In our cover story, Terry Ross muses on what constitutes a suburb and remembers how many important things were absent from the suburban home of his youth. In our page 2 feature, Frankly Snobbish, Cate Garrison recalls how difficult it was for her to feel creative in suburbia. Gillian Wilce wonders whether suburbia is a state of mind in Not Suitable for Sidcup. City boy Ed Goldberg recalls his own youth in suburban Long Island in Train to Nowhere. In Norway, Lorentz Lossius goes Fishing in Suburbia.

In Milan, Dan Peterson describes Italian attitudes toward suburbia in Campanalismo. In Gags, Yums & Yahoos in N’Hamsha Toby Tompkins describes how development is making enemies of rural New Hampshire neighbors. Evelyn Bartlett recalls A Few Long Years spent in a stuffy Chicago suburb. Cervine Kauffman thinks our way of dealing with suburbs constitutes An Everyday Disaster. In One Hot Afternoon, Rosemary McLeish marvels at the lack of fellow-feeling among women in a London suburb. Greg Roberts maintains that the suburban ideal of a house and patio is the American Dream. In Getting Away from her Houston suburb, Elizabeth Hart finds solace in the mountains. When a love affair with a suburban woman doesn’t work out, David Maclaine experiences Disappointment & Relief. Dean Suess says that suburban Los Angeles Culture, California-style consists of admiring the La Brea Tar Pits. In Reasonably Idyllic, city dweller William Bogert remembers a more than pleasant childhood in the New York ’burbs. Rod Ferrandino (All Together Now) tells of his early life in the quintessential suburb, Levittown, N.Y. Claire McLaughlin is quite happy in her London suburb, where she cherishes The Safety of Home. Our Honorary Black Lambs column offers a brief bio and bibliography for authors P.G. Wodehouse and Eveyln Waugh on their birthdays. In A Literary Sampler, you’ll encounter six selections from writers mentioned in this issue of Black Lamb. In Professional Boo-boos, bridge columnist Trixie Barkis shows that experts make stupid mistakes, too. In Wretched Excess, we present another unique product from the Whole Whog Catalog: the upscale Mercedes Outdoor Grill. Our Black Lamb Recipe features a delicious Arab dish, Lubya Khadra Billahma (Lamb with String Beans). A tune from the Sixties, “Charley the Midnight Marauder,” deals with the perils of tract living. In our advice column, Ask Millie, Millicent Marshall describes the curious justice that has befallen a Montana suburb. And Endgame gives us another tricky Black Lamb Cryptic Crossword.