On Jan. 21, the New York Times announced that readers can now enjoy the celebrated column Modern Love as a podcast. The weekly essays consist of real-life stories about experiences with love and relationships: the good, the bad and the ugly.
The New York Times teamed up with WBUR, Boston’s NPR news station, to bring the new segment to listeners once a week. Not only can fans tune in on WBUR.org and NYTimes.com, but on several podcast apps, including Stitcher (which is essentially radio on demand).
Among the most notable pieces include the tale of a woman’s run-in with a toe-sucking stranger in the back of a taxi and one gay man’s decision to become platonic life partners with his female best friend. The recounts and revelations are endless with this column, as the segment is 11 years in the making.
The intimate nature of the column’s essays are made even more intriguing with the podcast, voiced by familiar personalities from Broadway and television. So far, two episodes have been released: “A Craigslist ‘Missed Connection’ Lure,” read by Broadway actress Lauren Molina, and “Just One Last Swirl Around the Bowl,” read by actor Jason Alexander (you probably know him as George from Seinfeld). Some other actors you can expect to find in the mix include January Jones, Judd Apatow and Sarah Paulson.
Each 20-minute episode begins with the narrator’s reading of the essay (with apt sound effects and background music along the way), and ends with a discussion of the piece between the series’ host, Meghna Chakrabarti, Modern Love editor Daniel Jones and the essayists themselves.
Episode one revolves around a Craigslist romance mishap, to say the least. The essay tells the tale of Toronto writer and editor Rosemary Counter, a woman who agrees to go on a date with a guy she met on Craigslist after making fun of the “desperate souls who loitered” on the site.
The podcast medium allows listeners a greater ability to connect with the writer and the story. The episode finishes by letting listeners catch up with the writer, who has an interesting twist to the ten-year-old tale.
The second episode is similarly brought to life with an in-depth discussion with writer Dan Barry. His account of an extremely upsetting fate of the family goldfish proves to embody a deeper meaning that revolves around his relationship with cancer.
In the latest episode of Modern Love was released Jan. 28, Paulson narrated a story of a mother’s difficult decision regarding an open adoption.
_You can listen to Modern Love every Thursday at WBUR.org._