The Talk of the Town Northeast Rat and Mouse Club by Jane Stern. Talk story about the rats and mice bred by Elizabeth Fucci of Ossining, NY. She has created a new sort of rat. She named it the Funny Fur, because it is born hairless but soon grows a coat of curly fur that straightens & takes on a satin sheen. At...

Dept. of Amplification by Mark Singer. DEPT. OF AMPLIFICATION about the release from prison of Randall Adams. Since the publication of the writer's Profile of the filmmaker Errol Morris (2/6/89) readers have inquired about the fate of Adams, a principal figure in "The Thin Blue Line", Morris's most recent nonfiction film. The film examines events surrounding...

Anniversary Ancestral Seat by Philip Hamburger. Talk Story about visiting George Washington's home in Mount Vernon on the 200th anniversary of his Presidential inauguration. Ann M. Rauscher, of the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association, which runs the place, showed the writer around the house and grounds. She immediately dispelled 2 persistent legends about General Washington: that he...

Comment by Milton Viorst. Comment about the meeting last month in Tunis that Robert Pelletreau, American Ambassador to Tunisia, had scheduled with a P.L.O. delegation. Yasir Arafat was elated that the meeting with the Americans had gone so well They had treated the P.L.O. delegation respectfully, as equals, he said, & he was confident...

A Reporter at Large THE GREAT EXCEPTION THE GREAT EXCEPTION II-IMPUNITY by Lawrence Weschler. REPORTER AT LARGE about Uruguay. Their repressive military dictatorship ended in 1985 after 12 years. Victims of human rights abuses wanted to settle accounts with their tormentors. The generals, still powerful, opposed this & after 22 months of military pressure, on Dec. 22, 1986, the Uruguayan Congress passed an amnesty...

Profiles THE NAVIGATOR by John Newhouse. PROFILE of Thomas S. Foley (D-Wash.) the Majority Leader of the House of Representatives. He is agreeable & unpartisan, but also stylish & unorthodox. In the latest election he got 77% of the vote. Both Thomas Mann, who heads government studies at the Brookings Institution & Norman J. Ornstein...

The Art World (The Art Galleries) by Adam Gopnik.

The Talk of the Town Lightning Rods by Julie Salamon. Talk story about palm trees in the Winter Garden of the Battery Park City complex. Tells about Ed Frey, the regional manager for Parker International Plantscape of Scotch Plains, NJ. The world may see the Winter Garden palms as a graceful architectural statement, as an oasis in the urban desert...

The Theatre FRANKIE AT THE ROUNDABOUT by Edith Oliver.

Fiction Look Where You're Going by Ethan Mordden. Peter Dillinger has a promising job in a talent factory that deals for artists, writers, & actors. In his line of business it's important to be connected & it's not what you do it's how you look. He works hard at being a true New Yorker. He knows what matters...

Books by Whitney Balliett.

Musical Events by Andrew Porter.

Poetry The Shakers by Linda Bierds. Picture a domino. A six perhaps, or placid...

Poetry Prayer For A Sick Friend by Abraham Sutzkever. The wicked have too much power...