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!

TV Question Qorner: Smizenheimers
September 29, 2009 · 33 Comments
TV Question Qorner: Smizenheimers

America’s Next Top Model. When did Mr. Jay become kind of rad?Or have I started identifying with my captors?Has Tyra herself become so unbearable to me that anyone who ever makes a shred of non-self-aggrandizing, …

Contest: 48 Hours
September 29, 2009 · 10 Comments
Contest: 48 Hours

I’ve got good news and bad news.
The bad news is that Detroit’s public school system is in serious trouble, and my spy at Donors Choose tells me that Detroit educators hit the servers en masse …

Contest: Threeeeeeeee! (and a prize, too)
September 28, 2009 · 36 Comments
Contest: Threeeeeeeee! (and a prize, too)

Wondering what in the hell is going on with all the gambling graphics?   Want to win a pre-contest mini-prize?   Hey, let’s address both these things.
So it’s like this: the amount of money I’ve …

Contest: Picture This
September 25, 2009 · 11 Comments
Contest: Picture This

Six days to go!
The contest is a team effort each year — it’s the awesome-iest part of the awesome.   This year, Mr. S and I would like the launch video to reflect that.   …

The Vine: September 25, 2009
September 25, 2009 · 262 Comments

Inevitably there is backstory (which I have tried to keep short), but ultimately this is a request for book title suggestions.
My mom lives in rural Utah.She volunteers for a tiny and ill-funded (understandably; the town …

Contest: Loosest Slots In Town
September 24, 2009 · 17 Comments
Contest: Loosest Slots In Town

…Heh.
Not sure you can donate to the 2009 Tomato Nation/Donors Choose fund drive?   I understand; money’s pretty tight these days.
But one of the awesome things about Donors Choose is that you don’t have to …

The Vine: September 23, 2009
September 23, 2009 · 96 Comments

Dear Miss Bunting,
Thank you for making me laugh until my sides hurt. It’s funny because it’s true.
I would greatly appreciate it if you would clarify another word faux pas. My head spins off of my …

Contest: It’s All Coming Together (Sort Of)
September 23, 2009 · 10 Comments
Contest: It’s All Coming Together (Sort Of)

Eight days until we get started!   I hope to have a prize list and some other information to share by the end of today, but it’s one of those duck days for me — …

Contest: 9 Days ‘Til Awesome
September 22, 2009 · 12 Comments
Contest: 9 Days ‘Til Awesome

October is nigh!   Awesome is imminent!   Eeee!
I’d still love more projects (email the URL or URLs to bunting at tomatonation dot com; please, no misspelled titles, or projects set to expire in the …

The Vine: September 18, 2009
September 18, 2009 · 12 Comments

Dear Sars,
I have a shopping question for you and your readers (mighty army that they be).I’ve been looking off and on for a few years now for gloves for my husband.Being a particular person, he …