The Talk of the Town Steve & Carol by Mark Singer. Talk story about Steve and Carol Mills, a couple who do professional juggling in Father Demo Square. This is a triangle bordered by Carmine and Bleecker Streets and Sixth Avenue, in Greenwich Village. They toss around and usually catch gasoline-soaked torches. This summer they have been boarding with Steve's...

A Reporter at Large 1980: THE REPUBLICAN CONVENTION by Elizabeth Drew. A REPORTER AT LARGE about the Republican National Convention held from Monday, July 14 through Thursday the 17th, in Detroit. As expected, Ronald Reagan was nominated for President and he chose George Bush as his Vice-Presidential running mate. Since May 26th, Reagan had the nomination in hand. His staff...

The Talk of the Town Clocks by Laura Tennen. Talk story about a visit to the clocks in the new American Wing of the Metropolitan Museum with a group from the American Section of the Antiquarian Horological Society. The visit was arranged by Clare Vincent. She is an associate curator in the museum's Dept. of European Sculpture and Decorative...

Comment by Suzannah Lessard. A mother can now see her child in her womb three months after conception. The picture, translated from sound waves, is called a sonogram. Its purpose is to locate the fetus so that a doctor can perform an amniocentesis, a test whereby amniotic fluid is drawn from the womb, and...

Books Dark Smile, Devilish Saints by John Updike.

Fiction The Manhandlers by Scot Haller. Andy is riding in a car from Michigan to Florida with his sister, Amy, his mother, Pegalee, and her husband, David. They are going to visit Dot, Pegalee's aunt, whom they call grandmother, and Keith, Dot's nephew, whom they call cousin. Dot has not seen the family since Pegalee's divorce...

The Sporting Scene WATSON, WEATHER, AND MUIRFIELD by Herbert Warren Wind. THE SPORTING SCENE about the 1980 British Open golf match, won by 30-year-old Tom Watson. The tournament was played at the Muirfield course, in Scotland, one of the best in Britain. Watson, perhaps the best golfer in the world, has won the British Open 3 times in his...

Fiction Wednesday's Child by Mark Kirkeby. Add Two Tbs. Hubris and Call the Times Parody of an article in the Times about eating well despite economic hardship. Rex Balpeen, a conceptual artist in fur who supports himself by realigning roller skates, lives in a converted fast-food restaurant near Washington Square. On a recent evening, Mr...

Concert Records / Popular Music Dietz and Schwartz by Douglas Watt.

Obituary by William Shawn. Obituary of Kenneth Tynan, who died on Saturday, July 26, in Los Angeles, at the age of 53...

Poetry Case by Phyllis Janowitz. This is a tale of the body, its inert...

Poetry Memorial Day, 1979 by Eugene Ruggles. My neck sits in a pool...