Washington City Paper: Contents for Nov. 18

Lots of Life in a Dying Business
A History of the Pope Funeral Homes

Cover Story

Say this about the work: It is quiet. Walk into a funeral home like the Alexander S. Pope facility in Forestville, Md., out of a windy autumn afternoon, with the dead leaves chittering across the parking lot and the traffic barreling along Marlboro Pike, and immediately a calm envelops you that is part museum, part cathedral, so quiet you might as well be underwater.

People in the business often acquire a bifurcated style, capable of shifting in a second from gregariousness to solemnity, as illustrated by Alexander S. Pope III.

Leaving an office at his family's establishment after half an hour of congenial chat, Pope steps into the foyer, which is as always tinged with a grandmotherly floral scent. Before escorting a visitor to the door, he glances over his right shoulder into the adjoining chamber, where a body lies in an open casket before rows of precisely arrayed folding chairs. Except for its lone horizontal occupant, the viewing room is empty; so, too, the entry area. Still, Pope's voice drops noticeably in volume. His smile, while not vanishing, loses a few degrees of intensity.... Continued

Issue of Nov. 18 - 24, 1994

News and Features

Lots of Life in a Dying Business
A History of the Pope Funeral Homes
Cover Story By Michael Dolan
Handbook for the Newly Poor and the Poor New
Adapting to the American Low-Income Way of Life
Feature By Christine Van Lenten
The Battle Against the Bulge
A 500-Pound Man Struggles to Receive Medical Care
The City By Jonetta Rose Barras
Battle of the Band
The U.S. Naval Academy Sends Rice University's Marching Owl Band Into a Censorship Tizzy
The City By Lisa Gray
The Poseidon Ad-Venture
The City By Clara Jeffery
Patrick, It Was a Literary Allusion
The Mail By Patrick Howe
Sam's the Man
The Mail By Terence Murphy
Stoesen on Porn and More, Part II
The Mail By Robert Stoesen

Columns

Bud's Lemon
Breaking Balls By Eliot Cohen
OCF CYA
City Desk
Cable News
City Desk
Lotsa Latte
City Desk
Shawn's Rebirth
City Desk
STEERING THE D.C. TITANIC
Loose Lips By Ken Cummins
Insider Trading on North Capitol
Streetscape By Mark Jenkins and Bill Rice

Eats

Movies

Music

The Beau Hunks Play the Original Little Rascals Music
Music Reviews By Dave Nuttycombe
Timepiece
Music Reviews By Dave Nuttycombe
Stoner Witch
Music Reviews By Steve Kuhn
Stanford Prison Experiment
Music Reviews By Tina Plottel
That Smell
Sound Check By Mark Jenkins
Petty Grievances
Sound Check By Nicole Arthur
A Different Drummer
Sound Check By Dave McKenna