Washington City Paper: Contents for Jan. 7

Breaking Into the Business
Daniel Cortes liked to take his time when he burgled downtown office suites. That meant he had to come up with an innovative break-in strategy.

Cover Story

The only place Daniel Cortes ever enjoyed working was inside a copy shop.

Most of the other clerks found it tedious, being tethered to a copy machine for hours at a time. But Cortes loved creating a rhythm with the copier. He prided himself on the fact that he could always work through the paper-clipped pages of a legal brief faster than any other clerk in the office.

During the mid-’90s, Cortes hustled for a dozen different copy shops in D.C., mostly along downtown’s K Street corridor. With rap beats in his head, the 34-year-old says, he learned to work the copier “like a DJ” working the turntables.

And just as Cortes mastered his own trade, he also picked up on the habits and responsibilities of other workers in downtown buildings.

He learned, for instance, about the ways of security guards. Cortes found that most guards, paid low wages for menial work, rarely make rounds or even leave the front desk at all during their shifts. And a lot of the more self-conscious guards, usually immigrants with a poor grasp of English, avoid confronting visitors lest they prompt an awkward exchange. Most guards, he noticed, get off work by 7 p.m.

Even when a lobby was locked down, Cortes watched the revolving cast of employees who came and went with key cards throughout the night, from lawyers burning midnight oil to copy clerks toiling through the graveyard shift. He saw small cliques adopt their own informal but reliable routines in each building: Cleaning crew exits at 10 p.m., copy crew takes its outdoor smoke break at 1:30 a.m., morning guard doesn’t arrive until sunrise.... Continued

Issue of Jan. 7 - 13, 2005

News and Features

Breaking Into the Business
Daniel Cortes liked to take his time when he burgled downtown office suites. That meant he had to come up with an innovative break-in strategy.
Cover Story By Dave Jamieson
Seasonal Funk
What makes for a happy holiday in the neighborhood clink? Try Right Guard.
The City By Sarah Godfrey and John Metcalfe
Hall Monitor
Selected readings from D.C. Public Schools incident reports*
The City By Mike Kanin and Katherine Marsh
Too Much Information
James Watkins can’t keep up with his community’s meeting schedule. He’s not alone.
The City By Mike Kanin
True to Plan
The Mail By Erich Martel
White Makes Light
The Mail By Kenneth R. Bowling
Doomed to Repeat It?
The Mail By Steve Dryden
Hipster Slip-Up
The Mail By Doug Davala and Corina Quinn
Beyond Belief
The Mail By Diane Williams
Gentrifuckation
The Mail By ML Hill

Columns

The Wonder Years
Cheap Seats By Dave McKenna
Public Information Officer
City Desk By Mike Kanin
Rear Guards
City Desk By John Metcalfe

Eats

The Mussels From Brussels
Young & Hungry By Todd Kliman

Movies

Bad Touching
Film Review By Tricia Olszewski
Blood Works
Film Review By Mark Jenkins
Darkness
Film Reviews By Brent Burton
White Noise
Film Reviews By Tricia Olszewski
Accommodating Others
Talking Pictures By Mark Jenkins

Music

Keeping Up With the Joneses
Music Review By Sarah Godfrey

Theater

Arts and Events

Cover Girl
Artifacts By Heather Morgan Shott
Comparison Rocking
Artifacts By Mark Jenkins
The Dating Game
The Washington City Paper’s 2005 calendar quiz
Arts By Chris HaganMike Kanin, Chris Shott and Leonard Roberge
Mensch at Work
Books By Michael Little
DISCO INFIRMARY
Show & Tell By Chris Shott