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In early internet days—and in those bygone days of course we had to connect through smoke signals, which was particularly tricky since most places had already banned smoking—I downloaded a …
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By LEAH CASNER
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9/22/26
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At 11:30 p.m., 12 hours after the explosion, the smell began to reach Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, nine miles away. It was a biting, nasty smell.
My family didn’t even realize what it was right …
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By LEAH CASNER
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8/25/26
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When we move to a new area, after searching out the nearest beer store, we subscribe to the local papers. It’s been educational.
For example, I learned that tiny local newspapers don’t offer …
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By LEAH CASNER
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7/21/26
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After our snack behind Godzilla’s head in Tokyo’s manga and anime shopping district, I went into a drugstore to buy some sore throat and runny nose over-the-counter medicine, and came out with …
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By LEAH CASNER
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6/24/26
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We are back from Japan, where I did not use my six months of Duolingo—“My younger brother is fashionable!”— and the pop tops on beer cans are flat on the top, so they didn’t break my nails.
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By LEAH CASNER
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4/22/26
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The problem with language is hard to put into words.
What we intend to mean often isn’t the sound from our mouths or what we write on paper or screen. But the mismatch between words and …
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By LEAH CASNER
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3/24/26
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Today I did what I (and you, I’m sure) have done many, many times before.
Looking for toothpaste in the bathroom cupboard, I found a thingamabob I had stuck there a few months ago that …
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By LEAH CASNER
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2/24/26
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Sometimes the universe just ticks me off. Last week I was re-reading one of my favorite books on my Boox e-reader, a handy li’l device a bit smaller than a Kindle. The Boox supports several …
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By LEAH CASNER
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1/21/26
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I was rather proud of my neat, tight, three-point turn.
“You’re facing the oncoming traffic,” the driving tester pointed out, wresting the steering wheel from me and putting us in the …
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By LEAH CASNER
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12/23/25
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Today’s recurring complaint: fictional books that the authors didn’t bother to make less fictional by getting facts right.
I am happy to indulge in fantasy stories. I have no …
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By LEAH CASNER
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11/25/25
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The trees, the sun-spangled leaves, the mist rising from the creeks and ponds in early morning, fuzzing the view with the kind of soft blurriness that might make someone mistake one person for …
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By LEAH CASNER
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10/22/25
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I’m afraid I’ve never had a Design Principle. Until very recently in my nearly seven-decades-long existence, I didn’t know such things existed, even if only as figments of the …
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By LEAH CASNER
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9/23/25
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My internal organs were in an uproar: my feminist heart had sunk; my informed, liberated brain had spun, when my politically incorrect loins spoke.
There was something just so titillating …
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By LEAH CASNER
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8/26/25
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I did start the month by saying “Rabbit, rabbit,” first thing, which, according to someone/thing/algorithm on the internet—and why would anyone doubt that?—brings good luck.
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By LEAH CASNER
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7/22/25
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The death was so dangerous the hazmat team had to be called in. An accountant had collapsed at an inspection, and an entire shipment of Hello Kitty undergarment sets destined for Kids R Us stores had …
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By LEAH DASKALAKIS CASNER
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6/24/25
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I worship at the feet of humor writer Dave Barry, who really knows how to please his audience. At one bookstore reading I attended, the staff of the store insisted that “Everyone who …
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By LEAH CASNER
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5/20/25
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When I was growing up, our great worries were iron-poor blood, ineffective laundering and imminent nuclear annihilation. Fortunately Wall Street and our schools had the answer for each: a clever …
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By LEAH CASNER
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4/22/25
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Sometime in the sort-of-recent past (it’s hard for me to keep years straight since moving here to Shangri-La and losing all sense of time), my editor and a fellow columnist were planning on …
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By LEAH CASNER
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3/28/25
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A few decades ago, when we thought computers would improve the world instead of destroy it, a computer scientist was discussing the possibility of a new machine that would automatically give the …
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By LEAH CASNER
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2/26/25
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I am writing this before anything happens that may occur related to an event scheduled for January 20. Rather than forecasting whatever that may be, I am staying within my timeframe and returning the …
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By LEAH CASNER
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1/22/25
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