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!

Bonar Menninger’s Mortal Error
May 27, 2014 · 4 Comments
Bonar Menninger’s <em>Mortal Error</em>

Like a Magic Eye puzzle, once you see Howard Donahue’s explanation of JFK’s death, you can’t unsee it.

The Vine: May 23, 2014
May 23, 2014 · 6 Comments
The Vine: May 23, 2014

I love wearing beanies, but now summer is here and it’s too hot to wear my wool ones.

The Vine: May 14, 2014
May 14, 2014 · 9 Comments
The Vine: May 14, 2014

I’m trying to help my mom find a slip to wear under a formal dress for my wedding this summer.

Poppy-Fields Movie Couch Of Fame: The Magnificent Seven
May 13, 2014 · 7 Comments
Poppy-Fields Movie Couch Of Fame: <em>The Magnificent Seven</em>

The Poppy-Fields Movie Couch Of Fame is kicking it old-school this time around with a nominee from reader Jan: The Magnificent Seven.

The Vine: May 9, 2014
May 9, 2014 · 11 Comments
The Vine: May 9, 2014

I am asking for the readers to help me remember the name of a cooking show that I watched years ago.

The Vine: May 7, 2014
May 7, 2014 · 29 Comments
The Vine: May 7, 2014

I have a question for your readers about jewellery inheritance.

Poppy-Fields Movie Couch Of Fame: The Hunt For Red October
May 2, 2014 · 28 Comments
Poppy-Fields Movie Couch Of Fame: <em>The Hunt For Red October</em>

Welcome back to the pleasant and relaxed Poppy-Fields Movie Couch Of Fame, friends! Today’s nominee is brought to us by reader Craig: The Hunt For Red October.

Byrd, Bex & Cousins Detective Agency, Chapter 2
May 1, 2014 · 9 Comments
Byrd, Bex & Cousins Detective Agency, Chapter 2

Sherry went into her bedroom. The livable half, the light coming through the blue tarps, looked like it should be a seafood restaurant called The Mermaid Grotto, and it smelled like a lumberyard.

The Vine: April 30, 2014
April 30, 2014 · 15 Comments
The Vine: April 30, 2014

After watching the team Olympic figure-skating competition, I was reminded of a YA book that I read in the mid-late ’90s.

Poppy-Fields Movie Couch Of Fame: Diner
April 27, 2014 · 4 Comments
Poppy-Fields Movie Couch Of Fame: <em>Diner</em>

I struggled with which movie to plop onto the Couch Of Fame with an afghan and a sleeve of Thin Mints first. A classic universally acknowledged, like The Godfather? A flawed but appealing baseball flick …