The Talk of the Town Reunion by Deirdre McNamer. Talk story about a high school reunion in Cut Bank, Montana. Forty-two of us gathered recently for the Class of 1968 high-school reunion, inside a yellow metal-sided building on the north edge of Cut Bank--a former machine shop, I believe--& became reacquainted around a water...

Television Olympic Combined by Jeffrey Shaffer. Story about the new "totally open" format of the Olympic Games, narrated by the television announcers. New events include: a series of floats, from Canada about acid rain, from Vatican City with life size replicas of famous Catholic Church personalities, and from Poland, Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia, entitled "Who Needs Vowels...

Comment by Garrison Keillor. Comment about the Pledge of Allegiance... Vice President George Bush has been reciting it on the campaign trail as a device to advertise Governor Dukakis's veto of a Massachusetts bill requiring teachers to have their classes recite it. As children, we said the Pledge with a clear sense, enormously thrilling...

Fiction Moose by Alan Sternberg. Story about a 23 year old man, Bruce Barmusch, who lost his job in a jet-engine-repair shop and is now the inspector at the town landfill. His present ambition is to get the job of driving the scraper, a bulldozer-like machine, if an older man who recently...

The Talk of the Town Signoff by Donovan Webster. Talk story about a signoff tape, made by Ted Turner, head of CNN, in the event of nuclear war... We wondered what was on the tape. What did Mr. Turner think America wanted to hear as it prepared for incineration?... "We need to totally disarm," Mr. Turner told us, "Because...

A Reporter at Large I-LARGE CARS by Bryan Di Salvatore. A REPORTER AT LARGE about trucks & about truck driver Lonnie Umphlett... Lonnie drives a tractor-trailer rig for Davis Transport of Missoula, Montana... Lonnie has thick, wavy reddish-blond hair. Parted in the middle, it sweeps across his forehead. He got married at 18 & divorced 3 years later...

The Talk of the Town Pageant by Barry Singer. Talk story about the 1988 Miss New York State Pageant and the designer who designs Miss New York State's wardrobe for the Miss American pageant, Christopher Hunte. Writer went to Hunte's studio on W. 38 St. and met Anna Marie Truncali (Miss Staten Island) and Melissa Morrison (Miss Capitol District...

Letter from Washington by Elizabeth Drew. Republican Presidential nominee George Bush chose Sen. Dan Quayle as his running mate... The choice raised questions about the competence of the people around Bush, because Quayle was chosen by an obviously flawed system. While Bush is by all accounts a considerate man, he also has a peevish even spiteful...

Annals of Medicine THE FOULEST AND NASTIEST CREATURES THAT BE by Berton Roueche. ANNALS OF MEDICINE about the tick-borne disease called Lyme disease. It is rarely fatal, but unless promptly diagnosed & treated its victims may recover from its acute assault only to give way later to a variety of debilitating chronic ills. Tells about one victim, Priscilla Bowden (Mrs. Jeffrey Potter...

In Fashion "MODESTY, WHAT ELEGANCE!" by Holly Brubach. IN FASHION about the role of haute couture in the modern fashion world and about some of the couture shows this fall If ready-to-wear is getting more extravagant and fashion is not so conformist, is couture anything but high quality ready-to-wear made to order? The Chambre...

The Talk of the Town Casitas by Alison Kilgour. Talk story about casitas & a visit to the South Bronx to see them... Writer went with Susan Slyomovics, an urban folklorist, on a field trip to the South Bronx, one of the places where she's working on a study of casitas. Writer knew from a recent art exhibit in...

Poetry A Distant Trumpet by Jane Mayhall. Borne along humid winglets...

Poetry Long Weekend at Your House by Deborah Garrison. Strands of wind move...

Poetry Kidnapped by Robert Mazzocco. Time's not on your side, the doctor says...