Drawing upon her rich experience of life, Prudence (Prudie to her friends) responds to questions about manners, personal relations, politics, and other subjects. Please send your questions for publication to prudence@slate.com. Queries should not exceed 200 words in length. Please indicate how you wish your letter to be signed, preferably including your location.

Dear Prudie,

I don't know what I am going to do. Maybe move to Fiji. I am only 20, but I know my life is over. My boyfriend, the same one I've had all through high school and two years of college, just dumped me. I know I am the laughingstock of the whole campus and that no man will look at me because "Jim" didn't want me.

I am considering changing schools and telling new friends that my boyfriend was killed in a car wreck. That way they won't feel sorry for me. Can you think of a better excuse for why one would be boyfriendless?

--Frantic in Arizona

Dear Fran,

You are being Molière than thou--far more dramatic than the situation warrants. There is no stigma to being cut loose from a relationship. It happens all the time.

Prudie strongly recommends that you not bop out of your college or change your friends. Your romance, after all, was not as important to your colleagues as it was to you. If you feel you must say something, state that you mutually decided to explore a wider world. And a small PS: Some people choose to be "boyfriendless."

--Prudie, encouragingly

Dear Prudie,