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!

Paragraph of the Day: Shut Up, Bentley Williams
June 14, 2011 · 24 Comments
Paragraph of the Day: Shut Up, Bentley Williams

I tagged back out of the Bachelor franchise after the most recent Bradelor! DUN! season. Life offers so many organic opportunities to feel bored, enraged by sexism, or so uncomfortable that I long for a …

The NC Double Shot: The E-lit Eight
June 14, 2011 · 12 Comments
The NC Double Shot: The E-lit Eight

Today’s write-ups by Keckler. Confused? Click here. Need an ingredients list? Try Google.
5 Cape Cod vs. 6 Bellini. I’m not excited by this matchup and I don’t order either of them on a regular basis. …

The Vine: June 10, 2011
June 10, 2011 · 83 Comments
The Vine: June 10, 2011

Your readers recently gave brilliant advice for a southern-U.S. road trip, and you and your readers were also really helpful to me in my running-related problem last year (thanks again!). I’d be interested to hear …

The Vine: June 8, 2011
June 8, 2011 · 17 Comments
The Vine: June 8, 2011

I’m having a bit of a sticky situation with my best friend and while it’s usually me giving the advice, I decided that maybe I needed another insight.
First off, I should establish that the …

The Sports Gack
June 7, 2011 · 34 Comments
The Sports Gack

Times scribe Jonathan Mahler freezes my distaste for Bill Simmons in carbonite — SEE WHAT I DID THERE?! — in just three grafs

The NC Double Shot: The Sweet Hic!steen
June 6, 2011 · 34 Comments
The NC Double Shot: The Sweet Hic!steen

Today’s write-ups by Sarah D. Bunting. Confused? Click here. Need an ingredients list? Googletini.
1 Bloody Mary vs. 5 Cape Cod. I love Bloodies — love love love them. I love the bite of the lemon …

The Vine: June 3, 2011
June 3, 2011 · 14 Comments
The Vine: June 3, 2011

Hi Sars! I have a friend in Cobble Hill who just had a baby (yay!). My usual gift to new parents is a gift certificate for take-out food, for a night when they just cannot …

Tomato Nation Read-Along #10: Poll
June 2, 2011 · 10 Comments
Tomato Nation Read-Along #10: Poll

We’ve got true crime; we’ve got baseball; we’ve got reflections on true crime by my favorite baseball writer; we’ve got TV studies, memoirs, and an investigation of the fate of Pudding Pops by my colleague …

The Vine: June 1, 2011
June 1, 2011 · 20 Comments
The Vine: June 1, 2011

I am having some serious doubts about a friendship I have from my job and how/if to proceed with the relationship.
This friend and I have similar senses of humor and struck up a close relationship. …

Day Saved: Prizes Ahoy
May 31, 2011 · 6 Comments
Day Saved: Prizes Ahoy

updated 31 May
I still have not heard from about half the winners. I will send the prize list one more time later today; you will have until Friday, 3 June to send me your preferred …