User talk:Jacksanders

Firstly,

Welcome!

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Welcome, Jack Sanders!
I've admired your Web site with so much about Ridgefield history, and I used it as a source for much of the people I noted on the Ridgefield page and the People of Ridgefield page, as you may have noticed. I'm glad you're contributing here too, and I hope you'll continue to share your knowledge. I've been contributing to Wikipedia for a few months now, and when the pages that explain things are difficult to understand, I just try to copy what I see others doing. The attitude of the Wikipedia organizers strongly encourages contributors to boldly make a change and be ready to be corrected by others, which seems to work out well. If you ever have any questions, I'd be happy to try to help (although I'm still no expert by any means).

I had put in the information about Robert Fitzgerald and Flannery O'Connor being in Ridgefield. It came from Fitzgerald's introduction to O'Connor's book of short stories, "Everything That Rises Must Converge" (still in print). There he says he's in Ridgefield. I assume you have other proof (property records? phone book or city directory?) so until I see more proof to the contrary, I'll defer to you. Again, welcome!noroton 15:36, 2 September 2006 (UTC)

Jack's confusion
Hello, Noroton. While editing pages is so easy on Wikipedia, I still have not figured out how to simply respond to a message. So I will post this note, not knowing whether you will see it. I have long suspected that the Robert Fitzgerald-Flannery O'Connor connection to Ridgefield was postal only. Several people have asked me about this over the years. Finally, when I saw what was online here, I went to the town clerk's office, and confirmed that Robert S. Fitzgerald never owned property here (a Robert H. Fitzgerald had land a short distance from Redding in 1948). Then I checked out own newspaper files (I have been editor of the Ridgefield newspaper for more than 35 years), and found a brief, old reference to Robert Fitzgerald, saying he lived in Redding. Our staff at our Redding newspaper checked their files and found that, indeed, he had lived there. They had stories about him from the 50s and 60s and from 2000. His home was not far from the Ridgefield town line and besides getting his mail from the Ridgefield post office, he probably also did much of his shopping in Ridgefield. However, he paid his taxes in Redding, and voted there. Thank you for your kind words. I am in the throes of trying to update Ridgefield Names, what has grown into a 200,000 word monstrosity. But I enjoy it nonetheless. Jack Sanders 23:18, 3 September 2006 (UTC)

Hi again from Noroton
Hi Jack, Yes, this is apparently the way most Wikipedians communicate. You leave a message at my discussion page, I do at yours. I just wrote a message to you and at the end found it was destroyed because of some technical thing I must have done wrong. Here's a shorter version.

I wasn't the one who wrote about those families in early Ridgefield. I found out it was someone named "Zippy" who wrote that on Feb. 6, 2006 at 6:07. To find out something like that, by the way, hit the "history" tab at the top of the Ridgefield Wikipedia-article page and scroll down. If you click on one of the dates in the list, it will bring you to what the Ridgefield article looked like as of that date (actually, each item in the list corresponds to the latest change in the article as of that time). I just kept scrolling down and clicking every now and then to see if that paragraph was in.

I thought the idea that the Fitzgeralds (and therefore Flannery O'Connor) were in Ridgefield comes from the introduction to O'Connor's "Everything That Rises Must Converge" but now when I look at the introduction (written by Robert Fitzgerald) I can't find it. I do, however, see "Ridgefield" in a couple of O'Connor's letters sent when she was living with the Fitzgeralds. On page 15 of "Letters of Flannery O'Connor: The Habit of Being" edited by Sally Fitzgerald (Robert's wife) O'Connor at one point mentions "RD4, Ridgefield" and in another letter writes "70 Acre Road, Ridgefield." I can't tell from maps, but I suspect that Seventy Acre Road is entirely in Redding.

This may tickle you: O'Connor was amused by an advertisement in The Ridgefield Press and included a clipping in an Oct. 17, 1949 letter. It's on page 15 of "Habit of Being":


 * To Betty Boyd


 * Well, I can't equal you in the matter of clippings, but I enclose a token as I thought you might like to look at An Honest Smiling Face and read some Real Art.

Then O'Connor goes on to other topics, but at this point, there's a footnote (Sally Fitzgerald would have written it): "A laundry ad in the Ridgefield weekly paper, featuring a smiling picture of the laundryman and a poem he had chosen to quote."

If you find this interesting enough, I'm sure you could find the advertisement in one of the issues of the paper just before that letter.

I think you could do some real good by adding footnotes at the Ridgefield people page and at the O'Connor and Fitzgerald pages as well stating that they lived in Redding and citing Redding town records and The Redding Pilot. With Ridgefield mentioned in the books, the idea won't die unless you can at least wound it, and I think one of the beauties of Wikipedia is that it's so big (already, and just getting bigger over time) that it's a kind of Grand Central Station on the Internet for anyone doing research (not definitive by any means, and not always reliable, but always worth a check). If you footnote it, at the very least, someone who sees the footnote will question the idea that they were in Ridgefield.

Best, Noroton 03:30, 4 September 2006 (UTC)

P.S. I like your additions on the Ridgefield page. The Ridgefield Playhouse might even be worth its own article (it's been done for the Westport Country Playhouse, for instance). There's even a Category page with Connecticut theaters, although it's very short (click on the Categories links at the bottom of the Westport Country Playhouse page if you want to see that). Eventually someone (perhaps you?) will create a page for the Aldrich Museum, too. I'm eventually going to get around to creating articles on area hospitals and colleges (that don't already have articles) unless someone else gets to it first.

Hi again
Hi Jack, I like the changes you made on the Ridgefield page. They make it more interesting and informative. You're right -- the geography really is interesting (and surprising). And it really looks like it's specific to the town, too. There's a Connecticut geography page somewhere (I haven't seen it) but you might want to put in a link there going to the Ridgefield page if you have a mind to. Also, feel free to move sections up or down on the page as you think best. (For instance, on some local sites, I've moved the demographics and geography sections as low as possible because I think they're too dense to read unless someone's already interested in them.) Again, if you have any questions, feel free to drop me a line. That was interesting about Betty Boyd. I don't think the two knew each other in Connecticut, do you? Did they know each other through the Fitzgeralds? There are a number of letters in "Habit of Being" by Flannery O'Connor to Boyd. Best, Noroton 16:16, 10 September 2006 (UTC)

Branchville
Hi Jack, Yes, you've got it as Brancville (Connecticut) now, however you did it. You've also got a redirect function that gets you there from Branchville, Connecticut, which is useful, so you're there. The way I make new pages (it's the only way I know how) is to simply create a link on some page (using the name I want for the new page), click on it and that brings me to the new blank page, where I type away. I never could figure out any other way to do it (if you know of a simpler way, please inform). Best, Noroton 16:38, 10 September 2006 (UTC)

Nice Georgetown work
Hey Jack,

Next time you leave a message, hit the squiggly line four times in a row at the bottom, and that leaves your Wikipedia name there (it looks like this without the spaces in between: ~ ~ ~ ~ -- the key is to the left of the numeral 1 key, at the far upper lefthand corner of my keyboard and probably yours too). That way I can simply click on the name and get back to you easier.

Georgetown looks nice, and I like that map. No, I didn't start it, just added a bit to it here and there. If that's your comment about Ridgefield probably not being in Georgetown, well, if you're relatively sure of it (and I consider you an expert), I suggest rewriting the top paragraph in stronger terms by simply eliminating the Ridgefield mention or simply stating that most Ridgefielders in that corner of town don't consider themselves part of Georgetown. I think I was the one that put that in and I don't at all mind being corrected about it.

I've been adding a bit to some hospital pages (the only one I haven't gotten to yet in Fairfield County is Danbury Hospital). I'm having an interesting discussion with a guy on the Talk page of the Norwalk, Connecticut page who's objecting every which way, it seems, to any changes I make there. He simultaneously objects to me having too many lists on that page (my response, essentially, is "let's work together to make them paragraphs rather than items on a list) and to my removing the huge "notable people" list into its own page. I don't think some people can be pleased. Have fun. Best, Noroton 18:54, 10 September 2006 (UTC)

Noroton it is
Yes, I'm from either Noroton or Noroton Heights -- I've never been able to figure out quite which. I've never kayaked before (I have a cousin who does and who's offered to take me kayaking, something I need to take him up on.)

Perhaps the Georgetown post office extends into Ridgefield?

Best,

Noroton 03:04, 12 September 2006 (UTC)

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