Deadlines are a fact of life for journalists, which may explain why so many of them are chronic eleventh-hour Christmas shoppers. For instance, Economy & Business Editor George Church, who edited this week's cover story on U.S. retailing in general and Bloomingdale's of Manhattan in particular, is confident that the economy may get "a big boost from holiday sales" -and equally sure that he will not get around to doing his part until the last minute. New York Correspondent Eileen Shields, who interviewed Bloomingdale's executives, buyers and customers, is another committed procrastinator. "I run to the stores on Christmas Eve," she says. "It's my protest against all the hoopla that seems to begin before I can get Thanksgiving out of the way." Reporter-Researcher Sue Raffety is also an incorrigible last-minute shopper, but her colleague Sarah Button, another member of our cover reporting team, shops for Christmas all year long and never gets caught short at the last minute. Then there is Staff Writer John S. DeMott: he not only turned his cover story in more or less on time but also claims that he always has his Christmas gifts bought, wrapped and spread out under the tree "by mid-December." A likely story, for a writer.

Covering the civil war in newly independent Angola (see THE WORLD) was a perilous task for TIME'S Salisbury-based stringer (part-time correspondent) Reg Shay and Nairobi Bureau Chief Lee Griggs. Shay had to leave the new West African nation last week when a Luanda official decided he might be "a CIA Rhodesian spy." Griggs has covered the independence of nine other former colonies since his first African assignment 16 years ago, so he knew just what to do when soldiers began carrying out predawn identity checks at his hotel. "When the first 4 a.m. knock came, I obeyed a longstanding rule of mine for interruptions at that hour. I didn't answer but waited for the second and third knocks, standing clear of the door in case the caller knocked it down or shot through it. Finally I opened the door, purposely stark naked, for you often gain a few minutes thinking time if ordered to get dressed and go with whoever is there." Now back in Nairobi, Griggs confesses that he is "beginning to feel like a midwife, a birth-of-a-nation expert."

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