Lori Miller Kase

Freelance Writer/ Young Adult Author

United States

Lori Miller Kase, a Connecticut-based freelance writer, specializes in health and also writes frequently about the arts, science, and food. A journalist for more than 30 years, she has been published in a wide range of national and local publications, including Discover, Vogue, The Atlantic, Aeon, The New York Times, Upworthy Science, Self, Eating Well, Parents, The Boston Globe Magazine, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Reader’s Digest, Health, The Hartford Courant and Hartford Magazine. She has been awarded for "Excellence in Journalism" by the Connecticut Society of Professional Journalists. She is Health Editor at Large for CoveyClub, a website geared toward women over 40.

Lori also writes fiction and creative nonfiction. Her debut YA novel The Accident, was named the YA finalist in the 2024 Tassy Walden Awards for New Voices in Children's Literature. Her short stories and creative nonfiction have appeared in literary journals including Literary Mama, Cleaver Magazine and Brain,Child, and she has received The Letter Review Prize for Short Fiction. She teaches creative writing workshops for elementary and middle school students.

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Portfolio

Literary Journals - Fiction/Creative Nonfiction

Cleaver Magazine
09/23/2024
Guarding The Nest

The robin eyes us from her nest. All it takes is a ruffling of the papers beside me to send her flying into the nearby redbud trees, angry wings flapping. I sit on the back porch, computer perched on my lap, typing quietly, trying not to move. Willing my dog, who is lying against me, to remain still. It is my porch, yet I am the intruder. The robin is guarding her nest.

Letter Review -
12/16/2023
The Dinner - New Short Fiction by Lori Miller Kase - Letter Review

Joint Winner of The Letter Prize for Short Fiction She sits on the subway, one hand wrapped around the silver pole in front of her, the other hugging a black suede tote to her chest. When the train moves, she feels its vibrations inside her body.

Literary Mama
07/21/2021
Switched

Carli watches him from above his crib as he screams inconsolably. She studies how he screws his face up like a little prune, his eyes squinched tight, his face so red she thinks it might explode. She tries to feel something, but no feeling comes.

Literary Mama
01/21/2020
Road Trip

In theory, sharing a 14-hour drive with my daughter sounded like a reasonable idea. But as soon as she takes her first curve, I reflexively grab for the door handle like I used to do when she had her learner's permit.

Brain, Teen
Suspended

A mother feigns fearlessness so that her child won't be scared.

Health

Coveyclub
Frozen Shoulder? Odd Aches and Pains?

Frozen shoulder, body pain, and arthritis are not the symptoms that typically come to mind when we think about menopause, but according to orthopedist and longevity doctor Vonda Wright, MD, they are inextricably linked to the decline in estrogen that occurs in midlife women.

Coveyclub
Your Doctor Retired - Now What?

When Janet Reynolds' primary care provider - a nurse practitioner who she'd been with for 30 years - left her private practice, Reynolds had no idea how challenging it was going to be to find...

Coveyclub
The Biggest Threat to Women's Health: Loneliness

Study after study examining what brings people happiness reveals that it's not success or wealth, but our relationships, says Julianne Holt-Lunstad, PhD, professor of psychology and neuroscience at Brigham Young University. Social connection is not...

Coveyclub
The #1 Food That's Making You Sick (and Fat)

Our food choices are making us sick, according to Robert H. Lustig, MD, Emeritus Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology and a member of the Institute for Health Policy Studies at University of...

Coveyclub
Anti-aging Hacks: Q and A with Dr. Mark Hyman

About 80 percent of older adults suffer from at least one chronic disease - and 68 percent have two, according to the National Council on Aging. It's no wonder that we associate aging with physical and cognitive decline.

Coveyclub
Get Happy: Q and A with Dr. Daniel G. Amen, MD

According to psychiatrist and brain researcher Daniel Amen, MD, a healthy brain is a happy brain - literally. "Brain health (the actual physical functioning of the organ) is the most important foundational requirement of happiness," Dr. Amen, founder of Amen Clinics, writes in his book You, Happier: The 7 Neuroscience Secrets of Feeling Good Based on Your Brain Type.

Coveyclub
Eating to Prevent Alzheimer's: Q and A with Dr. Annie Fenn

Annie Fenn, doctor, chef, and founder of Brain Health Kitchen, a cooking school focused on preventing cognitive decline, didn't retire after 20 years as an Ob/Gyn practicing menopausal medicine with the intention of taking a deep dive into brain health.

leaps.org
04/20/2022
New Tool in the Battle Against Opioid Addiction Could Be Mindfulness

More than 20 percent of American adults suffer from chronic pain. And as many as one in four of those prescribed opioids to manage that pain go on to misuse - or abuse - them, often with devastating consequences. Patients afflicted by both chronic pain and opioid addiction are especially difficult t...

Discover Magazine
Longevity Researchers Want to Help You Live Longer

How long could we extend the human lifespan if geriatric problems like diabetes and heart disease were a thing of the past? Riding a wave of growing interest in longevity research, scientists in Japan recently developed a vaccine that targets the body's senescent cells - aging cells that no longer divide but can still cause chronic inflammation and disease as they accumulate in our tissues.

CoveyClub
Is CBD Healthy or All Just Hype?

Could taking a dropperful of CBD oil under your tongue each night alleviate menopause symptoms, reduce pain, and prevent cognitive decline? Will slathering on CBD-infused cream fight acne, eczema - or even skin aging? Increasingly ubiquitous CBD storefronts hawk products ranging from lollipops to lubricants, and CBD is being added to everything from smoothies to shampoos.

CoveyClub
Clean Beauty: Are Your Products Bad for Your Health?

I recently decided it was time to edit the ever-expanding collection of skin- and hair-care lotions and potions fighting for real estate on my bathroom vanity. Not to mention the mostly expired eye shadow compacts, tubes of mascara and lip glosses crowding my tiny makeup drawer. What spurred me into action?

CoveyClub
End Covid-19 Booster Confusion: Answers for Women 40+

When COVID-19 boosters were first approved in September, the federal government's vague guidelines left many of us confused about whether we were eligible. Now that the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is urging all adults to get booster shots, it's less a question of who should get a booster, and more a question of which one to get.

CoveyClub
Can a Recent COVID Vaccine Affect Your Mammography Results?

If you're like me, and you've put off your preventive health exams until after COVID vaccination, there's something you should know before you schedule your next breast imaging exam. A common side effect of the vaccine can be misinterpreted as cancer on a mammogram.

CoveyClub
Has the Pandemic Been a Pain in Your Back? Literally!

Even before the pandemic, I worked from home, occasionally writing from a not-very-ergonomic armchair next to my fireplace, on a porch swing, or even while reclining on my bed. But in my pre-COVID days, I was often in motion, and my frequent bursts of activity balanced out my back-compromising work habits.

CoveyClub
You've Got Your Vaccine. Now What?

More than 50 million Americans have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), with healthcare workers administering more than 1.8 million shots per day. And while this is definitely reason to be optimistic, health officials warn that vaccination is "not a free pass" to disregard public health measures and throw caution to the wind.

CoveyClub
Working out from Home: Up Your Virtual Fitness Game

During the early months of the pandemic, I found myself working out more than usual. I don't know if it was my way of counterbalancing the increased number of gourmet meals and baked confections coming out of my kitchen, which was suddenly flooded with additional chefs sheltering at home with me - or that my fitness regimen felt like the only thing I could control as COVID-19 transformed the world around us.

CoveyClub
8 Ways to Boost Your Immunity in the age of COVID-19

Back in early March, when I actually left the house and went to stores, I found myself scouring the shelves of local pharmacies and supermarkets for zinc lozenges. I had set out on this quest after reading an email by pathologist and coronavirus expert James Robb, MD, suggesting that these lozenges were effective in blocking coronavirus from multiplying in your throat and nasopharynx.

CoveyClub
Here's Why Your Pandemic Dreams Are So Vivid

In the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic, Harvard University dream researcher Deirdre Barrett, PhD, dreamed she was inside a beautiful library in a centuries-old house. The library, filled with leather-bound volumes and aglow from gaslights, had a cozy feel to it, she recalls, but she was aware that something "terrible" was going on everywhere outside.

Discover Magazine
How Good Is Good Cholesterol?

High HDL levels don't always mean a lower risk of heart attack. Annabelle Rodriguez's research suggests that the "good cholesterol" may not be so good for everyone.

Aeon
How DIY medical testing could save your life - Aeon Opinions

Dozens of companies offer direct-to-consumer tests on saliva, urine, blood or cheek swabs that can indicate either the presence of or the genetic susceptibility to disorders ranging from diabetes to cancer. Are these medical testing companies the new Ubers of healthcare, poised to disrupt the industry and usher in an age of patient-driven, on-demand medicine?

CoveyClub
Osteopenia: Are You at Risk?

The last thing I expected when my doctor sent me for a bone density scan after a too-easily sustained foot fracture last year was to receive a diagnosis of osteopenia. I shouldn't have been surprised; after all, as many as half of women over 50 are afflicted with osteopenia or lower-than-normal bone mass.

The Atlantic
Using Music to Close the Academic Gap

Researchers are finding that music instruction not only improves children’s communication skills, attention, and memory, but that it may even close the academic gap between rich and poor students.

Seasons Magazines
10/23/2020
When COVID and Flu Season Converge - Seasons Magazines

Though Connecticut boasted the lowest rate of COVID-19 transmission in the country at one point this summer, the novel coronavirus is still with us. As flu season approaches and colder weather forces people indoors, experts warn that it will be more important than ever to take the proper precautions to prevent the spread of both respiratory illnesses.

Eatingwell
3 Surprising Reasons Your Gut Health Matters

Scientists are discovering that your gut health impacts so much more than just your digestion. The billions of bacteria in your gut can impact your entire body. "Gut bacteria are connected to aspects of health we never suspected," says Rob Knight, Ph.D., co-founder and principal investigator of the Human Gut Project.

Brain, Child
The Concussion Conundrum

Concussions have always been a known risk factor in contact sports, but increasing evidence suggests that kids are returning to play too soon after sustaining these mildly traumatic brain injuries.

Hartford Magazine
Beyond the Dark Clouds

Hartford Hospital's $3 million Depression Initiative offers hope and healing for people with mood disorders.

Health Monitor's Living with Cancer
Finding the Healing in Humor

Pam Lacko considered herself lucky: After a hysterectomy and six rounds of chemotherapy, she survived ovarian cancer. Then she learned that she carried a gene that put her at high risk of breast cancer. First, she cried. Then she did what she does best: She laughed.

Vogue
Is Mammography Good Enough?

Mammograpy -- the standard for breast cancer -- misses 10-15 percent of cancers, more in young women. Lori Miller Kase explores the benefits and limits of this imperfect science and investigates promising new techniques.

Parents
The Tiniest Miracles

When she entered the world four months too soon, Amanda McTighe was no bigger than her father's hand. Miraculously, she's alive and thriving, thanks to medical breakthroughs unheard of even a decade ago.

Harper's Bazaar
Weight Game

Over the last 100 years, our affair with the scale has intensified. But despite reports that dieting is not good for us, we remain hooked. Lori Miller Kase examines the history of this dangerous addiction.

Town and Country
Everybody's Nightmare

Brain tumor: the very words bring us face to face with our worst fears. But new treatments and surgical techniques bring new hope -- or at least, more time.

Nytimes
08/09/1987
Plans for Mail-In Kit To Check for AIDS

Several companies plan to offer mail-in testing kits for the AIDS virus, stirring concern among public health officials and drawing criticism from many doctors and groups working with AIDS patients.

Food and Nutrition

Leaps
09/09/2020
Over 1 Million Seeds Are Buried Near the North Pole to Back Up the World's Crops

The impressive structure protrudes from the side of a snowy mountain on the Svalbard Archipelago, a cluster of islands about halfway between Norway and the North Pole. Art installations on the building's rooftop and front façade glimmer like diamonds in the polar night, but it is what lies buried deep inside the frozen rock, 475 feet from the building's entrance, that is most precious. Here, in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, are backup copies of more than a million of the world's...

Eating Well
All Juiced Up

Philip Wong and Ann Yang are Fighting Food Waste, One Bottle of Juice at a Time

AARP
10/12/2016
Intermittent Fasting To Lose Weight And Live Longer

Proponents of such regimens say these diets may improve sleep and blood sugar control; reduce risk factors for chronic diseases such as cancer, heart disease and diabetes; and may even help you live longer. The appeal is that unlike typical daily diets, part-time dieting plans allow you to eat freely for a few days a week so you don't feel as deprived.

Seasons
Growing Businesses

The demand for locally-grown artisanal products has never been higher, and Connecticut farmers are rising to the challenge.

Eating Well
Breakfast Like A King

New studies suggest that front-loading calories might actually help you to lose weight.

Self
Sugar: The Bittersweet Truth

The average American consumes 105 pounds of sugar each year. While experts debate how much this overdoes is harming our bodies, one thing is certain: Cutting out the stuff altogether would be impossible, not to mention joyless. Self serves up a solution.

Self
Strange Fruit

Each year, far more people are sickened by fruit and vegetables--the very food we are being urged to consume in greater quantity--than by beef and poultry combined. Here, the food safety scandal you haven't heard about.

Personal Essays

Coveyclub
Lost

Forgetting is my new norm. It happens more and more often — bits of memories lost. Pieces of my brain shut off from access. The thoughts, words, recollections I try to retrieve are there — on the edge of remembrance — but they are blocked and cannot be called up.

Beliefnet
My Children's President?

Though I was less than enthusiastic about the outcome of the presidential election, I couldn't help being swept up by the excitement of the recent inaugural ceremony, especially because it was the first changing of the guard that either of my children had ever witnessed.

Parenting
The Seeds of Compassion

She may be guilty of teddy bear abuse, but when it comes to empathy, this toddler is full of surprises.

The Arts

Seasons Magazines
06/20/2018
Sunken Garden Poetry Festival | Hill-Stead Museum in Farmington, CT

Last spring, The Washington Post declared that "poetry is going extinct," citing a recent report by the Census Bureau that showed a marked decline in poetry readership. But to the thousands who flock to the Sunken Garden Poetry Festival, hosted annually in the legendary Beatrix Farrand-designed garden at the Hill-Stead Museum in Farmington, reports of poetry's death would seem, in the immortal words of Mark Twain, to be greatly exaggerated.

Seasons Magazines
10/04/2018
Connecticut Literary Landmarks | Where Famous CT Authors Wrote

Book-lovers in the region are likely aware that Samuel Clemens - a.k.a. Mark Twain - penned such classics as Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer on the top floor of a Victorian home which still stands at the corner of Farmington Avenue and Forest Street in Hartford.

Seasons Magazines
10/12/2018
Connecticut's Best Indie Book Stores | CT Indie Book Stores

Brick and mortar bookstores are increasingly a relic of the past, yet Connecticut still boasts a number of independent sellers that attract die-hard devotees of the more traditional - and more intimate - book-browsing experience. Some readers' favorites: Atticus Bookstore Café , 1082 Chapel Street, New Haven.

Seasons
Creative Entrepreneurs

These imaginative Connecticut entrepreneuers turned their love for the arts into unique businesses that celebrate creativity

Seasons Magazines
Off, Off, Off Broadway

The third smallest state in the nation, Connecticut is a star on the national theater scene...

Seasons Magazines
Painting with Flowers

Five local artists share the gardens they've transformed into living masterpieces.

Seasons Magazines
Night and Day at the Museum

Frequent visitors to the New Britain Museum of American Arrt may be familiar with its masterworks. Here's a guide to the institution's other great asset -- the team that makes the place tick.

Seasons Magazines
The Mural of the Story

From Winsted to West Hartford, murals beautify, celebrate and strengthen communtiies.

Seasonsmagazines
Class Act

Every child is a star at Unified Theater, a nonprofit that taps students of all abilities for community productions.

Nytimes
05/18/1986
WHAT'S NEW IN CORPORATE ART; CUSTOMIZING ART TO FIT ARCHITECTURE

SPREAD out on the kitchen table of painter David Webster's rented SoHo studio are the blueprints for the Centrum, a $75 million office complex that is being developed in Dallas. Two paintings that he did at the request of the project's developers hang on the studio wall, and are indicated by yellow markings on the plans.

Nytimes
05/18/1986
WHAT'S NEW IN CORPORATE ART; A DECOR TO WOO THE NEIGHBORHOOD

LAST spring, Chase Manhattan Bank's SoHo branch ranked 48th in growth among the huge bank's 50 Manhattan branches. The situation was critical, recalls Terry Baker, the branch's assistant treasurer. The choice, he says, was ''close the branch or participate in the neighborhood.''

Nytimes
07/30/1987
Public TV Series to Commission and Produce Plays

After six years of showcasing top American theater, ''American Playhouse,'' the weekly public television series, is branching out into theater production. The New York-based program plans to commission works from emerging playwrights, plays that would then be adapted for television only at the end of the stage runs, according to the executive producer of the dramatic series, Lindsay Law.

Nytimes
08/02/1987
Met's Garden: Where Views Enhance Art

The public got its first look at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's new rooftop sculpture garden yesterday and found a bonus for art lovers. Visitors wandered among the nine 20th-century pieces showcased in the museum's latest installation - the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden.

Nytimes
08/02/1987
Authors Seek Muse In a Room

LEAD: Carl Solberg slouched over an old typewriter, pounding out notes for his work-in-progress on the China lobby, while in a nearby carrel, John Demaray, a medieval scholar, put the finishing touches on his most recent opus, ''Dante and the Book of the Cosmos.''

Parenting

Parents Magazine
The Benefits of Introducing Baby to Music

Share that playlist! Introducing your baby to tunes is an easy and enjoyable way to interact with your baby in his first year and can help set the stage for lifelong musical development. Plus, playing together with music can brighten his mood, benefit his brain, and boost his language skills.

Parents Magazine
What's In Your Breast Milk?

Demetria Santillan, of Tucson, Arizona, had been nursing her son, Ramiro, for nearly twelve months when she developed a urinary-tract infection. Her doctor said she needed medication and would have to stop breast-feeding for a week; another doctor agreed. Santillan, who didn't want to stop nursing, consulted a third physician.

Parents Magazine
How Depression Affects Your Family

Missy Nicholson, of Grafton, Massachusetts, had struggled with depression on and off since age 10, but it wasn't until she became a mother that she realized she wasn't the only one suffering because of her illness. Three years ago, when Nicholson was pregnant with her second child, she sank into a depression so severe that she spent most of each day in bed.

Parents
Talking to Kids About Race

Children are quick to pick up racial biases from family, friends and TV. That's why it's crucial to talk about issues like skin color and to dispel myths about race at an early age. Here's how to get started.

Parents
Reading, Writing and Respect

Dismayed that kids are rude, irresponsible and intolerant, teachers are weaving moral lessons into the curriculum--and seeing dramatic results.

Parents Magazine
The Boy Who Couldn't Make Friends

When Robert Vaughn's kindergarten teacher asked her students to name something larger than a TV, the precocious 5-year-old answered, "The entire universe." When she asked for something smaller than a TV, Robert replied, "The nucleus of a carbon atom."

Parents Magazine
How to Have Happier Bedtimes and Better Sleep

Parents.com > Toddlers & Preschoolers > Sleep > Sleep Schedule Here's how to help your kids fall asleep, stay asleep, and wake up in their own bed -- no matter what their age.

Parenting
Living with AIDS

Most people think of AIDS as a prelude to death, but for these six families, it is more like a refrain in the rhythm of their lives...

Other Feature Stories

CoveyClub
Get Sh*t Done: 10 Productivity Techniques To Try * CoveyClub

It took me forever to write this article. Ironically, as I scoured books about productivity, I was surprisingly unproductive. My emails piled up as I researched how to achieve "Inbox Zero." I procrastinated by reading book after book about how not to.

Seasons Magazines
04/30/2019
Connecticut's Historic Gardens and Connecticut Landmarks

Whether you are a garden lover or a history buff, Connecticut's many historic gardens offer both inspiration and a unique glimpse into the lives and sensibilities of generations past. With their parterres and pergolas, stately trees and topiaries, perennial borders and old-fashioned kitchen potagers, the meticulously restored gardens in our region span three centuries and represent an array of styles and horticultural trends.

Seasons Magazines
06/06/2018
Connecticut Farms | Lyric Hill Farm Granby | Ashlawn Farm Coffee Old Saybrook

The demand for locally sourced and artisanal products has never been higher, and Connecticut farmers are rising to the challenge. The proliferation of farmers' markets in our region reflects a growing desire on the part of consumers to know where their food - and handcrafted goods - are coming from.

courant.com
Yoga And Seva: Off The Mat, Into The Community

When yoga devotees at Be.Yoga in Avon are not in the studio practicing Sun Salutations or Downward Facing Dog, they convene to feed the hungry, raise money for the homeless or fill backpacks for needy children.

Hartford Magazine
Starting Over

Immigrants from a war-torn region find hope and happiness in their new home: Hartford

Hartford Magazine
In Good Company

For more than 100 years, Greater Hartford businesses have been building a legacy, one sale at a time.

Seasons Magazines
01/17/2019
Creative Connecticut Entrepreneurs | Entrepreneurship in CT

Litchfield County potter Guy Wolff, whose handmade clay pots can be found in the gardens of historic estates (including Monticello and the White House), museums (like the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and the Met Cloisters), and suburban backyards across the country, draws inspiration for his creations from both master potters in Europe and traditional American craftsmen.

Nytimes
11/10/1985
THE REQUIRED COMPUTER

FIVE YEARS ago, Carnegie-Mellon University attracted national attention with its announcement that it would require each student to have a microcomputer. It was the first school to suggest imposing such a rule, and though it has since reconsidered that idea, at least a dozen institutions, including Stevens Institute of Technology and Drew University in New Jersey, and Clarkson University in New York, have adopted the computer-requirement policy.

Nytimes
01/25/1987
IF YOU'RE THINKING OF LIVING IN; The Brookvilles

LEAD: THE brooks that run through the Brookvilles cut across the wooded grounds of vast estates, skirt the well-kept fairways of the area's many golf courses and wind along tree-lined country roads. Years ago, these narrow waterways gave this Long Island community its name; today, they continue to add to its nonpareil beauty.

Profiles/Interviews

Seasons Magazines
04/07/2020
Dr. Peter Wade - Seasons Magazines

Hanging in the waiting room of the Mandell Center for Multiple Sclerosis at Mount Sinai Rehabilitation Hospital in Hartford is a whimsical painting of a woman, chin up, looking forward, her hair flowing behind her.

Seasons Magazines
Anita Kelsey, MD

The Saint Francis Cardiologist is on a Mission to Educate Women about how to Prevent Heart Disease

Seasons Magazines
Christina Kabbash, MD

Elite athlete and foot and ankle specialist Christina Kabbash, MD, helps injured triatheltes -- as well as non-athletes -- to get back on their feet.

Hartford Magazine
Eye on the Prize

Through her camera lens, Jane Shauck sees life -- including her own -- in a whole new way

Thereviewreview
Hot, Sexy, Sultry, Sweaty: Conduit

Steven Beeber, associate editor of Condit, was an MFA student at University of Massachusetts when his friend and roommate, William Waltz, started the literary magazine...

Thereviewreview
On Track With Glimmer Train

Back in the .80s, Linda Swanson-Davies and her sister, Susan Burmeister-Brown, felt that the literary short stories they were seeing in journals were, as Swanson-Davies puts it, "rather cool to the touch." Avid readers, they started their own journal -- Glimmer Train -- in the hopes of bringing a different kind of story to print.