Comment Comment, Pt. II by Donald Barthelme. A friend writes: There's alleged to be $40 million missing in the Iran-weapons-sale affair & our govt. doesn't seem to be much worried about it. I don't see a great foofaraw in the newspapers. I don't see Administration spokesmen issuing terse bulletins on TV about how close they...

The Art World (The Art Galleries) by Calvin Tomkins.

The Theatre MOMS by Edith Oliver.

The Talk of the Town Stars & Stripes by Charles McGrath. Talk story about a parade up Fifth Avenue, held by the city on Tuesday, February 10, 1987, for Dennis Conner and the victorious crew of Stars & Stripes. The well-tanned Stars & Stripes crew, riding together on a Statue of Liberty float left over from last July, included tactician...

Comment Comment, Pt. I by Jonathan Schell. According to the papers, President Reagan is having a hard time getting people to fill top positions in the White House. "The private sector," with its six-figure salaries, beckons to his staff, whose members have been leaving in considerable numbers recently; & possible replacements, discouraged by what one high...

Musical Events by Andrew Porter.

Dancing by Arlene Croce.

The Current Cinema VIRGINS, VAMPS, AND FLOOZIES by Pauline Kael.

The Sky Line by Brendan Gill.

Jazz by Whitney Balliett. Column-length biography of blind pianist George Shearing...

Fiction World Expo Larry 'N' Dot '87: An Appraisal by Bruce McCall. Parody about attending World Expo Larry 'N' Dot '87. Describes this wacky world's fair, and there is a diagram of its layout. Some of the features include, Relax-O-Rama, wending a path between Larry's Throne ("The World's Only All-Naugahyde Queen Anne Reclining Swivel Rocker") and such fixtures of...

Fiction The War With New Jersey by Saul Steinberg. Four drawings. The first one is uncaptioned and shows the N.Y. side of the Hudson River and indicates points that were invaded; the second one is captioned "The Dakota Crossing"; the third "Amagansett" and the fourth "Victory Parade...

Books by Naomi Bliven.

The Talk of the Town Marketing by Lillian Ross. Talk story about Hasbro, Inc., --which at $1.2 billion/year is the world's largest toy manufacturer. In the past few years, Hasbro, whose home is in Pawtucket, RI, has gobbled up Playskool, Milton Bradley, Ideal and Child Guidance, among other formerly independent toy manufacturers, and brought them, still bearing their...

Our Far-Flung Correspondents PLEASANT AND LIVING by Berton Roueche. OUR FAR-FLUNG CORRESPONDENTS about a trip to a Parisian park, Jardin des Plantes. The last time writer was in Paris he gave himself the unusual pleasure of a long day in the Jardin des Plantes. The park, though a favorite pleasance of Parisians of all ages & classes since...

Fiction The Blue Room by Adam Gopnik. When the narrator and his wife, Martha, came to N.Y. 5 years ago, they moved into a small studio on E. 87. Its sole conventional attraction was its view; the stained-glass windows in the apse of the Rhinelander Church of the Holy Trinity, on E. 88th. Unlike many drawn...

The Control of Nature by John McPhee. THE CONTROL OF NATURE about efforts by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to hold the Mississippi River in place in southern Louisiana. In each decade since about 1860, the Atchafalaya River had drawn off more water from the Mississippi than it had in the decade before. Soon it would...

Poetry Mandarin Oranges by Katha Pollitt. I can't remember if I even liked them...

Poetry Mary Magdalene and I by Czeslaw Milosz. The seven unclean spirits of Mary Magdalene...