Madavis2u
Street Gang edit
Mr. Davis,
Thanks for your note on my talk page; I really appreciate it, and it's an honor to receive communication from the author of such an important book. As this article's creator and main editor, I'm sorry that you thought the review section was so negative. Please understand that it was not my intention to present it that way or that I was in any way trying to disparage your book. In my rush to get the article published, I did a google search and those are the reviews I found. Also please understand that this is a Wikipedia article, and the article as it now stands will never be "complete". It's a work in progress. I thought an article about Street Gang was important enough to get out there. I am by no means a professional writer, so I'm certain there are all kinds of weaknesses about it, so I depend upon the feedback of other more experienced editors. I would've thought that the other sections of the article demonstrates my respect for you and for your work. I appreciate your feedback, something I always welcome as a Wikipedia editor. If you are aware of other sources that I wasn't able to locate, please send them my way, on my talk page. I'll repeat this message via your webpage, to ensure that you see it.
You should also know that I've taken it upon myself to improve all Sesame Street-related articles on Wikipedia. It's a big project, and a great need. For example, Sesame Street, at one point was actually a featured article, but it was recently downgraded for some really good reasons. It's an unfortunate state at the current time. Your book came out shortly after I took on the project, so it's been a boom for me. I thought focusing on the history of the show was a natural place to start, so your book has been a valuable resource. I've already started working on this article: History of Sesame Street, and if you look at the reference section, you'll see that I've used your book extensively. It's also a work in progess, and no where near finished. My goal is that at least this article get up to featured article status by Sesame Street's 40th anniversary in November. I can't tell you how much your book has helped me.
On a personal level, I wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed your book. It was a fun read, and immensely interesting. I was brought to tears many times, especially when I realized while reading about all that Joan Cooney and her team did to get the show on the air. See, I'm turning 45 this year, which makes me old enough to be the first audience that watched it. I had to put the book down to compose myself when I realized, "They did all that for me!" I appreciate learning about the struggles they all went through to affect my life so profoundly, and now the life of my own children, who are severely developmentally disabled and love the show as much as I did and still do. I believe that Sesame Street deserves high quality articles on Wikipedia, and I've taken it upon myself to help accomplish that. If you, as the ultimate expert, could assist me in that goal, I can't tell you how valuable that would be. Again, thanks for the feedback and communication. --Christine (talk) 04:27, 12 May 2009 (UTC)