Fiction Meneseteung by Alice Munro. The narrator describes "Offerings," a book of poems by Almeda Joynt Roth, published in 1873. Writer describes the poetess from a photo in the book. In the book's preface, Roth wrote that her father brought the family to the wilds of Canada West (as it then was). She was 14...

The Talk of the Town Light Station by Lisa Walker. Talk story about visiting the Ambrose Light Station, which marks the entrance to the New York Harbor. Around the middle of this month, the station will no longer be manned, but will be run by a navigational-aid system instead. Writer decided to go there while human beings were still...

Annals of Business I-THE SWEATER TRADE by James Lardner. ANNALS OF BUSINESS about the global clothing industry. In Hong Kong writer meets Jack Listanowsky, senior vice-president in charge of knitwear manufacturing for Liz Claiborne, the fashion company. Claiborne buys knitwear not only in Hong Kong & the U.S. but also in the Philippines, Thailand, Panama, and 11 other...

Comment by William Finnegan. The latest round of aid to the Contras was included in the general appropriations bill for fiscall 1988. President Reagan had threatened to veto the entire bill if it included anything less than an "adequate" level of Contra aid. Opposition seemed to be widespread in Congress, especially in the House...

The Current Cinema FAKERS by Pauline Kael.

Letter from Washington by Elizabeth Drew. Just as Reagan was widely being written off as irrelevant, as a lame-duck President merely serving out his last days, the recent summit meeting here with Mikhail Gorbachev(to be followed by a summit in Moscow by June)demonstrated his continuing importance & his ability to command center stage...

Musical Events by Andrew Porter.

The Theatre WHO'S THE BOSS by Mimi Kramer.

Books by George Steiner.

The Talk of the Town Almanac by Nancy Ramsey. Talk story about "The Old farmer's Almanac", which was established in 1792 and is the oldest continuously published periodical in North America. Writer spoke with Tim Clark, the executive editor, in Dublin, N.H., where the publication has its offices...

Comment Comment, Pt. II by Lillian Ross. Comment about a pensive gentleman who lives alone in the country the year around. He writes, "I always used to wonder what people meant when they said that children, when they are grown, usually give back to their parents exactly what was given to them in their early years. It...

Poetry Private Beach by Jane Kenyon. It is always the dispossessed--someone driving a huge...