To be a freelance commercial artist can be an isolating experience, and one way I pass the lonely hours is by listening to lots and lots of audio books and podcasts. I listen to a number of podcasts under the SLATE umbrella, and one my favorites is Lexicon Valley, the language podcast hosted by linguist John McWhorter. In one of his programs a few weeks back, John made passing mention of a new word, “ish”, which he defined as a truncated sort-of-adjective, used thus: “Is your car green?” “..ish.” This piqued my interest, and I wrote in to point out that “ish” has a history predating that use.

David Chelsea is reading: Dreyer’s English
by Benjamin Dreyer

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This week the Modern Love Podcast revives one of my favorite illustrations from my run on the column, which originally ran in 2006. From the website:

“Kim McLarin writes about race and dating in her piece, ‘Race Wasn’t an Issue To Him, Which Was an Issue To Me.’ It’s read by Lorraine Toussaint. She’s starring now in the shows ‘The Village’ and ‘Into the Badlands,’ and you can also see her in the upcoming films ‘Fast Color’ and ‘Sprinter,’ out later this month.”

David Chelsea is reading: Dreyer’s English
by Benjamin Dreyer

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Another of my New York Times illustrations has been repurposed for the Modern Love Podcast. From the website:

“Here’s a problem most of us never have: So many people want to date you — and send you baked goods — that you have to turn them away.

Well, that did not happen to Amy Cohen. But it did happen to her father. Amy writes about the difference between her father’s dating life and her own in her essay, “Ah, To Be Old, Male, and Single.”

David Chelsea is reading: Born to Be Posthumous: The Eccentric Life and Mysterious Genius of Edward Gorey
by Mark Dery

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