October 16, 1994

WITH her hands on the controls of a United Airlines 727 jet, Marie Garabedian of East Hartford said, "I feel a little overwhelmed." Mrs. Garabedian was sitting in the cockpit of a jet parked at Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks and United Capt. Tom Bunn was explaining the procedures for takeoff and landing.

IT is Wall Street's most elite club, and every two years its new members are selected, capping months of anxiety with elation for the chosen ones. They are the new partners at Goldman, Sachs & Company, the last major investment banking partnership in America. Goldman added to its inner circle last week, when the firm named 58 new partners, a record crop. They are mostly in their 30's, and nearly all men, plucked from the ranks of the firm's more than 9,000 employees. The partners do assume risk because, as owners, they share in losses as well as profits -- and this year has been a tough one for Goldman and the rest of Wall Street, as rising interest rates brought spectacular trading losses.

MAKING IT WORK 3 Medium cool. Seeking real-life drama, Fox TV stakes out the emergency room at St. Vincent's Hospital. NEW YORKERS & CO. 4 A Harlem-based bank is under pressure as larger banks finally move into its territory: minority neighborhoods. MOVIE CLOCK 12 What's showing at the local movie houses, today through Thursday. PLAYING IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD 13 The public art that is showing up around town; jazz in Flushing. GOOD EATING 14 Fall in the Flatiron: gutsy Spanish-inspired cooking at Bolo; 'restorative' dishes at Gotham. SOAPBOX 15 Guns, stairwells and the police: One officer's tale. Plus, Photographer's Journal and letters.

THE control over a stock car at speed is remarkably tenuous. This thought races through my head as I launch into a sweeping right turn in a 170 m.p.h. four-wheel drift, delicately counter-steering to the left. My touch is not delicate enough, though. The rear end of the car comes around so fast that I do not even realize that I am sliding tail-first toward the infield wall. But I do note the impact. As the car limps into the pits and the crew makes repairs, I marvel at the technology of this video game, which in three months has become the hottest attraction at the Broadway Arcade in midtown Manhattan.

Once there was a time when the dome of the Capitol was a symbol of something good, a majestic backdrop for commercials in a re-election campaign. The senator or Congressman would come striding purposefully down the steps of the Capitol -- powerful, effective, delivering for the citizens of Montana or West Virginia or New Jersey. A list of hometown projects would scroll across the screen: bridges, community centers, highways, all secured by the incumbent's clout. Once there was a time when clout and seniority were good.