Washington City Paper: Contents for Apr. 10

Cover Story

Fifteen dykes are standing behind the Pop Stop cafe eating fire. Or trying to, anyway. "Remember, it's a 1-2-3 motion," Margie says, sending a flaming torch into her mouth. The arching motion is crucial. If you go straight in by mistake, you'll ignite the whole upper half of your face. Once you've got the arc down, you also have to remember to exhale as you go to avoid taking a big, deep whiff of flame.

It's drizzly and miserable in the parking lot off of 17th Street NW, but all 15 women have to get this fire-eating deal mastered before we can go anywhere. As a veteran Lesbian Avenger, Margie has experience with the group's fire-eating ways. But some of the newer recruits have never received formal training.

Someone passes around a bag of hair ties and gasoline-soaked sticks, and the ladies light up. A couple of novices bail on the first try, but they're circus pros in under five minutes. "How does it work?" yells a short, nose-ringed woman named Karen. "Science!" everyone shouts, tongues soaked in petrol.The rehearsal is in preparation for the D.C. Lesbian Avengers' mission of the weekend: a field trip to a gay bar in rural Pennsylvania that's been under siege since it opened in 1997.... Continued

Issue of Apr. 10 - 16, 1998

News and Features

Dykudrama
Cover Story By Amanda Ripley
An Echo of Obsession
Glen Echo Park will die over its acolytes' dead bodies.
Feature By Laura Lang
Dealing Herself In
Republican Connie Newman may end up running the most Democratic of all cities. How did that happen?
The City By Jonetta Rose Barras
A Bunch of Pansies
Forget about cherry trees and azaleas. Springtime in the District means an attack of the killer pansies.
The City By Garance Franke-Ruta
Home Detention
The only thing MPD officer Wayne Stancil busts now is dust.
The City By Jason Cherkis
CP's Neoracist Conspiracy
The Mail By Roger D. Dove
Underexposed
The Mail By Mariama Tene Myers
Fright Wig
The Mail By Lauren Pair
A Bad Set of Facts
The Mail By Anonymous
Anecdotal Moxie
The Mail By Carl Rowan and Jr.
ER Rerun
The Mail By Donna Lewis Johnson

Columns

All-American Girl
Cheap Seats By Dave McKenna
Springer Break
City Desk By Eddie DeanElissa Silverman, Jake Tapper and Jamal Watson
MACBARRY'S QUEST FOR A NEW KINGDOM
Loose Lips By Ken Cummins

Eats

Movies

Angels of the Flesh
Film Review By Arion Berger
Workers Of The World
Film Review By Joel E. Siegel
Code Turkey
Film Review By Mark Jenkins

Music

Davina
Music Review By Neil Drumming
Natalie Imbruglia
Music Review By Sean Daly
Emma Townshend
Music Review By Rickey Wright
Garageland
Music Review By John Dugan
Truth Be Told
Music Review By Ta-Nehisi Coates

Theater

Primal Creatures
Theater Review By Trey Graham
Second Chances
Theater Review By Bob Mondello

Arts and Events

A Bard's Best Friend
Artifacts By Louis Jacobson
King of Cheesecake
Artifacts By Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
In Love, In Utero
Books By Arion Berger
Death Becomes Her
Author and self-made curator Chris Quigley never met a corpse she didn't like.
Arts By Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa