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: March 14, 2006
March 14, 2006 · No Comment

Sars,
I am a big fan of your site, and I am hoping that you can set me
straight on if my sister-in-law is loony, or if I am just rude.
The background is that my husband and …

The Vine: March 10, 2006
March 10, 2006 · No Comment

Hi Sars,
I hope you can help me out with this strange, stupid problem. I graduated high school with my best friends this past May. It was a pretty big deal for all of us to …

The Vine: March 9, 2006
March 9, 2006 · No Comment

Hey Sars,
I have an ongoing dilemma for which I would like your advice and the advice
of your readers. I’m just overcoming life-long, slumping, cringing,
hair-in-the-face, shyness. When I’m around strangers, I tense up and feel
awkward. It’s …

The Vine: March 8, 2006
March 8, 2006 · No Comment

Dear Sarah,
I have a work-related dilemma, and I respect your advice very much;
I’m hoping you can help me out.
I work for a small startup firm; among the 20 or so of us, I am one …

The Vine: March 7, 2006
March 7, 2006 · No Comment

I can answer “Why was I cursed to care about this?”‘s question. I was just checking on that point for a coworker the other day (I kept deleting her second space, and she kept adding …

The Vine: March 3, 2006
March 3, 2006 · No Comment

Dear Sars,
I’ve been working happily away at a non-profit arts organization for many years now, and my boss just announced that she plans to leave the company, a not-so-big surprise. In addition to being a …

The Vine: March 2, 2006
March 2, 2006 · No Comment

I have an odd problem. It’s related to armpits. I believe you are a, erm,
dewy person, but I don’t know if these things overlap. I get itchy, irrited
armpits whenever I shave. I suppose it’s razor …

The Vine: March 1, 2006
March 1, 2006 · No Comment

Dear Sars,
I’m a 22-year-old guy who’s fallen in love with a woman 15 years my senior. That is all fine and dandy, but my problem is that she is a born-again Christian and…I’m not. As …

The Vine: February 28, 2006
February 28, 2006 · No Comment

Sars,
It sucks that my first question is about boys instead of shoes. I’d prefer
to talk about kitten heels, but whatever.
So. I found The Boy. Yeah, I know, but it’s true. I didn’t think there
was a …

Appointed Rounds
February 27, 2006 · No Comment

At that time, everything went on foot, not just the mail: fruit, shoes, a mattress, anything you needed got hucked to you on someone’s back or in a wagon. Dangerous work, a carrier job, with …