How can 1 person really make a difference?

[Rosewood]

I used to ask myself that same question all the time. Then one day, after watching (or should I say enduring) another hour of the "new and better" Sesame Street, I finally decided enough was enough! I had to do something or, IMO, I would realy have no right to be complaining. So I pulled up the "contact us" part of the Sesame Workshop web sight and wrote the following letter:

"Dear sesame workshop,
I'm trying realy hard to be a good mom and watch my kids programs with them, like you encourage us to, but I'm finding it harder and harder to do when it comes to Sesame Street, due to the fact that almost all I see any more is Elmo, Elmo, ELMO! And when I'm not watching Elmo (speaking in third person), I'm either seeing "Baby Beow" with "Hewo Guy", Zoe, or Telly, none of which I can relate to in any shape or form. It would realy be refreshing to see more of the good old clips and songs that you used to show. At least then I could say to my daughters "Wow, did you know I used to watch this when I was your age?" That statement seems to get more positive reactions from my kids, especially my 3 year old, than any "Elmo info." ever does. If I have to stoop so low as to beg, I'll do it. "Please, please, please, PLEASE! start showing more of some of the older shows now and then, PLEASE!? I'm down on my we wittow knees!" (Oh, my gosh, I can't believe I just said those last few words like that! I fear if something doesn't change, soon, that I'm going to find myself permenantly re-programed where my grammer and speech are concerned!) PLEASE guys, I beg of you! Give Elmo his own little show, (seperate from S.S.), where he can "la, la, la, la!" all he wants, and give some of us grown-up kids,(who now may have kids of our own), some good old "Jim and Joe" stuff that we can actually enjoy along with them! Preaty please!?
Love, your loyal fan of 35 years and mother of 2, [me]

I didn't even know if they would take the time to read it, but the next day I received the following E-mail:

From : Ostrow, Lauren <Lauren.Ostrow@sesameworkshop.org>
Subject : RE: Contact Us

Thank you for writing to Sesame Workshop. We always appreciate hearing fromour viewers and fans and take your comments and concerns very seriously. Iwill be sure to forward your e-mail to our writers and producers for their consideration.
We hope you will continue to support and enjoy all of Sesame Workshop's
programs and products.

Sincerely,

Lauren Ostrow
International and Product Publicity
Sesame Workshop

You could have knocked me over with a feather! Obviously something I had said had been strong enough to cause them to take notice and realize that I was serious! Then I began to think: "What if every person out there who feels as strongly about this as I do, (and I know there are ALOT of people who do), were to send a letter of their own, just like I did? We, the older generation of
Sesame Street, may actually be able to put enough pressure on these guys that, eventually, we would get them to cater to our wishes! It can be done people! Let me give you an example: A while back, a group of people went to the directors of S.S. and stated that they were "concerned (and possibly
"offended") due to the fact that there were so many male muppets and so few female ones, and wanted to know what would be done about it." The directors and producers took this to mind and, Bang!, the character of "Zoe" was born! Now if a group of people like that can bring about the creation of a muppet, I think we owe it to Jim Henson to keep his idea of what "Sesame Street" should represent alive. Let's not let the writers and producers of today kill off and replace the masterpeice muppet and cartoon clips that the true writers and producers of S.S. worked so long and hard to create! The human cast of S.S. may come and go, but a muppet can live forever!

 

[MrsPepper]

Wow, good for you for stating your opinion and sending it off like that! That's so great you got a response. It shows that they care enough to read the letters they get.

 

[Docnzhoss]

If I had kids and wanted them to have some quality programming to watch, I'd have done the same thing you did. The only reason I never contacted Sesame Street to complain about Elmo and all their other characters with speech-impediments was that it felt strange being a childless twenty-something complaining about such things. I ranted about it here a while back but that's quite different. I commend you for your action and I hope they take your opinion to heart and change the format of their show a little bit. I would definitely tune in more myself if I thought I could see some classic Guy Smiley, Forgetful Jones, Sherlock Hemlock, Amazing Mumford, Don Music sketches. Kudos to you, Rosewood!

 

[BEAR]

As I understand your points of view, I found the letter you wrote to be extremely immature and unprofessional. I'm sorry, but if you want them to read it and take you seriously you could be more articulate and adult.

I understand that you are annoyed with Elmo and Baby Bear and you hate the way they talk, but lets face it, that is how children communicate. There are kids that relate to these characters believe it or not. There is definitely a reason for them to be there and that is to help teach. The characters are meant for them to relate to, not you. So I am sorry you have a hard time because you, a mom in her late 30s, can't relate to Telly. Its not his job. Sure, I agree that Elmo has in a way taken over, forcing some of the characters we love to be secondary or invisible all together, but if you have a complaint or suggestion please don't send something like that. It makes you look like a 13 year old (no offense guys). There is just a more adult way of stating your points.

Thanks. Sorry, don't mean to sound like a jerk, but i was extremely turned off by that whole post and I almost made me not want to support you.

By the way, its good that they responded, but keep in mind that that is the same letter they use to reply to everyones emails regardless of the subject. It is not very personal.

 

[Rosewood]

Dear Bear,
From what I gather, after reading your response to my article, we obviously have a very different way of seeing things. Thank goodness we live in a country where there is something called "freedom of speech" or we would both be in big trouble! Now, with that being said, I would like to clarify a few things that I said which I believe you may have miss-interperated. First of all, when I wrote that letter, it was not written simply in hopes of finding a way to insult Elmo, Baby Bear, Zoe, or Telly. I understand the fact that these characters represent, to todays generation, the same personas that Cookie monster, Grover, Kermit, Prairie Dawn, and the like did in mine, and by no means am I trying to put out the mesage to "do away" with them. All I am asking is that they bring them back down with the rest of the muppets, as far as popularity is concerned, and give kids a chance to get to know some of the other characters as well as "The Fantastic Four". Second: I don't recall saying the word "hate" anywhere on my post, and I don't appreciate having words put in my mouth. "Hate" is a very strong word, especially when it is used to describe feelings towards the actions or personality of someone, weather it be an actual person or simply a fictional character (like a muppet).
I, for one, am no saint by any means, and do not denie having used it in the past, but I do believe the world would be a better place if we would simply discourage it's use all together. Third: I don't know where you get the impression that talking in third person and dropping your L's and R's half the time, due to laziness, is the normal way for kids to communicate these days. When I wrote my letter, I was simply trying (mabey not "professionally" enough in your eyes) to express my concern about the messages that are being sent to our kids that this an acceptional way to speak. I, myself, have a daughter who is having a hard time when it comes to pronouncing these letters. And to have characatures, like Baby Bear, basically putting out the message that talking like this is "normal" and "acceptable" when improvement, with practice, is possible is not helping matters much for a "mom in her late 30's" such as myself. (Mabey it was easier for people from your generation. If so, please let me know, and I'll hire my 23 year old sister to be a tutor for her.) And, finally, please don't think that the hostile manner in which you responded to what I wrote is going to make me crawl under a rock and hide because my feelings are hurt. On the contrary, I aplaud the fact that you had the guts to speak your mind! (although, IMO, it definately could have been done in a more "articulate" and "adult" manner as I recall someone saying once.)
sincerely yours, Rosewood

 

[BEAR]

Dear Rosewood...

I would like to sincerely apologize to Rosewood for the way I responded to her post. Obviously there was a huge misunderstanding or communication problem. It happens here sometimes among folks. Most of the time I am the one trying to be a peacemaker. I was in a state of frustration at the time and I just let it take over. I am not the jerk that may have come across in that post. Truly. And I said some things maybe i shouldnt have said. No way to welcome a new member and I would know that. When I do not take back my opinions on the letter, I do respect your POV as I do agree with much of what you were getting across. I hope we can learn to get along and put that behind. I sincerely welcome you here and I hope you stay and continue to participate in such discussions.

kindly,

Bear

 

[mikebennidict]

here's my take on the situation. it's wrong for any of us older folks to want to see the old SS or have it back the way it used to be just because we don't like the way it is now. However I think in this case It's not bad for one to write in if he or she feels their child isn't benifitting from the way the show is produced today for all we know Rosewood's daughters might benifit from the way the show used to be if they still made it the old way 1 can't assume just because the majority of kids are 1 way doesn't mean it's the case with every kid though I do feel that they have to do what in the best interest of how most kids learn from the show. Now i don't know about showing older clips though I'm sure some of that is fine as well, I also think it's nice to show older SS shows once in a while, not as much as the current episodes due to differences between them. kids can see what the older ones were like and those who grew up on the old episodes can see them. even before Noggin came along I thought perhaps the people at SW from time to time could do that. sure there might be some confusion among the youngsters and that's understandable but I don't think once in a while doesn't hurt it's too bad noggin couldn't of perhaps continued to have aired them occasionally. Speaking of all this not lomg ago Holly Robinson Peete who is the late Matt Robinson's daugther was on Oprah and while she really didn't talk about her career or her father she's married to the basket ball pl,ayer for witch I can't remember his first name but they do have children and I've wonder on occasion if she new about the Sesame Street Unpaved series and perhaps taped them for her children to see. Hoew interesting for it might be for them to know their grandfather was Gordon in the early days of SS and see what he looked like as a younger man especially since he had been ill due to his complications from his Parkinsons Disease and how that he's no longer around it's something that they can have to remind them of their grandfather if their Mom taped the shows. Just something to think about.

 

[Rosewood]

Why my opening thread was a bit out of line.

Dear forum members,
please forgive me if my opening article in this thread offended any of you. That was not my intention by any means. Bear's first response did make me accutely aware that I was going a bit overboard by pushing my personal feelings in other peoples faces. I was out of line in doing so, and I formaly apologize to all of you.
It also made me keenly aware that old habits do, indeed, die hard. Before I was accepted as a member of this forum, I was a member of a diferent forum who's rules and requirements for being polite and civil to each other were basically non-existant. In the S.S. section there, Elmo-bashing (along with foul language and other nasties) was a regular daily occurance. It was a dog- eat-dog world, and I guess I inadvertantly brought some of it with me when I hooked up with this forum. Please forgive me for this inapropriate behavior. I think its pretty much worked its way out of my system now, and what you will be seeing in my future posts will give you a much better insight as to what kind of person I really am. Yours truely, Rosewood

 

[BEAR]

I gotta admit, I really did like you from your first post here. Whether I agreed with your ways and ideas or not, I had a feeling I would have a good interesting time with you on this forum. Maybe I wanted us to have a tiny tiff, I dunno. It just had to start off that way I guess.

 

[Rosewood]

I gotta admit, I really did like you from your first post here. Whether I agreed with your ways and ideas or not, I had a feeling I would have a good interesting time with you on this forum. Maybe I wanted us to have a tiny tiff, I dunno. It just had to start off that way I guess.

Thats O.K. Without diversity, this world would be a pretty boring place! It does strike me as funny, though, that you would happen to be the second person I have met on line who has made their opening statement to me in this manner. Is it simply me, personaly, or is this really just a popular way for people who are surfing to "size a person up" without really having to "open up" themselves? Just curious