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!

Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory and the Mixing of Blessings
October 11, 2011 · 12 Comments
<I>Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory</I> and the Mixing of Blessings

Joe R and I walked into Alice Tully Hall last night and I spotted him right away, on a balcony entrance above us: Damien Echols, surveying the scene. Right there, in a sharp black shirt …

Peanuts in the Outfield: 2011 LCS Open Thread
October 8, 2011 · 13 Comments
Peanuts in the Outfield: 2011 LCS Open Thread

Another Suds Series! The Rangers get another shot at a ring! And the shit-talk is already underway with Greinke’s comments about Carpenter? Awwwwwesome.
The LCSes could get pretty crazy; discuss everything from CJ’s unsuitable celebrity crush …

The Vine: October 7, 2011
October 7, 2011 · 6 Comments
The Vine: October 7, 2011

In case any of the people who helped with advice for our U.S. road trip are interested, here are links to photos of our trip:
Short version (also works for non-Facebook members)
Long version
We had a fab …

TN Read-Along #12: Gunn’s Golden Rules Discussion Thread
October 6, 2011 · 17 Comments
TN Read-Along #12: <I>Gunn’s Golden Rules</I> Discussion Thread

I know it’s not Tim’s way to dish bitchy dirt — except that 1) he has an obligation to dish it because he obviously has access to the best and most comprehensive Project Runway dirt …

The Vine: October 5, 2011
October 5, 2011 · 36 Comments
The Vine: October 5, 2011

Dear Tomato Nation:
Small backstory. In 2000, a friend from college and I became more to each other as we both came out of the closet, post-college, moved in together and had a wedding ceremony …

Rays of Light: 2011 Division Series Open Thread
October 1, 2011 · 41 Comments
Rays of Light: 2011 Division Series Open Thread

It’s the moooooost wonderful tiiiiiiime of the…you know, I think I make that joke vis-a-vis baseball when pitchers and catchers report, too. And on Opening Day. Well, the hell with it. It’s true.
Welcome to your …

The Vine: September 30, 2011
September 30, 2011 · 9 Comments
The Vine: September 30, 2011

My brother and I had a toy when we were younger. It was very high-tech (for the time) and was a plastic, working headset. It came with various cartridge and book sets. The cartridge plugged …

Heart Attacks
September 29, 2011 · 32 Comments
Heart Attacks

Wow. WOW.
I feel bad for Braves and Sox fans, I do. God knows I understand what it’s like to watch a team floundering (although, when you give up hope of contending in, like, the 1800s, …

The Vine: September 28, 2011
September 28, 2011 · 38 Comments
The Vine: September 28, 2011

I need to leave my job. I’m nearing 40, have no retirement account or savings, and more than $15,000 in credit card debt. I graduated college 16 years ago with a B.A. in English Literature …

Beautiful Fools
September 27, 2011 · 27 Comments
Beautiful Fools

By the time I turned twenty, I had come to despise Zelda Fitzgerald. It was no fault of hers. I knew nothing about her, really, except that she had married F. Scott and lost her …