Who'll Stop the Drain?
If you notice a foul stench while you’re walking along Rock Creek, you may be part of the problem.
Cover Story
It was raining hard. The inside of our new house sounded like the percussion section of a high-school band. Thunder, lightning: We got the whole show, a classic of late-summer Washington, D.C. The storm ended abruptly, as though it suddenly got bored. Outside, the sidewalks were steaming, and you could smell electricity in the air.
Our recycling bin and Supercan lay on their sides at the bottom of the driveway, where it slopes down into the garage over a grated trench drain, and there was a big horizontal line of wet dirt two feet up on the garage door. Water—a lot of it—had come and gone and left its mark.
Worried now, we ran to the basement, where our worst fears were confirmed. Like the trench drain, the bathroom shower had experienced a Linda Blair moment, vomiting dirty water all over the tile floor and out the door into the carpeted playroom. The wet filth was full of debris, like the stuff that runs in gutters. I felt invaded. There is something wrong with this house; I knew it all along. We never should have bought it.
“Calm down,” said my husband. “It was an unusually heavy rainstorm, and we’ll plug up the shower drain so nothing more can come out.” Right.... Continued 
Issue of Mar. 4 - 10, 2005
News and Features
- Who'll Stop the Drain?
Cover Story - The Right Directions
Feature - Hall Monitor
The City - Hero Worship
The City - Winging It
Follow That Story - Price Pick of the Week
Seller's Market - Home Is Where the Heart Is
The Mail - Withering Heights?
The Mail - Playing Possum
The Mail - Town Criers
The Mail - School’s Out
The Mail
Columns
- The Bad, the Bad, and the Ugly
Cheap Seats - Shirt Out of Luck
City Desk - Stop the Meter
City Desk
Eats
- Meat and Greet
Young & Hungry
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- Personal Conflicts
Film Review - The Pacifier
Film Reviews - Sky Blue
Film Reviews - Cursed
Film Reviews - Going South
Film Review
Music
- Changes of Art
Music Review
Theater
- Teen Idle
Theater Review
Arts and Events
- Smart Cookies
Artifacts - Art for Rock’s Sake
Artifacts - Tourist Class
Books - Self Direction
Arts - THINKING OUTSIDE THE BAR
Show & Tell
City Lights
This week's best in Arts and Entertainment.
- Lou Barlow
City Lights - Mötley Crüe
City Lights - Mary Lang
City Lights - The 13th Annual Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital
City Lights - Days of Future Passed: The Films of Wong Kar-wai
City Lights - Blair Thomas & Co.
City Lights - “The Circle of André Kertész”
City Lights - Hozho of Native Women
City Lights - Shonen Knife
City Lights - Satin Rouge
City Lights - She Done Him Wrong
City Lights - Black Maria Film Festival
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Oct. 3 - 9, 2003
