Lady to Brooklyn: “Stop Literally Dancing on Graves!”
- Aaron Brashear
- Enjoying Green-Wood’s Memorial Day Concert
Green-Wood Cemetery is not only a burial ground—it’s a local cultural institution, full of history. As such, officials there make an effort to reach out to the community with special events, from an annual Memorial Day concert to theatrical productions to literary events, tours and more. For a Louisiana native who recently moved near the cemetery, this is horrific. “Where I come from, I was taught that you don’t walk or even step on a grave,” Jennifer Sheremetta wrote on a Change.org petition, as reported in The Home Reporter, “but these people are throwing parties and concerts on them!”
The director of development and marketing at the cemetery told the paper that’s simply not true—that events aren’t held directly on gravesites. “I cannot tell you how much effort we put into those interred here, the history and the landmark,” Lisa Alpert told the paper. “That’s why we are here. It’s core to our existence. We would never be partying and dancing on graves.”
Alpert tried to explain this to Sheremetta, but Sheremetta wasn’t having it. “After she told me that she felt it was all right, I didn’t feel like I would get anywhere with her. What good would it do to go back and forth? I felt like it wasn’t necessary and that it wouldn’t do any good.”
Dear Ms. Sheremetta,
You appear to be, at best, factually incorrect. Perhaps you could have gathered as much from a good conversation with your neighbor. Now that you’re in Brooklyn, surrounded by lots of people everywhere, you should get used to talking to them, even when you think you disagree with them. That’s how we thrive as a city.
Sincerely,
Everybody who lives in Brooklyn
TEAM GREEN-WOOD
Follow Henry Stewart on Twitter @henrycstewart
