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!

Tomato Nation Read-Along #1: Going In Circles, by Pamela Ribon
June 10, 2010 · 27 Comments
Tomato Nation Read-Along #1: <I>Going In Circles</I>, by Pamela Ribon

THE THREAD COMETH! THURSDAY! BE THERE!
Also! Live chat with Ms. Ribon herself   Wednesday 30 June. Stay tuned.
The readers have spoken! Our first TN Read-Along book is Going In Circles, by Pamela Ribon. All y’all …

The Vine: June 9, 2010
June 9, 2010 · 41 Comments
The Vine: June 9, 2010

Interested in a TN read-along? Vote for a book or two now!
*****
When my husband and I take a cab with a single friend of ours who happens to live nearby, do we pay 50 percent …

A Tomato Nation Read-Along: Discuss
June 8, 2010 · 44 Comments
A Tomato Nation Read-Along: Discuss

A few readers mentioned here that they’d like to do a TN read-along. I love the idea, in theory.
In practice, we might have a couple of issues, the first of which is book selection. I …

28 Up: Jim, Armando, and the state of the umpires’ union
June 5, 2010 · 20 Comments
28 Up: Jim, Armando, and the state of the umpires’ union

In the Griffey comments thread, reader Suzanne asked what I thought of Jim Joyce’s perfect-game-ruining call against Armando Galarraga and the Tigers the other night.
I feel for everyone involved. It’s a shame Galarraga lost the …

The Vine: June 4, 2010
June 4, 2010 · 25 Comments
The Vine: June 4, 2010

I read both of these stories while in middle school, so early ’80s. Both of them were stories included in our class-issued Language Arts books.
First was about a group of kids…I think it was …

What Might Have Been; What Was
June 3, 2010 · 21 Comments
What Might Have Been; What Was

It’s not that Matthew Pouliot didn’t let the body cool before deeming Ken Griffey, Jr. “overrated.” It’s not even that the word “overrated” is the very first word in the headline — that that adjective, …

The Vine: June 2, 2010
June 2, 2010 · 23 Comments
The Vine: June 2, 2010

Hi, Sars!
I have a combo cat/relationship question, and would really like your advice…
For very innocent and necessary reasons, I recently had to perform a little Google search on my ex (I thought I was going …

The Vine: May 28, 2010
May 28, 2010 · 22 Comments
The Vine: May 28, 2010

Hi Sars!
I have a mystery book and I haven’t been able to Google it. The main character is a teen girl — her mother is remarried, and her new stepfather has a son from a …

The Vine: May 26, 2010
May 26, 2010 · 83 Comments
The Vine: May 26, 2010

Dear Sars,
I was out for dinner with my SO and wanted to fill him in on the finale of a reality TV show. I’d started to do that when the woman at the next table …

Words Of The Day: “dorkasualty,” “tremendouche”
May 24, 2010 · 44 Comments
Words Of The Day: “dorkasualty,” “tremendouche”

I coined “dorkasualty” just now, after giving myself a two-knuckle paper cut with the Chicago Manual. The 16.42 entry on documentation now looks like I used it as a hot-dog bun. Earlier today, I dropped …