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!

Half a Life: When too much is enough
November 20, 2012 · 2 Comments
<I>Half a Life</I>: When too much is enough

It’s written too well, Half a Life. And that’s understandable. Darin Strauss’s “memoir” — a poor fit, that word, but the closest available — concerns the death of a girl half (his) lifetime ago; Celine …

The Vine: November 16, 2012
November 16, 2012 · 41 Comments
The Vine: November 16, 2012

I have a heel spur and plantar fasciitis (damn turning 40!) in my right foot. I am going to a podiatrist and getting medical attention. For a variety of reasons, I can’t get a steroid …

The Vine: November 14, 2012
November 14, 2012 · 39 Comments
The Vine: November 14, 2012

The good news first: I found out two days ago I will be offered my dream job. I have a boyfriend whom I’ve been dating for almost a decade and have lived together with for …

A Tale of Two Menendezes
November 12, 2012 · 12 Comments
A Tale of Two Menendezes

Two TV movies about the Menendez case came out within five weeks of each other in 1994: Honor Thy Father and Mother: The True Story of the Menendez Murders, and Menendez: A Killing in Beverly …

The Vine: November 9, 2012
November 9, 2012 · 15 Comments
The Vine: November 9, 2012

A book (of course): young-adult, I was probably 12 or 13 when I read it (late ’80s, early ’90s), though the book may have been older than that.  It was a ghost story; a young …

The Nause-AA After Hours: Ralph for the Roses
November 8, 2012 · 23 Comments
The Nause-AA After Hours: Ralph for the Roses

Update, 11/13/12: We have a winner! Taking home the grand prize is Kim with “hhooaarff”! Con…gratulations? Kim is joined on the podium by Elyse with “(HRRRRAAAAALLLFFFF)” and Maria with “SpeeYACK.” Well done, readers. I’ll contact …

The Vine: November 7, 2012
November 7, 2012 · 30 Comments
The Vine: November 7, 2012

I need reassurance.
My son’s name is Atticus, and when I write about his belongings, I put an apostrophe plus an S. “Atticus’s books.” “Atticus’s toys.” “Atticus’s room.” But a few people have corrected me and …

The Nause-AA After Hours: Onomatopoll #3
November 3, 2012 · 10 Comments
The Nause-AA After Hours: Onomatopoll #3

Hello, everyone! You may remember that, during The Naus-AA proper, we talked about doing a master poll of all the vom sounds we came up with in the comments. Well, what better time than Halloween, when you’ve …

The Nause-AA After Hours: Onomatopoll #2
November 3, 2012 · 9 Comments
The Nause-AA After Hours: Onomatopoll #2

Hello, everyone! You may remember that, during The Naus-AA proper, we talked about doing a master poll of all the vom sounds we came up with in the comments. Well, what better time than Halloween, when you’ve …

The Vine: November 2, 2012
November 2, 2012 · 9 Comments
The Vine: November 2, 2012

I remember a young-adult book where a girl (I think she was something of an outcast…aren’t they all in YA lit) painted theater sets in a way where they looked really crazy up close, but …