Durham native Heather Havrilesky has spent most of her professional life as a social commentator of sorts.
She has written online cartoons about the absurdity of life, reviews of crappy TV reality shows, and columns about why we love crappy TV reality shows.
It is perhaps no wonder that she has become a successful advice columnist.
Havrilesky is the writer behind "Ask Polly," a weekly column in New York magazine in which she guides readers through existential questions.
She dishes out honest advice with wit, sarcasm, and love so tough that Miss Manners would surely find it objectionable.
Her new collection of columns is called "How to be a Person in the World: Ask Polly's Guide Through the Paradoxes of Modern Life" (Doubleday/2016).
Host Frank Stasio talks with Havrilesky about her life as a modern advice columnist.
