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.

Donors Choose and Contests

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!

The Vine: October 1, 2010
October 1, 2010 · 10 Comments
The Vine: October 1, 2010

I’m trying to find a collection of fairy tales I owned as a child in the late ’80s. It was a bigger-sized (length and width) book, with beautiful illustrations. The pictures were kind of like …

The Tomato Nation Fall Classic: Opening Day
October 1, 2010 · 18 Comments
The Tomato Nation Fall Classic: Opening Day

10K for Donors Choose; 10K for scholarships and Little-League uniforms. Plllllllay ball!
Donors Choose/Fall Classic giving page is RIGHT HERE. (Don’t forget: make sure you’re on the Fall Classic page. The ID is 58788, so spot …

The Tomato Nation Fall Classic: Pre-Game
September 30, 2010 · 2 Comments
The Tomato Nation Fall Classic: Pre-Game

Y’all ready? Me too!
A quick review of the rotation:

10K for classic literature on Donors Choose
5K for the Jackie Robinson Foundation
5K for Pitch In For Baseball

…by October 31. For every day left before October 31 when …

The Vine: September 29, 2010
September 29, 2010 · 56 Comments
The Vine: September 29, 2010

I’ve had my 7-year-old kitty since she was a 3-week-old rescue kitten that had to be bottle-fed. For the most part, she is wonderfully behaved.
However, she whines.
She’s always been very vocal kitty, and that is …

DVR Break-Up: The Event, House
September 28, 2010 · 20 Comments
DVR Break-Up: <I>The Event</I>, <I>House</I>

I had high hopes for The Event — a lot of actors I enjoy (Jason Ritter, Laura Innes), a tantalizing concept, and the opportunity to learn from the mistakes of Flash Forward.
But the actors can’t …

The Tomato Nation Fall Classic
September 27, 2010 · 2 Comments
The Tomato Nation Fall Classic

Welcome, friends! It’s time to raise some money. The super-duper crazy-big six-figure blowout fundraiser for Donors Choose will return in spring 2011 — but why not rustle up a few bucks now?
The project is called …

The Big Sad Machine
September 24, 2010 · 11 Comments
The Big Sad Machine

I spotted a billboard for this promotion earlier today, near a gas station. Just how broke is this mofo, anyway? Does the Hit King still have back taxes to pay?
At least he’s not selling signed …

The Vine: September 24, 2010
September 24, 2010 · 16 Comments
The Vine: September 24, 2010

I have gone crazy trying to find two “movies” that were aired on (I think) HBO back in the early to mid-1980s. Google and other sites have failed my usually pop-culture-infused brain.
(Note: I think these …

Tomato Nation Read-Along #5: Jacob Have I Loved
September 23, 2010 · 6 Comments
Tomato Nation Read-Along #5: <I>Jacob Have I Loved</I>

Paterson wins our latest poll handily; you can find the book here. (Bargain-hunters, check half.com or your local bookseller; it’s widely available secondhand, in my experience.) A somewhat downbeat selection to kick off the autumn, …

The Vine: September 22, 2010
September 22, 2010 · 45 Comments
The Vine: September 22, 2010

Dear Sars,
One of my husband’s best friends (I’ll call him Kevin) is married to Kate. I feel close to both Kevin and Kate, although we only see each other every few months because we live …