Book excerpt: She is equal parts urban mystic, best friend, and hip observer of the madness around her. As wit, raconteur, and Problem Lady columnist, Cynthia Heimel speaks to the heart of our post-modern angst, and says what needs to be said about the spoken and silent battles between men and women, the problem with mothers, the desperate search for a dress that's not designed for an anorectic teenager, the joy of pet ownership, and more. From the personal to the political and back again, Cynthia Heimel skewers, satirizes, challenges, and champions our ever-strange society -- with the wisdom of a scholar and the passion of one possessed. "Like Dorothy Parker, Ms. Heimel is an urban romantic with a scathing X-ray vision that penetrates her most deeply cherished fantasies." The New York Times