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!

Dog Days of Summer Movies: Dirty Dancing
August 8, 2011 · 36 Comments
Dog Days of Summer Movies: <I>Dirty Dancing</I>

by Tara Ariano
Dirty Dancing might be the first dance movie I ever really loved. I was thirteen when it came out, and my worry in revisiting it at the age of thirty-six was that it …

Big Country Little Car Tour II, Day 12: Green River, WY to Elko, NV
August 7, 2011 · 8 Comments
Big Country Little Car Tour II, Day 12: Green River, WY to Elko, NV

I began the day in a mood of grim exhilaration: the route promised the most daunting driving yet. The locals have accustomed themselves to it, no doubt, and developed methods of timing their drives and …

Big Country Little Car Tour II, Day 11: Ogallala, NE to Green River, WY
August 6, 2011 · 5 Comments
Big Country Little Car Tour II, Day 11: Ogallala, NE to Green River, WY

I’ve had Grandma on my mind a lot since Tuesday, the anniversary of her death. Thanks to the revelation the other day that the swimming hole is not an artifact of Twain’s America, but still …

Big Country Little Car Tour, Day 10: Lewis & Clark Lake, NE to Ogallala, NE
August 6, 2011 · 10 Comments
Big Country Little Car Tour, Day 10: Lewis & Clark Lake, NE to Ogallala, NE

I dragged my feet. I checked every room twice more than I needed to, in case I’d overlooked a cord, or a watch — I even “checked” outside, where none of these things would have …

Dog Days of Summer Movies: Camp
August 5, 2011 · 8 Comments
Dog Days of Summer Movies: <I>Camp</I>

by Adam Grosswirth
When Vlad (Vlad? Really?) arrives at musical-theater-themed Camp Ovation, he causes a stir by being the only new guy in a clique full of outcasts who’ve been coming to camp for many summers …

Big Country Little Car Tour, Day 9: Dakota Dunes, SD to Lewis & Clark Lake, NE
August 5, 2011 · 15 Comments
Big Country Little Car Tour, Day 9: Dakota Dunes, SD to Lewis & Clark Lake, NE

It dawned hot, still humid, and I was up by then. I’d slept like shit — no dreams, but waking up every hour, forgetting where I was and why I had come there. I spent …

Dog Days of Summer Movies: Summer Storm
August 4, 2011 · 14 Comments
Dog Days of Summer Movies: <I>Summer Storm</I>

by John Ramos
As a gay man, I know I am not alone in sometimes feeling victimized by the bulk of queer cinema. My strong desire to see films that intelligently and sensitively explore gay themes …

Big Country Little Car Tour II, Day 8: Mauston, WI to Dakota Dunes, SD
August 3, 2011 · 7 Comments
Big Country Little Car Tour II, Day 8: Mauston, WI to Dakota Dunes, SD

I woke up just after dawn. I hadn’t slept enough, quite, and I kept doing things like trying to wash my hair with bar soap and almost packing a cup of coffee. Once I actually …

Dog Days of Summer Movies: A Summer Place
August 3, 2011 · 8 Comments
Dog Days of Summer Movies: <I>A Summer Place</I>

by Mark Blankenship
Tilt your head the right way, and you can see A Summer Place as a thoughtful and progressive discourse on sexuality. Cock it in the other direction, however, and you’ll see a smutty, …

Dog Days of Summer Movies: I Still Know What You Did Last Summer
August 2, 2011 · 10 Comments
Dog Days of Summer Movies: <I>I Still Know What You Did Last Summer</I>

Please welcome Mark Blankenship of The Critical Condition to the curator’s chair!
—–
Before I get to the plot of I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, I need to address the title. You see, on …