Helen Vera
HELEN VERA
Why gossip should be guilt-free

Growing up, we’re taught that gossip is cruel and that secrets are no fun. Talking about people behind their backs is rude and hurtful. It […]

September 30, 2005

HELEN VERA
No time for tea, or manners, either

Writing an etiquette column isn’t the only thing that I do with my time; I also serve tea in my college library one night each […]

September 16, 2005

HELEN VERA
Girls who are super, but never quite great

Unlike Victorian ladies, who were supposed to be charming, and unlike feminists of a few decades ago, who were supposed to be powerful, girls today […]

September 2, 2005

HELEN VERA
Palaces not required, but garrets don’t cut it

At most English universities, the suggestion that students share bedrooms — ever — is shocking. “We would never make you do that,” an Oxford professor […]

April 15, 2005

HELEN VERA
My first English lesson: Be kind to strangers

LONDON — In the movie “Closer,” two lives tangle after some chance eye contact on a crowded London street. Never mind that people on city […]

February 17, 2005

HELEN VERA
Now serving a (rude) model of politeness

Most of us aim to be polite, and those who do not probably should. But rudeness is also an art, and sometimes a hard one […]

November 19, 2004

HELEN VERA
Don’t lose manners over Kerry’s loss

In her column on this page yesterday, Alicia Washington argued that young liberals — the demographic that helped make this year’s election even close — […]

November 5, 2004

HELEN VERA
For silent types, time to grow up — and speak up

There comes a time in every young person’s life when he or she must wise up to polite behavior, embrace adulthood and shun the crude […]

October 22, 2004

HELEN VERA
Irony of ironies: I’m griping about griping

For the past three summers, I’ve had internships that have largely entailed filing, photocopying and data entry. At Yale, I’ve taken some bad classes and […]

October 8, 2004

HELEN VERA
Honesty, with tact, is needed in positive classroom setting

There’s a Paul Simon song called “Tenderness” in which the crooner tells his love, “there’s no tenderness beneath your honesty.” Sometimes, in personal relationships, honesty […]

September 24, 2004

HELEN VERA
Nader’s approach merits our respect

On August 2, I read in The New York Times that Arianna Huffington — newspaper pundit and an Independent candidate for governor in my state’s […]

September 10, 2004