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: November 9, 2001
November 9, 2001 · No Comment

Sars,
There’s this boy. We’re from the same smallish town, so I’ve known him since we were about five or six, though we were never really friends, just passing acquaintances, at most. In high school, we …

The Vine: November 8, 2001
November 8, 2001 · No Comment

Sars,
If it were my advice column (which, admittedly, it’s not), I wouldn’t be so quick to encourage “A Grateful Reader” to a do-or-die confrontation with her husband.
First of all, there are lots of physical issues …

The Vine: November 7, 2001
November 7, 2001 · No Comment

Hiya Sars.
I am in need of one of your patented nuggets of witty yet insightful wisdom — I hope you can help me out.
Me: 26, smart, funny, a little on the shy and reserved side …

The Vine: November 6, 2001
November 6, 2001 · No Comment

Sars,
I really need your advice, O Level-Headed One.
The situation: at 29, I’ve just finished two years of college, and damn proud of myself I am too. I’ve been fighting with clinical depression, agoraphobia, bulimia, and …

Game Over
November 5, 2001 · No Comment

So, that’s that. The World Series over, the Yankees dethroned at last. I sat on the couch last night at the beginning of the bottom of the ninth, chain-smoking, every muscle in my body tense, …

The Vine: November 1, 2001
November 1, 2001 · No Comment

Hey there, Sars.
Just read your response to “Considering,” the girl whose roommate is so very annoying.Usually I agree with your Vine advice, but this time, I’ve got to take issue with your solution. I lived …

The Vine: October 31, 2001
October 31, 2001 · No Comment

Ah, porn.Everyone’s got an opinion about it.
If you recall, I ran a letter from a woman who didn’t know whether she should tell her former semi-friend about the former semi-friend’s fiancé’s incest-porn habit, and I …

The Vine: October 30, 2001
October 30, 2001 · No Comment

Dear Sars,
I’m hoping that you can help me.I really need an objective third party opinion on this. This situation is unbelievably convoluted, so bear with me, and feel free to edit as you see fit.
My …

The Old Ball Game
October 29, 2001 · No Comment

September, 1985. Reagan’s in the White House, The Golden Girls rule the Nielsen ratings, and I’ve just started the eighth grade armed with a collection of Flashdance-tastic off-the-shoulder Esprit tops, a parted-down-the-middle-and-carefully-curled-on-the-sides hairdo, and enough …

The Vine: October 26, 2001
October 26, 2001 · No Comment

Dear Sars,
I’m a sophomore and commuter student at NYU, so I thought I’d throw in my two cents on the letter from Ang in Astoria.
There are a bunch of reasons why I don’t live in …