ROBERT SIEGEL, host:
It's Thursday, the day we read from your letters.
MELISSA BLOCK, host:
NPR's Adam Davidson brought us two stories on the sock industry this week, one from Fort Payne, Alabama, which used to call itself the sock capital of the world, and another from Honduras, where young people are hoping to score a job in their country's newest manufacturing sector.
SIEGEL: It was with great interest that we listened to your sock stories from our hosiery mill.
BLOCK: This letter came from Roland Bellebeau(ph) of Northfield, Vermont.
SIEGEL: In contrast to many that you interviewed, we here at Cabot Hosiery Mill, Inc. feel that American consumers are willing to pay for U.S.-made socks. The proof is in our brand, Darn Tough Vermont. We take great pride in our ability to adapt and thrive in the global marketplace.
BLOCK: There were also some responses to our stories on efforts in Texas to address climate change. NPR's John Burnett talked to local mayors, who are trying to reduce the impact their cities have on the rest of the planet, as well as some West Texas farmers allowing power-generating wind turbines to be placed in their fields.
Mayor WILL WYNN (Austin, Texas): Folks, I'm sorry, but it's not supposed to be 120 degrees in Fargo, North Dakota like it was last July.
BLOCK: That's Austin Mayor Will Wynn talking to a roomful of government planning executives about climate change.
SIEGEL: Well, Rob Kupec of Fargo heard that and wrote this. As a meteorologist in Fargo, I can tell you it has never been 120 degrees here. Our all-time record high is 114, in July of 1936. That's the last time that we were over 110. People on both sides of the climate change debate need to stop using daily weather as proof that they're right. Weather and climate are very different things.
BLOCK: Then, there was this letter from Al McMichael Jr.(ph) of Los Angeles. He writes, thank you so much for the story about wind farms. My family roots are deep in the soil of West Texas. My great-grandfather was a trail-riding cowboy, and the ranch he worked until his death has been in our family for over 120 years.
The slow, drought-driven drain of economic vitality caused by those hot, dry winds has affected vast areas of West Texas. Our family ranch has two sets of wind turbines under construction. And like our neighbors all around us, we welcome more. Mr. McMichael concludes, this new use of our stark beautiful landscape has been a godsend, breathing new life and a palpable sense of hopefulness into folks who've been down but never out for quite some time.
SIEGEL: Well, my conversation with Ma Xiaohui also prompted some emotional letters. Ms. Ma is a soloist and virtuoso of the erhu.
(Soundbite of music)
SIEGEL: The erhu is a Chinese instrument. It sounds like a violin, but it has just two strings.
BLOCK: Many thanks for the interview with Ma Xiaohui and her wonderful erhu, writes David Tan of San Diego. I am a Chinese-American, but have never been to China. As an officer in the U.S. Navy, I'm pretty much as American as they come. Yet, listening to the haunting sounds of the erhu on my drive home, I found myself moved to tears, longing for a distant homeland that I've never seen. It is remarkable how music can transcend all and bring us closer to our basic origin.
SIEGEL: And this from Claire Frost(ph) of Dania, Florida. I listen to your program each afternoon as I work out. Just imagine the funny looks I got as Ma Xiaohui played the horse on the erhu - me running down the street with tears of enjoyment rolling down my eyes, laughing hysterically and trotting like a horse. You make my exercise so much more bearable.
BLOCK: Well, whether you can bear us or not, please send us your comments. Go to npr.org and click on Contact Us at the top of the page. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.