do a job, that job generally doesnt pay well. This is one of four meaningful fac- tors that determine a wage. The others are the specialized skills a job requires, the unpleasantness of a job, and the demand for services that the job fulfills.   The delicate balance between these factors helps explain why, for instance, the typical prostitute earns more than the typical architect. It may not seem as though she should. The architect would appear to be more skilled (as the word is usually defined) and better educated (again, as usually defined). But little girls dont grow up dreaming of becoming prostitutes, so the supply of potential prostitutes is relatively small. Their skills, while not necessarily "specialized," are practiced in a very specialized context. The job is unpleasant and for- bidding in at least two significant ways: the likelihood of violence and the lost opportunity of having a stable family life. As for demand? Lets just say that an architect is more likely to hire a prostitute than vice versa. In the glamour professions-movies, sports, music, fashion- there is a different dynamic at play. Even in second-tier glamour in- dustries like publishing, advertising, and media, swarms of bright young people throw themselves at grunt jobs that pay poorly and de- mand unstinting devotion. An editorial assistant earning $22,000 at a Manhattan publishing house, an unpaid high-school quarterback, and a teenage crack dealer earning $3.30 an hour are all playing the same game, a game that is best viewed as a tournament. The rules of a tournament are straightforward. You must start at the bottom to have a shot at the top. ( Just as a Major League short- stop probably played Little League and just as a Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan probably started out as a lowly spear-carrier, a drug lord typically began by selling drugs on a street corner.) You must be will- ing to work long and hard at substandard wages. In order to advance in the tournament, you must prove yourself not merely above average