Letters: Greek Migrants, Summer Movies

Transcript

MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:

And now it's time for your comments. Monday on the program, I spoke with my husband's cousin Maria Vlassopoulos. She was on the Greek island of Chios. Boatloads of migrants, many of them Syrian refugees, have been washing up on the beach right next to her house. As a consequence, Maria and her neighbors have become impromptu aid workers.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)

MARIA VLASSOPOULOS: Well, the first day was a bit of a panic because we didn't know what to expect. So we just went down to the beach, and then when we saw the situation with the mothers crying and the babies wet through and through - they're all wet through and through - and they've lost their shoes, and their cell phones are wet. So we didn't know what to do in the beginning. But since then we have got quite organized. We went and bought supplies and have biscuits and we have water. Pampers are very important.

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

Well, listener Gary Renegar wrote to say this. (Reading) This is the way that it should always be - people helping people regardless of background, religion, ethnicity. We're all human. It's enlightening to see people behaving humanely.

BLOCK: Also this week, our movie reviewer Bob Mondello was on the program to recommend his favorite movies to keep cool on a hot summer's day.

SIEGEL: Listener Denis Whitaker wrote this. (Reading) For me, the strongest use of cold has to be the final scene of "McCabe And Mrs. Miller." That movie, from 1971, ends with Warren Beatty sitting in the snow frozen to death.

BLOCK: Whitaker goes on. (Reading) Robert Altman's resplendent masterpiece never gets old for me, and I'll never forget that scene.

SIEGEL: And finally, Melissa, we've been hearing a lot about this bittersweet day and week for the program. This is Melissa's last day in the host chair before going on to become a special correspondent for the network. And in a letter to us, Melissa, Anna Hall summed-up what so many of us have been thinking. She said this. (Reading) Melissa's soothing delivery has been the spoonful of sugar for many difficult and unpleasant news stories. Her interviews and on-site reports have held my attention and broadened my understanding of innumerable people and places. ATC will go on, but - and we all agree - I will sorely miss Melissa.

BLOCK: And I'll miss sharing this studio with you, too, Robert.

We enjoy hearing your thoughts on the program. Send them to us, please, through npr.org. Just click on contact us. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.