OVER THE TIME we have been living here, on the 16th floor, there has been a number of unusual bird incidents. I never expected I would get to see, in such close proximity, the red-tailed hawk (which, up close, appears the size of a German Shepherd), nor the sparrow hawk, nor the chicken hawk. more

Here on the top floor of our building, located on the second-largest hill in Brooklyn, we are privileged to be able to get a close-hand look at a number of different types of hawks. When we first moved here, I was startled by a screaming sound just outside the bedroom window. It was the shrill squawk made by many infants of many different species. When I went to the window, there on a standpipe, possibly 3-feet away, was a young fledging red-tailed hawk, bawling in complaint. more

St. Martin's Press, 348 pages, $24.95 When I arrived at Columbia, I got to take one class with Tama Janowitz, who was always wearing something kicky like a huge watch. One day she appeared on the cover of New York magazine, posing in front of a meat locker. One of the more hard-working and untalented writers in the program particularly resented her"She actually posed in front of a meat locker!" he fumed. By then she had already sold stories to The New Yorkergood ones, too. Her be more