Dance Money, Fame, and Beautiful Women by Lore Segal. Nathan Cone, a 42 year old poet who works at a think tank called Concordance Institute in Connecticut, has just learned through his colleagues that he's won the Columbia Prize for Poetry. The winner receives $5,000 & a trip up the Hudson on the wealthy patron's yacht. Nathan is distracted...

The Talk of the Town Novik and LaGuardia by Jane Boutwell. Talk Story about Morris Niovik, an 86 year old retired radio executive, who was Mayor LaGuardia's director of communications from 1938-45, & who continued to produce a weekly radio show with him until LaGuardia's death in 1947. According to Novik, LaGuardia was the first politician to understand & use radio...

Reflections II-ENCOUNTERING THE COUNTRYSIDE by Anthony Hiss. REFLECTIONS about the countryside. Landscapes, in the view of some land-use experts interested in a regional approach to development, are now showing themselves to be a cake that you can eat and have, too. People can build on a landscape, that is, without eating away at it. There has...

In Fashion IN FASHION VISIONARIES by Holly Brubach. Complete column on eyewear - eye glasses and sun glasses and the people who design them...

The Talk of the Town Legend by Peter Landry. Talk Story about Bob Dylan's Atlantic City debut at the open-air Grandstand Under the Stars, adjacent to Bally's Grand Casino Hotel...

World of High Finance by John R. Fernbach. World of High Finance: The following communication from Chemical Bank recently landed on the desk of a friend: The payment you promised has not been received. We are disappointed, as we granted the extension you requested based on our faith in your intentions. It is imperative that the overdue amount...

Books by George Steiner.

Letter from Washington by Elizabeth Drew. Right now the one issue on which Democrats are most clearly identified is the House leaders' opposition to Bush's proposal for a cut in the capital gains tax--but in that, as in a number of cases, the Democrats are being reactive, and in that particular instance they are not...

Comment by Ellen Pall. Comment about the play, "The Story of Kufur Shamma" put on by El-Hakawati, a Palestinian theatrical troupe... Joe Papp, who originally booked El-Hakawati for the Public Theatre, abruptly dropped the engagement for fear of controversy, but the group was eventially invited to perform at the Dance Theatre Workshop...

Poetry That Ocean by Eamon Grennan. To love the scrubbed exactitudes...

Poetry My Mother In Old Age by Eric Ormsby. As my mother ages and becomes...