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 Contest 2011: Origin Story
March 31, 2011 · 18 Comments
The Contest 2011: Origin Story

Towards the beginning of Davis Guggenheim’s fantastic, bleak, motivating Waiting for Superman, Geoffrey Canada tells a story about…well, waiting for Superman, and how bereft he felt as a child when his mother had to inform …

The Tomato Nation/DonorsChoose.org Contest: An Overview
March 30, 2011 · 42 Comments
The Tomato Nation/DonorsChoose.org Contest: An Overview

Newer readers may not know what’s going on with the annual contest here on Tomato Nation, so I’ve put together a brief overview so that everyone knows what’s going on, and starts getting psyched.
The contest …

The Vine: March 30, 2011
March 30, 2011 · 53 Comments
The Vine: March 30, 2011

My partner and I are planning to get married next year. But the fact is, we both hate wearing jewelry, and neither of us wants to wear a ring for the rest of our lives. …

21 Jump Street: “Next Generation”
March 29, 2011 · 8 Comments
<I>21 Jump Street</I>: “Next Generation”

The Plot: A teacher with financial problems gets beaten up, and because notorious loan shark Tony Delaplant’s son Hoagy (…seriously) attends the school, it’s assumed that one of them is involved. Hanson is sent in …

Chop Sucky: The Sonny Chiba Double Feature
March 28, 2011 · 3 Comments
Chop Sucky: The Sonny Chiba Double Feature

I’d gotten used to thinking of Sonny Chiba movies as ponderous, shadowy wastes of time, but it occurred to me recently that maybe I remembered them unfairly. It’s Chiba, for God’s sake; it’s not all …

RuPaul’s Drag Race Live Chat! Monday March 28!
March 27, 2011 · 3 Comments
<I>RuPaul’s Drag Race</I> Live Chat! Monday March 28!

Don’t make that face, Raja. We got this.
Join me and special guest Couch Baron for some live-chat realness — a RuPaul’s Drag Race live watch-along, Monday night at 10 EDT (DirecTV subscribers get the show …

Author Photos That Bring Me Joy: Thomas Thompson
March 27, 2011 · 12 Comments
Author Photos That Bring Me Joy: Thomas Thompson

It’s a little disappointing that what looks at first glance like an ascot is actually just Thompson’s shirt collar sticking up from whatever waxed-canvas work-shirt frambus he’s wearing, but the carefully casual Dick Van Patten-model …

Random Family: The Bronx Is Drowning
March 25, 2011 · 10 Comments
<I>Random Family</I>: The Bronx Is Drowning

Adrian Nicole LeBlanc’s amazing longitudinal history of a sprawling New York family, Random Family: Love, Drugs, Trouble, and Coming of Age in the Bronx, is hard to read, but even harder to put down. The …

The Vine: March 25, 2011
March 25, 2011 · 57 Comments
The Vine: March 25, 2011

I have debt. Large amounts — enough that I get offers in the mail for debt-reduction services — and I need to do something about it. I have a good job, that pays well, but …