Baseball

“I wrote 63 songs this year. They’re all about Jeter.” Just kidding. The game we love, the players we hate, and more.

Culture and Criticism

From Norman Mailer to Wendy Pepper — everything on film, TV, books, music, and snacks (shut up, raisins), plus the Girls’ Bike Club.

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Helping public schools, winning prizes, sending a crazy lady in a tomato costume out in public.

Stories, True and Otherwise

Monologues, travelogues, fiction, and fart humor. And hens. Don’t forget the hens.

The Vine

The Tomato Nation advice column addresses your questions on etiquette, grammar, romance, and pet misbehavior. Ask The Readers about books or fashion today!

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Articles in The Vine

The Vine: March 14, 2012
March 14, 2012 – 11:53 AM | 53 Comments
The Vine: March 14, 2012

I’m in the biggest fight of my life and I’m not even angry, at least not yet.
Several years ago my sister met, dated, and got engaged to a man who was arrested for having child …

The Vine: March 9, 2012
March 9, 2012 – 10:32 AM | 26 Comments
The Vine: March 9, 2012

It is entirely possible that I have managed to conjure the most bizarre Ask the Readers question in the history of The Vine. It is also possible that no one has an answer other than, …

The Vine: March 7, 2012
March 7, 2012 – 10:09 AM | 25 Comments
The Vine: March 7, 2012

Long-time reader, first-time writer for the Vine, and I have a new-to-me etiquette question.
I belong to a church that is very open to GLBT folks and we get involved in GLBT rights events on a …

The Vine: March 2, 2012
March 2, 2012 – 11:30 AM | 37 Comments
The Vine: March 2, 2012

I’m hoping crowd-sourcing an answer on this might get better results than my fruitless Googling? I’m after a kids’ or YA book that I would have read back in the early ’80s, most likely. The …

Leap Vine: February 29, 2012
February 29, 2012 – 12:59 PM | 25 Comments
Leap Vine: February 29, 2012

I have a question regarding what to do about a depressed adult.
Backstory: My mother died of breast cancer three years ago. She was the stronghold of our family: the sweet, kind, funny, loving parent. She …

The Vine: February 23, 2012
February 23, 2012 – 7:52 AM | 19 Comments
The Vine: February 23, 2012

Hello, friends. I apologize for the spotty service as I try to finish the Oscars Death Race. Things should return to normal next week; I haven’t forgotten the Read-Along, or Jump Street recaps, or any of …

The Vine: February 17, 2012
February 17, 2012 – 3:53 PM | 10 Comments
The Vine: February 17, 2012

In the mid-1980s there was a kids’ show on PBS. As I recall there were several recurring segments of the show and one of them took place on a treasure island. I think there were pirates …

The Vine: February 15, 2012
February 15, 2012 – 10:54 AM | 18 Comments
The Vine: February 15, 2012

Eight years ago, during college, I became very close friends with a co-worker. She had just graduated from high school and her boyfriend was at boot camp. A few months after we met, they became …

The Vine: February 10, 2012
February 10, 2012 – 8:43 AM | 4 Comments
The Vine: February 10, 2012

I have been going nuts trying to remember the name of this series. From what I can remember it was about a girl who moved to a new town, and got a new (hot) boyfriend. They …

The Vine: February 8, 2012
February 8, 2012 – 2:45 PM | 35 Comments
The Vine: February 8, 2012

I have an “expired friendship” question. I’ve known this friend (Mark, let’s say) since our first year of college, which was nearly twenty years ago. I considered him one of my closest friends, and he …