Karen Grigsby Bates

is a Los Angeles-based correspondent for NPR News and co-author, with Karen Elyse Hudson, of The New Basic Black: Home Training For Modern Times (Doubleday).

About Come Correct

Manners and mores in modern life? It's about way more than where the fork goes.

All OCTOBER POSTS (7)

Character Counts

Do you do the right thing, even when you don't have to?

The Wedding of WHOSE Dreams?

Do I let my (almost) sister-in-law run my wedding the way she wants to, just to keep the peace?

Expressly Yours

Express lines should get you in and out quicker...SHOULD.

Pressed for space

Maybe it's something in the air, maybe the alleged beginning to the recovery is making people feverish to go out and spend money...whatever it is, they are hella anxious to grab a parking space...

What Black Looks Like

How do you answer "what are you anyway?" when people are curious about your  ethnic background?

Pees and Queues

Why a long line can lead to short tempers when you decide to tie a commercial bathroom up for an inordinate amount of time...

The Tao of Poo

Yeah, we're going there.  We're talking bathroom behavior all this week.