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: August 13, 2010
August 13, 2010 · 36 Comments
The Vine: August 13, 2010

Oh Wise Nation,
After spending two days of my honeymoon with hives, and another day half asleep from Benadryl, I need help.
My go-to facial moisturizer/sunscreen for years (years!!) has been Oil of Olay for oily/combination …

The Vine: August 11, 2010
August 11, 2010 · 56 Comments
The Vine: August 11, 2010

Hey Sars.
So here’s the deal. My husband and I have four kids, one on the way, and two aging beagles. Everything was great — until all of a sudden it wasn’t. Our fourth child was …

The Kids Are All Right
August 10, 2010 · 23 Comments
<I>The Kids Are All Right</I>

The California that we get in this film is a greener, gayer update of the California that Woody Allen took such perfect potshots at, more than thirty years ago, in “Annie Hall,” the difference being …

The Vine: August 6, 2010
August 6, 2010 · 15 Comments
The Vine: August 6, 2010

I need help finding this obscure short story I read back in the 5th grade, around 1985. It was a sci-fi time travel story, possibly written for a middle-grade/YA audience, and it was anthologized in …

Damn Millionaires Show, Saturday 8/7/10
August 5, 2010 · 3 Comments
Damn Millionaires Show, Saturday 8/7/10

Hey, friends — The Damn Millionaires have come to town, and you should totally come out to see them play the stage at King Killer Studios (Mr. Stupidhead filling in on bass!). Also featuring Dan …

The Vine: August 4, 2010
August 4, 2010 · 28 Comments
The Vine: August 4, 2010

Dear Sars,
I’m a 28-year-old female, and I would like advice on how to ask my mother some uncomfortable questions.
I have never met or even seen a photo of my biological father, and only know …

Tomato Nation Read-Along #3: My Sweet Audrina
August 3, 2010 · 49 Comments
Tomato Nation Read-Along #3: <I>My Sweet Audrina</I>

Bill Bryson put up a valiant fight, but V.C. Andrews prevailed — our next TN Read-Along book is My Sweet Audrina. I can’t decide if I’m horrified or thrilled, so I’ve decided to go with …

The Vine: July 30, 2010
July 30, 2010 · 104 Comments
The Vine: July 30, 2010

Sars,
I just had a seriously depressing epiphany about myself, and, as a result, went spelunking in your archives, unsuccessfully. I seem to recall a Vine within the last couple of years where folks went off …

The Vine: July 28, 2010
July 28, 2010 · 43 Comments
The Vine: July 28, 2010

Hello —
I guess I am writing because I am hoping to get some tips in how to best handle my relationship with my parents. A brief (I hope) background: I am an only child and …

TN in AC: Bet Red, Bet Road
July 27, 2010 · 15 Comments
TN in AC: Bet Red, Bet Road

The Atlantic City trip is set for the weekend of August 20. When exactly I will do my thing at the blackjack tables/on the boardwalk, and what specifically that “thing” is, I don’t know yet; …