The Lawnmower Sisters

What follows is from a compelling story reported last Tuesday in The Press Democrat by Edward Booth.

A woman I will call Karen Lawnmower (not her name) rose at a public meeting in Napa to protest the staging of a jazz festival. According to Booth, she was concerned that people attending the festival might threaten the neighborhood's security. She characterized jazz enthusiasts "as the type of people" that "we would not like to invite to our homes," as opposed to better choices, "golf enthusiasts."

"We're going to have people jumping over our fences into our pools.We're going go have people walking all over our yards we work so hard to keep up."

Enola Gay Lawnmower, Karen Lawnmower's sister, later explained that the comments had had nothing to do with racism. "What it has to do with is . . . rap. It's going to be hip hop. It's going to be controversial language."

Enola added, in awkward English, "The acts that are booked are very sexually explicit; they waggle their tails all the time. I mean, it's pretty much vulgar to me."

Napa is not famous for its support of diversity. Even so there's something surprising in the candid way these sisters of privilege express themselves in public.