Comment A Fondness for the Gallows by William Finnegan. Comment on capital punishment. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional in 1972, but reversed itself in 1976--primarily because of the public's support for capital punishment...

The Talk of the Town The Vietnam Undead by David Remnick. Talk story about the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and the fact that there are at least 14 names engraved on the granite stone of men who were not killed in Vietnam. It begins by describing the President of the United States and his reading of names that have been inscribed on...

The Talk of the Town Gorgeous George by Helen Thorpe. Talk story about the fan mail received by George Stephanopoulos, Bill Clinton's heartthrob-handsome communications director. He receives letters from female admirers at the rate of about 30 a week. His assistant, Helen Beckel, says, "They're not all blatant. And they're not all from young women.... He's practically a cult...

The Talk of the Town Art and Commerce by Anthony Haden-Guest. Talk story about the fall sale of contemporary art at Sotheby's. While many paintings didn't sell, or didn't meet their expected figures, the sale showed the underlying strength of the market. Charles Saatchi sold fine works by Robert Rauschenberg & Andy Warhol. Also sold were a painting of Brigitte Bardot's...

The Talk of the Town Queen's Gambit by Alexander Chancellor. Talk story about Queen Elizabeth II of England and the new BBC television documentary about her titled, "Elizabeth R: A Year in the Life of the Queen". This is only the second time the Royal family has allowed a documentary to be filmed about them. The first was in the...

The Talk of the Town Watercolor by Alison Rose. Talk story about the new Ivory Liquid, which, unlike the old Ivory Liquid, isn't white. It's clear. Writer asked Lynn Hailey, a spokesperson for Ivory Liquid at Procter & Gamble, in Cincinatti, about the public reaction. Ms Hailey was enthusiastic about the new product. The writer's poll showed that men...

The Talk of the Town Remembering Bainbridge by Mark Singer. Talk of the Town obituary of New Yorker writer John Bainbridge. Recalls that Harold Ross said to Bainbridge, "Well, I have to admit you have wit," & "an internal geigercounter for phonies." He joined the magazine in 1939, & wrote his first Talk story about fig trees. His editor, Gardner...

Postscript SHOTS IN THE DARK by Edward Jay Epstein. POSTSCRIPT about the late Jim Garrison's conspiracy theories regarding the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Romanticized in Oliver Stone's 1991 movie "JFK," Garrison in fact based his theories on fabricated evidence & personal vendetta. Tells how Garrison, as New Orleans D.A., arrested Clay Shaw, a prominent civic leader, in 1967...

Onward and Upward with the Arts Tony Kushner's Paradise Lost by Arthur Lubow. ONWARD AND UPWARD WITH THE ARTS about gay playwright Tony Kushner & his new work, "Angels in America" (in two parts: "Millennium Approaches" & "Perestroika"). Subtitled "A Gay Fantasia on National Themes," it depicts a young word processor who deserts his AIDS-stricken lover, & a Mormon law clerk who...

Report from Moscow THE TRIAL OF THE OLD REGIME by David Remnick. REPORT FROM MOSCOW about a trial of the Communist Party of the USSR by the country's highest court. Tells about the proceedings of the Constitutional Court, which convened on the morning of July 7, 1992...

Portrait MAILBOX by Max Green. Letter to Editor suggesting that the rectangular configuration in the portrait of Malcolm X, on the Oct. 12 cover, represents the hold of a slave ship...

Fiction Jealous by Richard Ford. The narrator, Lawrence, is a 17 year-old high school student who, after his mother and father's separation, moves with his dad to a farm outside of Button, Montana from Great Falls. His mother has gone to Seattle to go to school to learn how to fill out income tax...

Profiles THE CHINOS' ARTFUL HARVEST by Mark Singer. PROFILE of the Chino family and their gourmet vegetable farm near Rancho Santa Fe, California, and also near Del Mar--about 21 miles north of San Diego. The farm is 5 miles from the Pacific. It has an ideal microclimate. There are 45 arable acres. The Chinos, primarily Junzo, the...

The Air (On Television) by James Wolcott.

The Current Cinema FREE SPIRITS by Michael Sragow.

Books by Joan Acocella.

Shouts & Murmurs ONE MAN'S VOTE by Philip Hamburger. SHOUTS AND MURMURS about voting in this year's Presidential election. Writer has voted in 15 Presidential elections, and had felt more anxious about the outcome of this one than any other. A friend who was born in Berlin, seeing Pat Buchanan declare a religious war at the Republican Convention, said...

Poetry Beads Of Rain by Carol Moldaw. Each day I've looked...

Poetry Opus 131 by Ted Hughes. Opus 131 in C sharp minor...

Poetry Capri by Czeslaw Milosz. I am a child who receives First Communion in Wilno...