What was going on when I was born?

The intersection of Routes 4 and l7 in Paramus is one of New Jersey's busiest, and soon it is going to get busier. Already clustered around it are the Garden State Plaza shopping mall and several office buildings, among them Paramus Plazas I and II, both built by Boroughs Development Corporation.

UNION CITY Because of his recent conviction on Federal bribery and conspiracy charges, William V. Musto has been stripped of his public positions as Mayor of this Hudson County municipality and State Senator from the 33d Legislative District. At least that is what everyone thinks. Events of recent weeks have shown that ''stripped'' may be too strong a word. At best, Mr. Musto has been forced to take one step backward from the limelight and public exercise of his two offices. He appears to have lost none of his political strength.

When people ask John Klein what he does at his home at 194-15 73d Avenue in Flushing, Queens, he tells them he farms. ''Then they laugh,'' he says, but it is true.

The Justice Department today approved the New York State Legislature's plans to reapportion Congressional, State Senate and Assembly districts in Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Bronx. The department said the new lines, unlike those it rejected 14 days ago, did not discriminate against black and Hispanic voters. The approval of the plan allows the state's primary elections, rescheduled once because of the rejection last month, to go ahead on Sept. 23, according to legislative leaders. To overcome one of the major objections of the department, the legislative leaders created a second Congressional district in Brooklyn considered likely to elect a black Representative.

Fourth of July fireworks in Connecticut will be only slightly less glorious this year. The State Fire Marshal's office reports that 60 towns applied for fireworks permits this year, despite the cost of the displays, which can run as high as $10,000, plus a $1 million bond that must be posted with the State Insurance Commissioner. ''The numbers of permits were down by just a few from last year,'' said a spokesman from the records department. ''Ever since the regulations went into effect in 1954,'' said Sgt. John Guerin of the Fire Marshal's office, ''fireworks must be shot off by a licensed shooter, and additional Federal regulations limit their manufacture to 50 milligrams of explosives.''

WASHINGTON PAUL A. VOLCKER and the six other governors of the Federal Reserve Board are a hardy and inventive breed. In the past few years they have begun a revolution in the way United States monetary policy is conducted and fought almost single-handedly to bring inflation below double-digit rates. All the while they warded off the barbs hurled at them by critics of every political stripe. But the challenges that lie behind Mr. Volcker and his fellow governors seem relatively simple compared with those that loom ahead. The Fed is moving into uncharted waters in its effort to set a sound course for future monetary policy. Compounding its problems is a continued chorus of criticism from the Treasury and from some in Congress who are worried about the fall elections and who want the Fed to see to it that interest rates are down and the economy up by then.

IN a tape-recorded account of his 45-year career as a machinist, Michel Bilger of Watertown describes his lengthy apprenticeship in the 1930's at the Peugeot factory in France. It was a huge, 19thcentury workplace with machinery run by overhead belts and pulleys, a place where apprentices began by mastering a file, a hammer and a chisel. In the 40 years that followed, Mr. Bilger, who now works on the latest in automated machinery, has been a part of the transformation of industry from the age of craft to the age of high technology. His account of what those changes meant to him and of how he adapted his skills to them offers an invaluable view of labor, industry and technology in the 20th century from a point of view sometimes overlooked: that of the worker himself.

ALBANY When Governor Carey first proposed converting three vacant buildings at the Pilgrim State Psychiatric Center in Brentwood into a medium-security prison, a senior corrections aide to the Governor predicted: ''This is just the beginning of a long, tough fight. There is going to be a lot of opposition to this.'' In a year in the state's capital that was filled with surprises, here, finally, was an accurate prediction. In an effort to block Mr. Carey's plan, Suffolk County has gone to court. Last week, the State Legislature passed a bill to require legislative approval of any transfers of property from one state agency to another - a measure clearly aimed at blocking the Pilgrim State transfer.

Four months ago, 100 angry homeowners in Bristol, Conn., banded together to protest their soaring mortgage rates. They complained that their bank had not explained to them that in taking out variable-rate mortgages, they were exposing themselves to monthly payment increases of as much as 30 percent a year if interest rates rose.

Those waiting for the Supreme Court to hand down a sweeping indictment or vindication of busing to achieve school desegregation are waiting still. In the two school busing cases argued this term and decided last week, the Court drew only a delicate line between a legitimate political action and an unconstitutional denial of equal rights by state voters. The Court upheld, 8 to 1, a voter-approved amendment to the California Constitution that limits the power of state courts to order busing. The Justices divided 5 to 4 in ruling unconstitutional a Washington state law, adopted in a referendum, that forbids school boards to institute busing for school desegregation.

sided negotiations here last week over the future shape of Lebanon and the Palestinians' place in it, moderate Arab states - led by Saudi Arabia and Egypt - were trying to insure the survival of the P.L.O. leadership, in particular Yasir Arafat. Their hope was that a P.L.O. shorn of any military options against Israel would redirect its energies into a purely diplomatic struggle for an independent Palestinian state. Over the long run, such an organization could prove much more troublesome for Jerusalem than the guerrilla-cum-terrorist group of old. As Egypt's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Butros Ghali, put it, ''We are striving to turn the P.L.O.'s military defeat into a political victory.'' Mr. Ghali spoke in Paris where he sought a common position with France on a United Nations resolution that would call for an end to the Palestinian military presence in Beirut and an Israeli withdrawal.

CAPE MAY Strolling through this resort community of magnificent Victorianstyle homes, antiques shops and gaslight street lamps, it is easy for a first-time visitor to get the impression that he has lost his direction and, quite possibly, his sense of time. It is also easy to entertain the notion that, were it up to the city's 4,500 year-round residents, every vestige of the 20th century would be ripped out and unceremoniously thrown out of town. Yet, at this time of the year, Cape May has an aura about it that can be linked with resorts all along the New Jersey coast. From the playlands in Long Branch, Asbury Park, Point Pleasant Beach, Seaside Heights and Atlantic City to the beaches that abound from Sandy Hook and Sea Bright all the way to Cape May, the various communities are drawing visitors lured by traditions of the past and the cool, fresh breezes that roll in from the Atlantic.