Social Media Exclusive: YouTube, email and MSN Chat help unite cousins across the world

So I was at the pub today talking to a new friend – David Arthurs. His grandfather was immigrant from Greece who came to America and changed his name from Kritsalos to Arthurs. David was looking up his grandfather’s town and island (Glossa Skopelos) on YouTube. To his surprise, he found a video that was being narrated by a man named Kostas (nickname for Konstantinos) Kritsalos. David emailed Kostas and they began a dialogue, which soon moved to MSN. On Sunday, May 4th, they figured out that their grandfathers were cousins making them third cousins.

Here is a picture of Kostas (the cousin in Greece) and his prized motorcycle:

This is Firebelly's first breaking story! A global exclusive not covered anywhere else that communicates the power of social media.

Comments

[Thea Montandon]

Please pass this along to your friend David. Kostas Kritsalos is a hero in Glossa, Skopelos. He was instrumental in creating one of the few community public libraries in Greece. He entirely reconstructed the hundreds of stone steps leading up to Agios Iannis, the tiny monastery on the top of a rock in the Aegean Sea, and the site of the wedding in the movie Mamma Mia, starring Meryl Streep, which is coming out this summer. Kristos is a sailor, craftsman, builder, philosopher, and entirely humble and charming Renaissance man.

The photograph is the son of Kostas, who is a student at the University of Athens.

Sincerely, Thea Montandon
www.theasite.homestead.com
www.greekisland.homestead.com

[Kostas Chr. Kritsalos]

Greetings to everyone who worked to make this story available to the public. I have to make a correction to what Mrs Thea writes above as she describes my father named Christos K. Kritsalos (and not Kostas), the mistake seems to be a typo as the rest of the description is completely correct.

Thank you