Psst, Scottie Andrew here, subbing in for our beloved AJ. Let's get to the good!
If you're reading this, chances are it's absolutely sweltering where you live. If you, too, have been sweating up a storm this week, allow me to quickly remind you of the sublimity of staying inside and doing nothing. While I've been cooped up this week avoiding 99-feels-like-109-degree weather, I've also deep-cleaned my apartment, read a book, started writing a book of my own, quickly realized that was futile and had a solo karaoke session instead. Sure, I can't turn on my oven without risking heat stroke, and yes, my body is crying out for some vitamin D, but I've also watched close to 20 hours of TV this week, and I'm pretending that's an accomplishment. Stay safe out there, dear readers — it's far too hot right now, but the world will still be there, ready to welcome us back, when temperatures drop.
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Our favorites this week
Get going with some of our most popular good news stories of the week
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School pride, indeed!
The graduating seniors of Seattle Pacific University made their commencement ceremony especially meaningful with a subtle, brilliant act of protest. The Christian university recently doubled down on a rule that keeps staff from engaging in same-sex relationships. In response, dozens of graduates handed the school's interim president a miniature Pride flag onstage while accepting their diplomas. Seniors offended by the rule balked at the idea of shaking the interim president’s hand onstage. So they hatched a plan – before the president could offer them his hand, they’d quickly put a Pride flag in his palm and exit the stage. A compilation of the surprise flag presentations made it to TikTok – some students beamed, handed him a flag and said nothing; others appeared to give him a stern look and speak a few words before exiting proudly. Student organizer Pamela Styborski said it best: “We couldn’t go out being silent.”
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Fin-tastic swimmer cleans up the Atlantic
Great news for aspiring mermaids: There’s a career for you! Marine conservationist Merle Liivand is so at home in the water that she doesn’t even need to use her arms to swim – just give the girl a mermaid tail, and she’ll travel a whopping 26.2 miles off the coast of Miami. She recently completed the feat, which took more than 11 hours and earned a Guinness World Record (and a jellyfish sting, but that hardly stopped her). And though she couldn’t use her arms to complete the swim, she did pick up floating debris she found on her way, adding it to a kayak that paddled next to her. "At the end of the day this isn't just about a record, it's about helping the community and the world,” she said – even that pesky jellyfish.
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A reading rainbow
Remember how fun summer reading used to be in elementary school? If you, like me, desperately miss the days when you were rewarded for reading with stickers, then you’ll love this list of LGBTQ books for kids and young adults (and, of course, readers who’ve aged out of those categories). CNN asked several award-winning writers about their favorite books for young people that feature LGBTQ characters or storylines about gender identity and sexuality, and they delivered! Here’s a sample of the full list, which includes over 20 titles for kids in preschool all the way up to high school (and those of us who are kids at heart).
- "Worm Loves Worm," by J.J. Austrian and illustrated by Mike Curato: Worm meets worm. Worm falls in love with worm. Worm marries worm. This picture book is a sweet, simple tale of love mattering more than the matter of which worm wears the tux at the altar.
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"The Black Flamingo," Dean Atta: In this Stonewall Book Award winner, a gay, mixed-race teen living in London stumbles upon the art of drag and grows comfortable in his own skin.
- "The Magic Fish," Trung Le Nguyen: This acclaimed graphic novel follows a Vietnamese-American teen who communicates with his immigrant mother through fairy tales while he works up the courage to come out to her.
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A round of applause for ... |
... Ashley Adirika, a graduating senior at Miami Beach Senior High School who got into every single Ivy League school, plus seven other prestigious schools. Phew! Ashley, naturally, served as her student council president and led her debate team to regular victory (a hobby she plans to continue when she starts at Harvard this fall). And not only is Ashley exceedingly bright, she's also exceedingly thoughtful: She began an organization called Our Story Our Worth, which works to empower and mentor girls and young women of color — a program she wants to expand nationwide. Remember her name, folks; we'll definitely be seeing it again!
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Yellowstone National Park boasts some of the most beautiful natural tableaus in the country, so the fact that one of its mountains was named for a racist US Army captain who waged war against Native Americans marred its majesty. Finally, the National Park Service rectified this by renaming the crag for those indigenous Wyoming residents. Cast your eyes upon First Peoples Mountain, pictured above in the center of two other, unproblematically named peaks in the nation's first national park. Blackfeet Tribal member Tom Rodgers said that while the change took far too long to occur, he believes the new name could improve how the US government recognizes and respects Native Americans: "Finally hope and history rhyme," he said.
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CNN, it’s been a good run, but I’ve found my calling — I want, nay, need to be a professional emu wrangler. That’s what Toby Wilson’s life has become, thanks to a rambunctious emu named Cosmo. Toby and his wife, Michelle, raised Cosmo from an egg (wait until you see him as a striped baby, dressed in a handmade sock diaper). But once Cosmo's own baby hatched, that penchant for mischief turned into a vicious paternal instinct. He’d nip at Toby while the man attempted to mow Cosmo's pasture, chasing him down like a T-rex hunting Jeff Goldblum. Eventually, to thwart the prehistoric-looking bird’s bites, Toby decided to wield pool noodles like foamy lightsabers, keeping Cosmo at a noodle’s length. Michelle even fashioned Toby a hat with two pool noodles sticking out on either side, which, to an emu, probably looks like the fear-inducing facade of a longhorn bull. Maybe when the newest baby emu grows up, Cosmo will let down his guard around his human dad. Or maybe the father-offspring duo will team up to take Toby down. Either way, I'll be watching!
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If you're seeking recommendations on your next international vacation destination, look no further than Jessica Nabongo. She's the first Black woman to visit every country in the world — that's a whopping 195 locales — and she's got an encyclopedic knowledge of the world's hidden gems, overrated destinations and, crucially, where you can find the best food on Earth. Here are a few tidbits CNN learned from her, tied to the release of her new book:
- Steer clear of the usual tourist spots. Jessica said she's not one for tourist destinations like Bali or Peru’s Machu Picchu – visitors to those sites are “doing the same things,” and that doesn’t interest her.
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The best food is found in unlikely places. Michelin stars don't interest Jessica. She said the best meal she's ever eaten was street food in Mazar-i-Sharif, Pakistan.
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Traveling so much ain't easy. Jessica shared that she nearly broke down and quit her quest in Mali, but a man she met there convinced her to keep going to address and reduce the racism Black travelers often experience abroad. "I was realizing that the journey was becoming so much bigger than me," she said. She ended her worldwide checklist in the Seychelles.
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Greenland was once the ideal home for Leif Erikson. And now, it's home to a subpopulation of polar bears who’ve smartly adapted to their European digs, giving scientists a clue as to how polar bears may survive into the future. These Greenlanders are genetically distinct from their North Pole brethren, and they live differently too – they’ve come to rely on freshwater ice from glaciers, which melts throughout the year. They can hunt seals when the ice breaks away from the ice sheet, widening the window the bears have to feast before hunting becomes more dangerous. (Arctic polar bears rely on sea ice, hunting seals near holes in the ice. When sea ice melts, their habitat and hunting grounds fracture and isolate them.) Researchers who've followed the bears said that while the glacier haven won’t support large numbers of polar bears, learning more about this subpopulation could benefit them all: "If you're concerned about preserving the species, then yes, our findings are hopeful — I think they show us how some polar bears might persist under climate change," one researcher said. Long live these magnificent beasts!
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Sunday is Juneteenth, the holiday that commemorates the emancipation of enslaved African Americans in the US and reminds us that the fight for justice and racial equity is far from over. CNN's Impact Your World offers several recommendations for how to celebrate and serve this year on Juneteenth:
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Visit the National Museum of African American History and Culture: This Washington museum is hosting several events over the weekend to mark the holiday, including tours of its exhibits, which are available virtually, too, for those of us who don't live in DC.
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Invest in criminal justice reform: Black Americans are disproportionately incarcerated across the US. Donating to groups like the Equal Justice Initiative and Sentencing Project funds legal representation for imprisoned people of color to prevent wrongful convictions and invest in alternatives to the juvenile justice system.
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Visit Black-owned businesses: Apps like EatOkra help users locate Black-owned eateries across the country, and Black Owned Everything sells items from brands led by Black creators. These services make it easy to identify Black businesses to support.
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Rec of the week
Brought to you by CNN Underscored
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Shameless animal video
There's always time for cute animal videos. That time is now.
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I cede this space now to an unbelievably fuzzy baby sea otter, who rolls off this dock and onto his patient mom's tummy. Swoon. (Watch here.) |
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A newsletter for the good in life |
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