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: December 14, 2012
December 14, 2012 · 46 Comments
The Vine: December 14, 2012

Here’s two for the readers. The first was a book on tape that I listened to but never finished, probably sometime around 1998, although the book itself definitely predated that — I want to say it …

The Vine: December 12, 2012
December 12, 2012 · 28 Comments
The Vine: December 12, 2012

I’ve got a “please help me find this song” request to put out there.  My hard-to-buy-for boyfriend has heard a song in the yoga class we’ve been taking, and I’d like to get him a  copy …

X-Files Rewatch: Season 5
December 8, 2012 · 11 Comments
<I>X-Files</I> Rewatch: Season 5

So, I started rewatching The X-Files from the beginning — or, really, “watching it,” because during the series’ run, I came in late and only watched casually. It holds up pretty well almost 20 years later, despite …

The Vine: December 7, 2012
December 7, 2012 · 72 Comments
The Vine: December 7, 2012

My family always had advent calendars growing up, and I am looking for suggestions for good advent calendars to purchase now. I am open to reusable or non-reusable ones.
There is also one particular advent calendar …

The Vine: December 5, 2012
December 5, 2012 · 158 Comments
The Vine: December 5, 2012

I’m looking for book suggestions for my just-turned-thirteen niece. It’s a very in-betweeny age, where her Christmas list is mostly clothes, but she still doesn’t want me to cancel her American Girl magazine subscription. Though …

The Imposter: The past isn’t past
November 30, 2012 · 6 Comments
<em>The Imposter</em>: The past isn’t past

Though [Bourdin] emphasized his cunning, he acknowledged what any con man knows but rarely admits: it is not that hard to fool people. People have basic expectations of others’ behavior and are rarely on guard …

The Vine: November 30, 2012
November 30, 2012 · 17 Comments
The Vine: November 30, 2012

A Vine question from my brother…who is single. And lives in Seattle. And needs a girlfriend. But anyway, he had a movie question, and as my normally encyclopediac movie brain has failed me, I’d like …

The Vine: November 28, 2012
November 28, 2012 · 39 Comments
The Vine: November 28, 2012

My husband and I are at an impasse with holiday hosting plans, and I’m hoping you might be able to make a ruling for us.
For each of the last several years, about half of my …

The Vine: November 21, 2012
November 21, 2012 · 28 Comments
The Vine: November 21, 2012

Happy American Thanksgiving, Nation. I’m thankful for all of you, and your hilarity, generosity, and insight. The Vine is off on Friday as I recover from my annual date with poultry, but if you have …

X-Files Rewatch: Season 4
November 20, 2012 · 5 Comments
<I>X-Files</I> Rewatch: Season 4

So, I started rewatching The X-Files from the beginning — or, really, “watching it,” because during the series’ run, I came in late and only watched casually. It holds up pretty well almost 20 years later, despite …