SCOTT SIMON, host:
Time now for your letters.
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Many of you wrote about our discussion with Eve Ensler, the playwright, and Dr. Denis Mukwege, a gynecologist who founded a hospital in Congo, about rape and mutilation in that country beset by civil war. Now, we prefaced the interview with a warning about the explicit nature of the conversation, but Jeff Emell(ph) and Mary Martin(ph) of West Hartford, Connecticut write: Words cannot express how strongly my wife and I are outraged at the story. We encourage our six- and ten-year-old children to listen with us on the weekends as there's so much interesting news and commentary. So for you to get into the graphic detail that was included in the story was just totally unnecessary and inappropriate. I agree that it's appalling what's happening to these poor people, but so is your coverage of this.
A different view from Elaine Livese Fisell(ph) of Los Angeles who writes: It's strange to say thank you for bringing such a horrific and beyond brutal and barbaric story of the evil, of the rape by Congolese men of women, children and even babies, but it is important and vital that listeners became aware of such tragedies.
Several of you wrote to ask how you can help the victims, and you can find that information on our blog, npr.org/soapbox.
Lots of mail also about our conversation with Alan Goldstein who had invested all of his substantial retirement savings with financier Bernard Madoff and is now broke. At age 76, his house is up for sale and he's looking for a job, but Mr. Goldstein says he doesn't want to be consumed by hatred for Mr. Madoff. Ann Hampton(ph) of Santa Rosa, California writes: This man is a saint. To have started at the bottom and made all that money himself with his wife and then to have it all stolen from him, my God, I find it remarkable that he can so practically state that he's now looking for work without a hint of sorrow or self-pity. I wouldn't expect that from a 20-year-old, let alone a man of 76. I am in awe of him.
Liz Pfizer(ph) of Wichita, Kansas has a different reaction. She writes: I find this maudlin portrayal awfully disturbing. He invested millions of dollars in one investment and a very risky investment. Scott Simon said there is a lesson in this, but did not follow up with advice to diversify investments, especially to move a large portion of assets into less risky investments such as bonds, money markets and CDs.
Finally, our conversation with the 80-year-old Benny Golson prompted this from Meredith Askey(ph) of New Cumberland, Pennsylvania: The piece on Benny Golson was magical. The way you intertwined the Chopin from the piano to Golson's version, weaving in Golson's voice, explaining his thought process. The whole story transported me.
Well, we offer free transportation wherever you like. Just write us via npr.org, and remember, please tell us where you live and how to pronounce your name. This is NPR News.