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: July 21, 2005
July 21, 2005 · No Comment

“Midwestern Summers” sounds like he/she has a rather common skin disorder called keratosis pilaris. It’s essentially how they’ve described it — the pores can’t clean out the dead skin cells fast enough, so you get …

The Vine: July 20, 2005
July 20, 2005 · No Comment

I love the product advice, and thought I’d try my fellow readers out on a question. I need exfoliating advice. I have dry skin, and it is terrible. Summer weather just makes it more apparent.
The …

The Vine: July 19, 2005
July 19, 2005 · No Comment

Dear Sars,
Last year I became friends with a really nice guy who was a Muslim. I kept asking him loads of questions about his religion so he gave me a translation of the Qur’an. I’ve …

Summertime Blues
July 18, 2005 · No Comment

The last few days, I’ve started to miss my old summer jobs — not the jobs themselves, but the mindlessness of them, the frank sweating, the clear boundaries, physically going and working with my hands …

The Vine: July 17, 2005
July 17, 2005 · No Comment

OH LORD FINALLY. The master music list. You are SO WELCOME!
Okay, here’s how it works…I listed the bands and artists that got multiple votes ONLY, because cutting it down to consensus choices is less confusing …

The Vine: July 15, 2005
July 15, 2005 · No Comment

Please tell Moon Unit, and anyone else who wants to thrown in their opinion on other people’s choices on baby names, to keep their traps shut, unless specifically asked, “One of the names we’re thinking …

The Vine: July 14, 2005
July 14, 2005 · No Comment

Dear Sars,
I work in a small publishing office. I really enjoy my job, but there are lots of little things that add up to the sense that there is not enough money to keep the …

The Vine: July 13, 2005
July 13, 2005 · No Comment

Sars,
I’ve been to a number of a general admission shows. Well, okay, about four or five in the past seven years. So, I am by no means an expert. After re-reading your essay, “So, You’re …

The Vine: July 12, 2005
July 12, 2005 · No Comment

Dear Sars,
So here’s the deal: In five weeks I’m moving from California to New York for grad school. Depending on a few factors, I could be gone from one to five years. Aaaand of course …

Boooooooooowl!
July 11, 2005 · No Comment

Last night, we bowled. And when I say “we,” I mean about twenty people, and when I say “we bowled,” I mean we bowled the hell out of that alley — at one point, we …