The Talk of the Town Mechanic by Thomas Hackett. Talk story about Alberto Gonzalez who works for Artkraft Strauss painting billboards up and down Broadway. Gonzalez doesn't know how many billboards he has painted, but he thinks that it is well over 500. His favorites include a 40' painting of Liza Minnelli's face and the "Cleopatra" ad that included...

A Reporter at Large A MOMENT WE HAD TO GRASP by James Lardner. A REPORTER AT LARGE about Soviet filmmakers & the second Entertainment Summit, held in the USSR... In April of 1986, the Moscow branch of the Soviet Filmmakers' Union met to choose its delegates for a nationwide union congress. The usual procedure was for the leadership to propose exactly as many...

Books by Terrence Rafferty.

The Talk of the Town Beisbol by Lesley Clark. A talk story about a young woman who spends about half of each year in the Dominican Republic and her neighbor, Leoncio, who is an example of the Dominicans' baseball fever. Radio Santo Domingo broadcasts a game "chosen seemingly at random from the National and American League schedules" every night...

The Talk of the Town Restoration by Richard Brookhiser. Talk story about the ongoing restoration of the Eldridge Street Synagogue, which is on the last block of Eldridge St. before Manhattan Bridge. Writer met the sexton, Benjamin Markowitz, who has been sexton for 30 years. He introduced writer to Gerard R. Wolfe who is a professor of continuing education...

Fiction The Halloween Party by Michael Chabon. Story about 14-year-old Nathan who is in love with a married friend of his mother's, Eleanor Parnell. Nathan's parents are divorced and his younger brother lives with his father in Boston while Nathan and his mother live in a nice suburb. Nathan has known Eleanor for years but...

Around City Hall AROUND CITY HALL THE ROMANTIC by Andy Logan. It seems as if Mayor Edward Koch's luck is running out; he cannot blame his latest problems on Albany or Washington and one reason is his continuing feud with Jesse Jackson. Since Koch was not invited to the Democratic National Convention in July, things have gotten worse. Jackson, in his...

Fiction You Missed It by George W. S. Trow. Story narrated by a man who is annoyed with his friend because the friend keeps missing events that the narrator considers important. Narrator, Marie, and Billy are all at a beach town of some sort and the friend is supposed to arrive. However, he misses the sunset, the neighborhood children...

Comment by Mark Hertsgaard. Comment about the Presidential election and the downing by the USS Vincennes of Iran Air Flight 655... This being election season, there is much clamorous talk on the campaign trail about America's greatness & how best to secure it. George Bush rhetorically colonizes the future with his declaration that not...

The Control of Nature by John McPhee. THE CONTROL OF NATURE about debris slides in the San Gabriel Mountains of Los Angeles... In geology, the technical name for the phenomenon is debris flow--A debris flow amasses in stream valleys and more of less resembles fresh concrete. They consist of water mixed with a good deal of...

Poetry Natural History by Alex Stevens. This happened back East, among exhibits...

Poetry Long Like a River by Nancy Schoenberger. I wonder what happened to my poor dog's soul...

Poetry China Journal by Charles Wright. North wind like a fine drill...