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: April 22, 2009
April 22, 2009 · 50 Comments

Hey Sars,
I can’t shake these feelings I have for a guy.
We dated for less than three months in the summer of 2007 (geez is right). Met at work, started light flirtations, and then took the …

Meet the Boosh
April 19, 2009 · 67 Comments
Meet the Boosh

I have another foster cat.   Her provisional name is “the Tiny Boosh” (her silly shelter name is “Babooska [sic],” which obviously could not stand), but “La Bouche” is equally appropriate, as girlfriend weighed only …

The Vine: April 17, 2009
April 17, 2009 · 45 Comments

Hi Sars,
I have a question for you and your readers about a vaguely remembered book from my childhood that I’ve been wondering about off and on for years.It was a Young Adult book; I think …

The Vine: April 15, 2009
April 15, 2009 · 71 Comments

Hang in there, taxable citizens.
********
Dear Sars…I suspect this letter is more for your readers’ input than your own, but it’s a topic I need some unbiased and impersonal advice on.
It has to do with drinking, …

RIP Kalas, Fidrych…and Wang’s ERA
April 14, 2009 · 21 Comments
RIP Kalas, Fidrych…and Wang’s ERA

Harry Kalas, legendary Phillies broadcaster, and Mark “The Bird” Fidrych both passed away yesterday.   Tough week for baseball, but seeing Nick Swisher on the mound brightened things a bit, at least on this end.
Remembrances/bullpen …

The Crushed Film Festival presents: Passion of Mind
April 13, 2009 · 23 Comments
The Crushed Film Festival presents: <I>Passion of Mind</I>

by Sarah D. Bunting

The Movie: Passion of Mind
The Crush Object: William Fichtner
The Story: When Marie (Demi Moore), a widow and mother of two daughters who lives in an Anthropologie catalo– er, “hillside villa in France” …

TV Question Qorner: ESPN’s grief management, Coach the dragon-slayer, et cetera
April 11, 2009 · 11 Comments
TV Question Qorner: ESPN’s grief management, Coach the dragon-slayer, et cetera

Baseball Tonight. No doubt they meant well, and what happened to Nick Adenhart is undeniably a tragic waste, but Thursday’s Very Special Episode seemed to me like cynical pandering.I can barely trust BT to tell …

The Vine: April 10, 2009
April 10, 2009 · 23 Comments

Hey Sars,
My beautiful cat, Tasha, has just been diagnosed with lymphoma. The vet says it’s very treatable, but rarely curable. She’s given so much to me in the ten years since I adopted her, the …

The Vine: April 8, 2009
April 8, 2009 · 70 Comments

Hi Sars —
I have wonderful, sweet, loving kitty cats, and I’m about to throw them out the window.
They both have good manners when it comes to using their litterbox. Everything goes in the correct place, …

“Crazy Train”
April 8, 2009 · No Comment

90210 118, “Off The Rails”:

Silver, having abandoned her car downtown and freaked everyone out all the more, is at the train depot, blathering on to a stranger who looks like Denis Leary about chemical reactions …