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!

Giving new meaning to the term “field trip”
February 3, 2009 · 57 Comments
Giving new meaning to the term “field trip”

It is on at last, friends.   I apologize for the delay, but now, without further ado, I invite you to join me on a tour of Washington, DC’s finest sights:
Friday 13 March 2009
Monuments!
Photo ops!
A …

The Vine: January 30, 2009
January 30, 2009 · 12 Comments

Is there any way that you can ask your readers if there’s a good “all-in-one” baby registry out there on the interwebs?   I’m looking for one sitethat searches a bunch of different stores for …

Support Local Business: The Kites play King Killer
January 29, 2009 · No Comment
Support Local Business: The Kites play King Killer

Please join me at King Killer Studios on Saturday January 31 for a show by The Kites (the handsome peeps above).   Their punishing metal riffs…no, wait, they’re a folk trio, but Nat can probably …

The Vine: January 28, 2009
January 28, 2009 · 51 Comments

I hope Agent Weiss is reading today — it’s her birthday.   Have a good one, lady (don’t deface any forts with nail polish unless you call me first).
*****

Hi, Sars,
This past summer, I got laid …

Operation Filmmaker
January 23, 2009 · 8 Comments
<I>Operation Filmmaker</I>

Operation Filmmaker isn’t perfect, but does a great job of pulling the viewer back and forth between sympathies (or antipathies, as the case may be).You see the producers’ point (this is his job, and the …

The Vine: January 23, 2009
January 23, 2009 · 17 Comments

Hi Sars,
My husband just bought new water bottles for us, because the plastic used in our current bottles is apparently the kind that’s leaching some terrible chemical into the water inside. BPH, BPA, BP…something.
Anyway, this …

The Vine: January 21, 2009
January 21, 2009 · 65 Comments

Dear Sars,
I am looking for tips on how to become tougher. I’ve always found it hard to reconcile myself with the idea that some people don’t like me, or disapprove of some things I do, …

The Final Day
January 19, 2009 · 100 Comments

Resident sucker for oral histories yours truly recommends the one on Daily Beast about the inauguration changeover.
I nearly can’t believe it’s finally come: the last day of the Bush presidency.   I watched his farewell …

Sickened: The Memoir of a Munchausen by Proxy Childhood
January 17, 2009 · 19 Comments
<I>Sickened: The Memoir of a Munchausen by Proxy Childhood</I>

An editor walks a tightrope.It’s part of an editor’s job to let and/or to help the writing be what it is.It depends on the content undergoing the editing, of course, and whether a house style …

The Vine: January 16, 2009
January 16, 2009 · 24 Comments

Dear Sars,
My husband and I need help with a hair product dilemma.We have both used Aveda Elixir for years to manage hair that is fine, straight and flyaway (his) and thick, curly and frizzy (mine).We’re …