Comment Comment, Pt. II by Burton Bernstein. Writer discovered in the back of his desk drawer some unused pre-stamped United States Postal Service envelopes. His immediate elation over this small trove was tempered when he realized that each envelope's embossed red-and-white stamp was marked "150 cents" seven cents short for first-class mail. Before...

Fiction My New Season by Frank Gannon. I'd been slipping for a long time, but last season was my best. Nevertheless, this season we're going with a whole new look & a whole new approach. We had a great success with me last year, but we're not going to play it safe & stick with the same...

Around City Hall Peace Child Week by Andy Logan. When Mayor Edward Koch, Gov. Mario Cuomo & John Cardinal O'Connor, widely considered NY's 3 principal politicians, gathered at City Hall on Sept. 19 to honor the arrival of Corazon Aquino, the President of the Philippines, it was the first time the 3 men had appeared together since Jan. 1...

Fiction Jack's Garden by V. S. Naipaul. Writer, who is originally from Trinidad, recalls his years spent in Salisbury, England, where he rented a cottage on a farm near Stonehenge. Jack, a neighbor who also lived in a cottage, was devoted to his garden, and to a greenhouse he'd attached to his cottage. Jack was in his...

The Talk of the Town A Dinner, a Liqueur, a Fine Cigar, and a Workout with Giant Rubber Bands by William McKibben. A four-part talk story about a visit to the New Zealand commercial consul to a party at Tavern-on-the-Green for the introduction of the world's first sugar-free liqueur, Sommer Gaarden, the introduction of a new cigar at Dunhill's and an interview with Tamilee Webb, author of...

The Talk of the Town Stuffathon by Jonathan Schell. Talk story about students from some forty Massachusetts schools, public and private, who went to the Milton Academy in Milton, Massachusetts to help stuff letters into envelopes inviting every high-school student in the U.S. to sign a petition demanding that the television networks broadcast a discussion between President Reagan...

Profiles SENTINEL by Herbert Mitgang. PROFILE of Gene Robert La Rocque, who retired with the rank of rear admiral in 1972. That year he founded the Center for Defense Information in Washington. It has become the leading private research organization in the country specializing in the analysis of military spending & military policies. Together with...

The Current Cinema BODIES by Pauline Kael.

The Theatre by Edith Oliver.

Comment Comment, Pt. I by Mark Singer. A friend writes: One evening recently, National Public Radio carried a report about a couple in Evans, Colo. who have been getting rained on by corn. On days of average corn precipitation, about 25 kernels descend on the house & yard. No one seems to regard this as a serious...

The Art World (The Art Galleries) by Calvin Tomkins.

Poetry Small Comfort by Katha Pollitt. Coffee and cigarettes in a clean cafe...

Poetry The Housatonic At Falls Village by Charles E. Martin. In a landscape of abstractions, it has its place...