Ibegin with a true story. In 1974 I was having coffee in the English department lounge at Northwestern University when two of my colleagues-a younger, untenured man and an older, tenured woman-entered in mid-conversation.
"Oh, no," the woman was saying, "I just won't have a television in my apartment. I know there are some good things on it, espe- cially on public broadcasting. But so much of it is just garbage!"
My younger friend laughed. "Joke's on you, then,"...