The Talk of the Town Kicks by William McKibben. Talk story about footbagging. Writer interviewed Jimmy (Jimmy C.) Caveney, the holder of the two-man-team consecutive-kicks record (twenty thousand nine hundred and twenty-one) of the World Footbag Association. Mr. Caveney was appearing in New York, thanks to the Wham-O Corporation (manufacturers of Hacky Sack Footbag...

Musical Events by Andrew Porter.

The Theatre by Edith Oliver.

A Reporter at Large PAINTING THE ELEPHANT by James Lardner. REPORTER AT LARGE about the M.T.A. (Metropolitan Transportation Authority), under the chairmanship of Richard Ravitch. The job was offered to him by Governor Hugh Carey in the fall of 1979, and his tenure ended with his resignation at the end of 1982, just before Governor Mario Cuomo took office. In...

The Current Cinema THE POP JUNKPILE by Pauline Kael.

The Talk of the Town Books on Tape by Lillian Ross. Talk story about a man who listens to Books on Tape during his 50-mile commute from New York City to his office near Westport, Connecticut. He drives his eleven-year-old daughter to and from her hunt club and to horse shows. For the first few weeks of driving...

Fiction This Is Not An Offering by Ken Klee. Verdi and Drake are trying to develop a business, Inference Engines, Incorporated. Drake pitched the nascent firm to anyone who would listen as a synergy of the three fundamental forces propelling the world into an information epoch. The business was financially insecure, and they went through three rounds of trying...

The Talk of the Town Windows by James Stevenson. Illustrated Talk story about gold-lettered signs on windows of buildings in the garment district...

A Political Journal by Elizabeth Drew. Tuesday, June 5th, was the day that the final round of primaries were held in N.J. and California. They count for the most because they have the largest pools of delegates, and because the end of this struggle is both a numerical and a psychological one. Tells about Hart and...

Books by Whitney Balliett.

Fiction South America by Douglas Dunn. In Scotland, Thea Docherty is married to Jack, a mining engineer, just beginning his career. A company with interests in Brazil recruited him in 1935. Thea didn't want to go with him, but he saw the move as advantageous for his career. Early in 1937, he writes from South America...

Comment by Ved Mehta. Writer describes British brutality in India under the Rowlatt Act of 1919. Recently, in Punjab, the democratically elected government of Mrs. Indira Gandhi has outdone the Rowlatt Act. When disorder in Punjab spread, her government dissolved the state government and took direct control of the state. It reinforced the Army...

Poetry Home by John C. Witte. Returning to earth after his life...

Poetry Scumbling by Alice Fulton. Absolved, face to the wall, alive only...