Comment December Light by Paul Berman. Comment about weather in Hew York and the light in December there. In the 18th century, European naturalists and geographers believed that weather in the New World was given to unusual extremes of hot and cold. This was because of the New World's relatively recent emergence from the sea (so...

The Talk of the Town Poetry Underground by Richard Cohen. Talk story about poetry appearing in subway cars. Cynthia Atkins, a young poet employed by the Poetry Society of America to help select the works displayed on the subway, hopes that the program may "change the reality down there," and explains, "We want poetry to be part of daily life...

The Talk of the Town Beating the Storm by Alexander Chancellor. Talk story about the American premiere of "The Hard Nut," Mark Morris' version of "The Nutcracker." The event was a gala to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Brooklyn Academy of Music's Next Wave Festival. It occurred on the night of a freak storm. Many of the sponsors & musicians...

The Talk of the Town Heart of the Country by Jeffrey Frank. Talk story about Hank Williams, who died 40 years ago at age 29, & the influence of country music on Bill Clinton. The complete lyrics of Williams are about to be issued by St. Martin's, & Polygram is reissuing his complete recordings, on compact disks. George William Koon, a biographer...

The Talk of the Town Anchors Away by Helen Thorpe. A talk story about the 70th birthday celebration for Don Hewitt, who created "60 Minutes." Tells about the party, which featured a rap duet by Diane Sawyer and Lesley Stahl, as well as a solo turn by gossip columnist Liz Smith...

The Talk of the Town Combat Duty by Laura Winters. Talk story about Italian writer Oriana Fallaci. Known for her interviews with men of power, her novel "Inshallah" has just been published by Doubleday in her own English translation. Writer interviewed her in her midtown office, which has a sign on the door reading, "Please Go Away." "Inshallah" (Arabic for...

The Talk of the Town Fruit Passion by Helen Thorpe. A talk story about Clementines, the fruit. It is sometimes assumed that growers here ignore them because the fruit is considered too small for Americans who like everything big, but Dr. Jack C. Hearn, of the USDA's Horticultural Research Laboratory in Orlando, says that the real reason is that the...

Letter from Washington ALL THE PRESIDENT'S WARS by Sidney Blumenthal. LETTER FROM WASHINGTON about President Bush's term in office. Tells about the cycle of popularity that followed a similar cycle of wars which the President ordered, and about the lack of a domestic policy to compliment them...

Between the Acts NUREYEV'S CODA by Luke Jennings. BETWEEN THE ACTS about the terminal illness of Rudolf Nureyev. He reportedly has AIDS, which his friends say is untrue. At the opening of his production of "La Bayadere," at the Paris Opera, on Oct. 8, he had to be helped onto the stage to take his bow & be...

Around City Hall HIGH WINDS IN BROOKLYN AROUND CITY HALL by Andy Logan. David Dinkins had managed to get elected to the borough president's office only four years earlier, after a long and costly struggle, having been defeated in 1977 and again in 1981 by Andrew Stein, the son of the politically well-connected multimillionaire businessman and publisher Jerry Finkelstein. Stein's father had...

Casual $39.95 Before Xmas , $3.95 After by Bruce McCall. Casual that lists fifteen books that are drastically reduced in price after Christmas. The first is an inspirational self-help, folk wit book called YOU CAN GO TO HELL, THAT'S WHAT YOU ARE, AND I'M JUST THE ONE TO DO IT. The second is a review of Canada's fisheries entitled...

Letter from London OVER THE LIMIT by Julian Barnes. LETTER FROM LONDON about a scandal involving Norman Lamont, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and about the Royal Family, especially about Queen Elizabeth paying taxes...

Annals of Political Terror BURYING THE MARTYRS by Mary Anne Weaver. ANNALS OF POLITICAL TERROR about political prisoners in Ethiopia. Tells about the rise, in 1974, of a revolutionary party known as the Dergue, led by Col. Mengistu Haile Mariam, a 5'3" ordnance officer known as the Black Stalin of Africa: he was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of...

Artist's Notebook Winter Wonderland by Benoit van Innis. Under ARTIST'S NOTEBOOK, a man walking a dog in a snow storm had been covered with snow and is now a statuesque snowman. Everything is covered with a blanket of snow except the dog and his leash...

Artist at Large The Big Apple Circus by Philip Burke. Under ARTIST AT LARGE, a five page color spread showing various scenes and characters in the Big Apple Circus...

Remembering Mr. Shawn by Various Writers. Letters from 33 different writers telling about their experiences with Mr. Shawn, upon the occasion of his death. Writers include: Charles McGrath, Arlene Croce, Roger Angell, Jane Kramer, Edith Oliver, William Maxwell, Veronica Geng, John McPhee, Mark Singer, Philip Hamburger, Andy Logan, Bill McKibben, Lis Harris, Gardner Botsford, Lee Lorenz...

The Diplomatic Life MR. AMBASSADOR! BOB STRAUSS COMES HOME by Marie Brenner. THE DIPLOMATIC LIFE about Ambassador to Russia Robert Strauss, who recently finished his tour. Tells about his life, and his few achievements as Ambassador in the fifteen months he was there...

Artist at Large Party Animal by Ronald Searle. Under ARTIST AT LARGE, a fat, happy, cat gingerly lounges on his back in a box window. He had a multicolored hat on his head. It is snowing outside, and there is a wreath on the window...

Cultural Pursuits THE SHADOWS OF WILLIAM TREVOR by Stephen Schiff. CULTURAL PURSUITS about writer William Trevor, 65. His "Collected Stories," which have just been published by Viking Penguin, run to 1,261 pages--87 tales in all. He won the Hawthornden in 1964 for his first novel, "The Old Boys"; two Whitebreads, in 1976 and 1983; the Booker Prize shortlist in...

Artist's Sketchbook MOZART'S FLUTE by Adam Gopnik. ARTIST'S SKETCHBOOK about a new production of Mozart's "The Magic Flute." The designs that Gerald Scarfe has offered for a new production of the "Flute" which will debut in Los Angeles at the end of January just may work. Scarfe's vision is by Disney out of du Maurier--part 'Fantasia...

Fiction Nativity by Christopher Hope. The narrator, Martin, tells the story of Nathan Swirsky moving into his subdivision outside of Johannesburg in the Christmas week of 1950. Swirsky had a long, black, shiny, mustache, and built a pharmacy at the end of the line of shops on Charles Drive which werved the estate called Badminton...

Fiction Mlle. Dias de Corta by Mavis Gallant. The narrator is a French woman who tells the story of the trials and tribulations that accured in the 1970's when she rented a room out to a young actress named Mlle. Alda Dias de Corta. Alda moved into the apartment in Paris in the summer of the year...

Books by Clive James.

The Theatre ASTONISHMENTS AND PRATFALLS by John Lahr.

Dancing by Arlene Croce.

The Current Cinema KING JAMES AND PRINCE CHARLIE by Michael Sragow.

Greetings, Friends! by Roger Angell. Stop here, good reader, half a mo...

Poetry Brought From Beyond by Amy Clampitt. The magpie and the bowerbird, its odd...

Poetry Celebrations by Piotr Sommer. And for the holidays some old people always come...