Comment by Jane Stern. Comment on the Fourth of July celebrations in southwest Iowa. The writers were in Nebraska City, Nebraska, on the morning of July 4, and had breakfast at McDonald's on Highway 75. McDonald's offered its customers lengths of yellow plastic ribbon. The first place the writers stopped--in southwest Iowa--was...

The Talk of the Town Champion by Mindy Aloff. Talk story about the 1991 Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, singer/songwriter Gene Autry. Gould presented the award to Autry at the Songwriters Hall of Fame ceremonies held at the NY Hilton. Gould praised Autry's uncanny musical talent in spite of the fact that Autry has had no formal training in...

The Talk of the Town Time Operations by John Seabrook. Talk story about Bob Lachnit, the keeper of the four-faced clock on the Metropolitan Life Insurance Tower. His official title is Mechanic in Charge of Time Operations for the Home Office. He is responsible for every one of more than eighteen hundred clocks, from clocks in the lawyers' offices...

The Talk of the Town Big by Susan Orlean. Talk story about a novelty-photo businessman named Bob Silverstein whose "Big Chair" invention/idea makes the photo opportunity rounds in various states and neighborhoods and at Bar Mitzvahs, parties, and corporate hotel gatherings. Silverstein is unusually tight-lipped and cautious about revealing the specifics of his business ventures--past...

Fiction Navigators by Peter J. Smith. The narrator, John Knowles, returns to his seaside childhood home in New England for a July Fourth family get-together to celebrate the holiday and commemorate the near anniversary of his father's death. John, nicknamed Jam, is a professor at a midwest university, and his wife, Caroline is a successful...

Profiles II-THE EDUCATION OF AN ARCHBISHOP by Paul Wilkes. PROFILE of Rembert George Weakland, Archbishop of Milwaukee. Writer went with him last Nov. to the National Conference of Catholic Bishops which holds it annual meeting every Nov. in Washington. The organization arose from the Second Vatican Council-1962-1965, These conference were to be the means of carrying out Vatican...

Musical Events by Andrew Porter.

Around City Hall deja vu by Andy Logan. In Sept., 1975, the city's finances were taken over by the Financial Control Board, & the city existed for several years in a kind of receivership. At the F.C.B.'s July 2 meeting, the discussion included not only the city's new bud- get but also the question of whether the...

Annals of Sport GOING TO THE MOON by Bill Barich. ANNALS OF SPORT about a barnstorming tour through California by a Soviet baseball team called the Moscow Red Devils. The tour was arranged by Tim Hickerson, a former minor leaguer and the proprietor of a travel agency in San Francisco. He arranges vacations abroad for American amateurs who want to...

Books by Naomi Bliven.

The Film File The Rocketeer by Michael Sragow. Visually, this period adventure—about a daredevil pilot who finds a rocket pack that enables him to fly like Superman—is a creamy piece of kitsch. Its affectionate depiction of 1938 L.A. includes a goofy canine-shaped diner called the Bulldog Café and a glamorous Deco night spot. Jim Bissell’s production design and...

Poetry North Fork by Amy Clampitt. The humped, half-subterranean...

Poetry What It Is Like by Gerald Stern. I will have to tell you what it is like...

Poetry In Stillness by Jean Alice Jacobson. I see you sitting in stillness last winter...