Letter from Washington by Elizabeth Drew. Dukakis's creditable performance in the 1st Presidential debate hadn't given his campaign the boost his people felt it needed, nor had Lloyd Bentsen's wipeout of Dan Quayle in the Vice-Presidential debate--though the latter did help. President Reagan is campaigning hard for Bush, often appearing before young people, with...

The Talk of the Town Atlantic City by Lisa Walker. Talk story about going to Atlantic City for the weekend. Writer's friend Jane won a free night at a hotel and free tickets to a show, and she took writer along because it was her birthday. None of writer's friends were very excited about the trip, althoughtthey thought that everyone...

Profiles MODERN GIRL by Phyllis Birnbaum. PROFILE of Chiyo Uno, Japanese woman writer, now 90 years old She is one of the few Japanese women with an established literary reputation, having made her mark early by publishing stormy love stories based upon her own entanglements. While other women writers of her generation wrote of social issues...

Comment by Verlyn Klinkenborg. It has taken me nearly 17 years--the 17 years since my mother died--to learn that what I miss the most about her is her voice. I can hear it, but I can't tell you much about it beyond what most people know of a mother's voice--that in...

The Current Cinema by Pauline Kael.

A Reporter at Large THE RELIGION OF THE PAST II-SOMETHING WE ALL LIVE WITH by V. S. Naipaul. REPORTER AT LARGE about the Old South. Writer visited Mississippi. In Jackson he heard about the unusual state constitution, drafted in 1890, after the Civil War & Reconstruction. Writer went to talk to former Gov. William Winter about it. He said that the 1890 constitution became a model for other...

Fiction Fire Dreams by Jean Thompson. Story about a single woman who lives in a rundown bungalow next to a volunteer fire station in a well maintained suburb. The firement maintain their station every Sunday, just as they mow their lawns and maintain their houses. The woman goes to fundraising breakfasts and suppers every year but...

The Talk of the Town Loss Control by Mark Singer. Talk story about Jim Titterton, a loss-control representative for the Chubb Group of Insurance Companies as he inspects the set for "Legs Diamond" at the Mark Hellinger Theatre. Titterton's job is to be sure that everything about the production is safe, so that Chubb will not have to pay...

The Talk of the Town Sheep Shooting by Jane Boutwell. Talk story about a video shoot of 12 sheep on the Brooklyn Bridge. The sheep, Karen Goldman explains, are to be photographed walking along the bridge footpath for a large-scale music-and-performance work, "The Return of the Native," which is a collaboration between Peter Gordon, the founder of...

Fiction Make It Count by Jeffrey Shaffer. Story which is instructions for a high-tech voting booth. There is a security bolt and a neon light that goes on when the door is properly shut, and voter is then told to familiarize himself with the features of the booth. These include a sink with towels and washcloths...

Poetry Tennyson by Karl Shapiro. Like many of us he was rather disgusting...

Poetry The Hand by Carlos Drummond De Andrade. Between the coffee, plantation and the dream...