And here I thought I was plugged into the Zeitgeist. I remember reading a sociologist saying that the reason why kids buy Nike shoes is not to have sneakers, but to be able to participate in the common language (the coin of the realm) of their community -- one reason the poor are so humiliated by being left out of things. I have felt that way sometimes about not having a TV -- what is everyone talking about? -- but there are of course compensations, like having a life. But not to have "Grandma was run over by a Reindeer?" -- As Zarathustra said, it is time to come down off the mountains, and enter the marketplace once more! Backstreet Boys and Shania Twain, here I come.

Yours, Peter T.