July 2, 1998

Supreme Court decision upholding decency test for Federal arts grants is condemned by the performance artists directly affected by it, while the reactions from playwrights and others in the arts range from embattled to the calmly accepting; all those commenting express confusion about the vagueness of the Court's language and difficulty of determining just what decency is; comments from Karen Finley, performance artist at center of the controversy, as well as from the playwrights Mac Wellman, Arthur Miller, David Rabe and David Henry Hwang and the painter Leon Golub (M)

House plans sold through the mail have become a big business, with annual sales estimated at $50 million; prominent architects like Robert A M Stern, Michael Graves and Hugh Newell Jacobson have entered field once dominated by boiler-plate draftsmen, and young up-and-coming architects believe 'dream houses by mail' fulfill populist mission to bring good design to the middle class, if not the masses; plans cost $200 to $600, and it will take another couple of thousand dollars to have an architect adapt plans to site and local building code and make any alterations the buyer would like; photos; drawings (M)

Deborah Solomon article escaping the city each summer by taking her family--husband and two young sons--to her parents' house in Scarsdale, 'Hotel Mom and Dad'; says practice may be a trend, since a number of her friends do the same thing; drawing (M)

Increasing number of New York City youths accused of crimes are being locked up while they await trial, causing overcrowding at juvenile detention centers and prompting officials to begin holding boys as young as 10 on prison barge designed for adult inmates; number of youths in detention is growing even though juvenile arrests have declined sharply; juvenile justice officials say fewer of accused youths are being released after their arrests because judges and prosecutors fear that they will disappear or commit new crimes; photos of Vernon C Bain Barge in East River (M)

Dave Anderson column notes that New York Yankees have 57-20 record but no starters in American League lineup for All-Star Game; contends that New York fans would care more about game if it was played at Yankee Stadium or Shea Stadium more often; photo (M)