They have only three beds for five family members. Their daughter, Mossie, who looks a lot older than 11...

Musical Events Gaudeamus by Nicholas Kenyon.

The Talk of the Town Derby Fever by Bobbie Ann Mason. Talk story about a visit to the Kentucky Derby, won this year by Pleasant Colony. The field was crowded -- twenty-one horses in all, and the infield was crowded too. Writer observes and talks with several people in the clubhouse garden. Watches race from press box. Goes to the clubhouse...

The Theatre Earned Applause by Brendan Gill.

Dancing A New Old "Giselle" by Arlene Croce.

The Current Cinema WADDLERS AND BIKERS by Pauline Kael.

Comment by Jonathan Schell. Comment about the U.S. showing a susceptibility to abstract ideas. Secretary of the Interior James Watt at a hearing of the House Interior Committee was asked whether he favored preserving the land for future generations. He replied, "I do not know how many future generations we can count on before...

The Talk of the Town Language by James Stevenson. Talk story about buying sculpture tools for a little girl's birthday present. Writer asks little girl what kind of sculpture tools she would like, and the little girl shrugs. Salesperson at art store asks writer what kind of sculpture tools he wants, and writer shrugs. Writer finds his way to...

Fiction Time Alone by James Robinson. Garnet is a lawyer in East Providence, Rhode Island. She has rented out the upstairs part of her house to another lawyer named Ross Wyman, and his wife, Liz. Liz and Ross have kept Garnet awake all night. They were fighting about Nate, Liz's elderly father. Nate comes over to...

A Reporter at Large by Frances FitzGerald. REPORTER AT LARGE about the Reverend Jerry Falwell, fundamentalist pastor of the Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Va., and President of the Moral Majority. In October, 1980 there was a convention of the National Religious Broadcasters in Lynchburg, of which Falwell was the host. He held a press conference...

Poetry Turn-of-the-Century House by Dave Smith. The leaded, wiggly glass lives in its human length...