A Reporter at Large II-HOLY DAYS by Lis Harris. REPORTER AT LARGE about the Lubavitcher Hasidim, a pious Jewish sect. The great Hasidic leaders have all been considered "tzaddikim", who mediated between God & more ordinary mortals to help them obtain earthly blessings & guide them to a more spiritual life. The Hasidim gave the "tsaddik" a crucial role...

The Talk of the Town Seaport by Anthony Hiss. Talk story about the Andrew Fletcher, a new side-wheel excursion boat at South Street Seaport, which takes passengers around N.Y. Harbor on 90-minute cruises. The boat is modelled on Hudson River&Long Island Sound steamboats from the turn of the century, &offers narration of the harbor's...

Jazz HERE AND ABROAD by Whitney Balliett. PROFILE of Art Farmer, the jazz flugelharnist, who settled in Vienna in 1968, and is one of the hundreds of American jazz musicians who have lived abroad. He passes through N.Y. about three times a year, and talked to the writer one afternoon about his life. He was born in...

Fiction Boys by Peter Gordon. Margaret Scott was a senior in high school and her boyfriend Billy was a sophomore. One foggy day Margaret's father picked them up from school so Billy could meet him& Mrs. Scott. On the ride to their house, Billy sat silently in the back seat. When they reached home...

The Current Cinema AIRHEAD'S DELIGHT by Pauline Kael.

Books by Helen Vendler.

Dancing No Fooling Around by Mark Singer. Talk story about international folk dancing expert Eugene Tso, who is licensed by the N.Y.C. Dept. of Parks&Recreation to give folk-dancing lessons in Battery Park a few hours a week from mid-April through October. Almost 50 years ago, Tso immigrated to the U.S. from China. During...

Fiction Driver by Frederick Barthelme. When his wife Rita went to sleep one night, writer watched a TV program about lowriders&fantasized about owning a lowrider car. In the morning, driving his Celica to work, he saw a sign for Kleindienst Highway Auto Sales&went to it. A guy jumped out of a...

Comment by William McKibben. A friend writes that he is spending the week in Rangeley Maine, a town known for its nearness to a lake with a large name, a Wilhelm Reich museum&a restaurant called Doc Grant's that sits on the line halfway between the equator&the North Pole. Writer thinks...

Musical Events by Andrew Porter.

Poetry At the All-Clear by Sherod Santos. That early in the morning...

Poetry The Salt Pond by W. S. Merwin. Mid-September my dead father's birthday...