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 December 30, 2023

Psst ... it's Scottie Andrew here, filling in for our sweet AJ this week. She'll be back for the Good Stuff's first edition of 2024!

We’re nearly there, folks — 2024 is knocking on our doors and I’m excited to welcome it. Before we leave 2023 behind, though, consider paying a visit to CNN's Good News Generator, which spits out random sweet stories from this year that may have gotten lost in the shuffle. Among my favorites is an excellent story from our own AJ Willingham about a church that’s canceling medical debt for area residents, freeing them from decades of paying back their lifesaving care. Then there’s the time Bret Michaels, late of Poison and VH1’s “Rock of Love,” adopted a rescue dog also named Bret Michaels. And let’s not forget the 14-year-old animator whose talent so impressed the team behind “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-verse” that he worked on a key scene in the film — or the study that found rats are ticklish! 

As with every year, 2023 was challenging. It's easy to forget in the torrent of heartbreaking news that there are people — like teenage animators and generous churchgoers and even Bret Michaels — doing good deeds, big and small. But there's always good news if you know where to look. That's why we're here, and we're grateful that you're here, too. Cheers to 2024, friends!

If there's something you'd like to see here, drop us a line. Know someone who could use a little Good Stuff? Send them a copy! We hope you love it as much as we do.

The best of the year that was

Get going with some of our most popular good news stories of the week

Before Taylor Swift extended her world takeover to the NFL and its TV coverage, other positive stories dominated the world of sports: We excitedly watched the rise of Mike McDaniel, a former NFL intern who worked his way up to become the head coach of the Miami Dolphins — and actually give them a fighting chance! Deion Sanders lit up the college football scene as one of the few Black head coaches of a major team — and a coach whose charisma and embrace of his background have made him the season's most exciting personality. And maybe you haven’t heard of the man who became one of 17 people to complete the Barkley Marathons, a Tennessee footrace considered one of the hardest in the world, but he credits the feat to exclusively eating cheeseburgers on the trail. (If that's all it takes, then sign me up for the next race.)

And on the cultural side, who could forget the dissonant-yet-perfect “Barbenheimer” double feature, which paired the existential dread of “Oppenheimer” and the life-affirming charm of “Barbie”? I loved watching the hordes of moviegoers, all dressed in pink, leave one theater and walk straight into another to catch both films on the same day. (I did it, too, and loved it!) 

Artificial intelligence did a lot of weird things this year — like write papers, make digital art straight out of the uncanny valley, and bring M3GAN to life — but it made good on its potential when it decoded a word on a scroll recovered from a village reduced to ash in the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius over 2,000 years ago. The word was “πορφυρας” or “porphyras,” which is the Greek word for purple! Now if AI can decipher the rest of the scroll, we’ll find out what was so fascinating about purple in 79 AD. 

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How to kick off 2024 on a high

Write a poem

Earlier in 2023, poet and CNN Opinion contributor Tess Taylor suggested writing a haiku a day — three lines; five syllables in the first, seven in the second and five again in the third — as a way to “notice your world.” Now, Taylor is inviting readers to share their haikus as well as the ways poetry has moved them for an upcoming story. Taylor encourages “rough” versions of the Japanese poetic form — there’s no such thing as perfection in art, after all. So write and syllabize on, dear readers, and submit your haikus if you feel comfortable. Here’s one I just came up with about my beloved gecko, Pippy: 

Scaly companion

Quiet except for hiccups

My dear little friend

And just like my second-grade teacher Mrs. McNew taught me, I counted the syllables out with my fingers. 

Find a good read

Care to kick off the new year with a new book? CNN Style asked a bunch of cool, creative folks like director Ari Aster, musician Mitski and fashion personality Alexa Chung about the best books they read this year, and there are suggestions for every literary taste. Aster, ever the iconoclast, chose Daniel Clowes’ “Monica,” which he called the “densest, most elegiac and most discomfiting of the great cartoonist’s books.” Mitski opted for horror fiction “The September House,” the debut novel by Carissa Orlando. And Chung sang the praises of the acclaimed novel “Yellowface” by R.F. Kuang, which the New York Times described as a “satirical literary thriller.”

Make a new year’s “dissolution”

Resolutions are ambitious — more power to those who achieve them! — but not always realistic. The writer Allison Hope instead recommends making a “dissolution” come 2024 — letting go of the things that add unnecessary stress. If you have committed to reading 100 books in the new year but find yourself struggling to get through a boring one, allow yourself to put it down for good, Hope says. With that extra time, maybe you’ll find a book you adore or find the resolve to write one yourself! Give yourself grace this and every year — you don’t need to live up to an impossible ideal. By shedding the stuff that doesn’t move you, maybe you’ll find elements of life that make you truly happy.

Wishing you luck!

Does food have the ability to change your fortune? It’s hard to disagree when your mouth is full of something delicious. It’s a tradition across the world to eat a “lucky” meal on the first day of the new year. 

If you, like me, hail from the South, then you’ve probably eaten a variation of black-eyed peas, collards and rice on the first day of the New Year. Different regions and cultures have their spin on the meal: South Carolina's Lowcountry is known for Hoppin’ John, a delicious combination of cowpeas and rice that originated among enslaved people with roots in West Africa and the West Indies. The meal is said to bring good fortune to those who eat it. The peas symbolize coins, and when collards are added, they can look like folded paper money. 

In Spain, it’s customary to eat twelve grapes at the stroke of midnight, one for each time the bell tolls. Japanese revelers may slurp some buckwheat soba noodles to kick off the new year, a tradition dating back to the 17th century, with the lengthy noodles representing longevity. And in Scandinavia and Poland, pickled herring makes a regular appearance on New Year’s Day menus as it’s supposed to bring prosperity and bounty to those who chow down. 

No one knows exactly where the lemon pig came from or why it’s purported to bring good luck, but darn if it isn’t one of the cutest things you can do with a lemon on New Year’s Day. The lemon pig is a portly little creature easily crafted out of citrus fruit. You stab four toothpicks into the lemon for legs and slice two little ears out of its rind. Its eyes are made of cloves, and its slit mouth is meant to hold a penny. Pigs are considered bringers of good luck in many cultures, including German and Chinese, so while the origins of this tabletop pig are murky, it’s a sweet tradition for those who might need a little extra luck.

Rec of the week

Brought to you by CNN Underscored

Shameless animal video

There's always time for cute animal videos. That time is now.

These two doggies fell in love during the pandemic lockdown. Now they carry on a long-distance romance in the cutest way. Quick, someone reunite them in person and film it for us!! We need a good happy cry in 2024.
(Click here to view)

Made with love by CNN's 5 Things team. 

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