The Talk of the Town Disco-Towing by Patricia Marx. Talk story about disco-towing, a program initiated by the D.O.T. 's Bureau of Enforcement to clear away illegally parked cars near discotheques. Writer travels in a brown Plymouth Reliant with Assistant Chief Catherine Mack, who supervises special projects for the Bureau & is in charge the night writer goes...

Dancing by Arlene Croce.

The Talk of the Town Nearly Remarkable by Barry Singer. Talk Story about Lou Reed's six-night gig at the St. James Theatre & how the paths of this theatre & that rocker have been sort of crossing for many years. In 1965 when Reed was forming his seminal avant-garde rock-and-roll ensemble, The Velvet Underground, Ginger Rogers...

Comment by Cynthia Zarin. Comment about a woman who applied for health insurance & was given a blood test for AIDS. Writer was told that she was an enormous risk. The reasons for this which were explained to her by a friendly agent of the company, were that she was likely, because of her...

On Photography by Ingrid Sischy.

Musical Events by Andrew Porter.

Fiction Elevator Neighbors by Rick Rofihe. Narrator & Bim, both painters needing a place to live & work in, moved into a factory converted building at the same time. They live on the 6th & 5th floors, respectively & are known as the elevator neighbors by the other tenants because the elevator only works on their...

Dept. of Amplification by Lawrence Weschler. DEPT. OF AMPLIFICATION of REPORTER AT LARGE (Apr. 3 & 10) about Uruguay. The Uruguayans were on the verge of a referendum to take place on April 16. It was to decide once and for all, whether to overturn the amnesty for human-rights violations which the country's reconstituted democratic...

A Reporter at Large I-THE EMERGENCY by William Finnegan. REPORTER AT LARGE about Mozambique. The main cause of the countrywide suffering is the war being waged against the govt. (called Frelimo) by the Resistencia Nacional Mocambicana, or Renamo. The war started in 1976 & intensified after 1981. It has destroyed the national economy, most of the country's transportation &...

Fiction Mr. Reed's House by John Bennet. The narrator, who is six years old, is told they're moving because his father's coming home. He doesn't remember his father who left when he was 2 for Guam to work at construction. Now four years later he's returned to East Texas & the family is moving to another house...

Books by Terrence Rafferty.

The Talk of the Town Livelihood by Adam Gopnik. Talk Story about Bernie Glassman, a Zen abbot, who with his wife, Helen, operates the Greyston bakery in Yonkers, New York. Greyston is famous for its cheesecake & is now working with ice cream makers Ben & Jerry to create the perfect brownie for Ben & Jerry's Brownie Bar. The...

Around City Hall AROUND CITY HALL BULLETINS FROM EMERALD CITY by Andy Logan. Mayor Koch, who is going for a 4th term at City Hall, has said that he will enter the race in June, as he did for his reelection campaign in 1981, or July, as he did for the one in 1985. That way, as he rockets around the five boroughs...

Poetry The Hiding Place by Jorie Graham. The last time I saw it was 1963...