The Talk of the Town Two Lunches by Jamaica Kincaid. Talk story about a Thursday lunch given by Pepsi-Cola in honor of the Parks Department's urban park rangers. Related conversations-about the color of the bread, the Grand Canyon a play about New York City performed there. The urban park rangers were dressed in uniforms of forest rangers...

The Talk of the Town Walkers by Wallace White. Talk story about race walking under the guidance of Howard Jacobson, president of the New York Walkers Club. This year, for the first time, the sponsors of the New York City Marathon admitted a group of entrants who race-walked the course. Race walking, or an efficient method of walking...

The Current Cinema by Renata Adler. Review of "Head Over Heels", based on a fine novel by Ann Beattie. (Though not mentioned the novel is entitled "Chilly Scenes of Winter...

The Talk of the Town Stamp by Lee Lorenz. Talk story about the flag design on a 15 cents stamp. A friend of the writer's was distressed because the flag had 15 stripes on it and the American flag has 13. A telephone call to the U.S. Postal Service in Washington, and a talk with Ron Powell revealed the...

The Talk of the Town Renewed Acquaintance by E. J. Kahn. Talk story about Ruth von Phul, cross-word puzzle expert and Joyce enthusiast. She was interviewed by us 54 years ago and noted in our issue of Apr. 4, 1925, when she was in her early twenties. At the start of the Second World War she took a course in...

Comment by Jonathan Schell. The seizure of the American Embassy in Iran and 62 of its American employees and their dependents by supporters of Ayatollah Khomeini, Iran's violent holy man & atavistic political leader, has provoked a two-stage reaction among Americans. First has come the visceral impulse to take radical action, perhaps of...

The Sporting Scene WILVER'S WAY by Roger Angell. SPORTING SCENE about highlights of the 1979 baseball season and the World Series between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Baltimore Orioles, which the Pirates won in 7 games. This year's Series was notable for the refreshing and attractive personalities of the 2 new pennant-winning teams. All the famous, highly...

Fiction She Will Make You Very Happy by Shirley Hazzard. Christian, 27, a civil servant in London, finds himself attracted to the young woman sitting beside him at a concert. During intermission her companion--an elderly woman who turns out to be her half-sister--leaves her seat and Christian introduces himself. Her name is Grace and she is Australian...

The Theatre by Brendan Gill.

A Reporter at Large 1980 by Elizabeth Drew. REPORTER AT LARGE about the Presidential campaign. The idea that Edward Kennedy might run for Pres. has been around him for a long time. It has been an open subject since 1968. At the Democratic Party's 1978 midterm conference in Memphis he made a speech ostensibly about health insurance but...

Fiction With the Potters by Katharine Andres. The writer, Ruth, goes to a poetry reading held in the Back Bay section of Boston with her friend Walker Potter. Walker, nearly 30, lives with his' widowed mother. Ruth is living with her parents also. Many strange people are at the poetry reading; Ruth wonders how she and Walker...

Poetry The Colors of Our Age: Pink and Black by Dave Smith. That year the war went on, nameless, somewhere...