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CNN 5 Good Things
Saturdays are for sunshine — especially for your ears. With another election, ongoing wars and natural disasters, we know the news can be a lot to take in and we’re determined to share the bright side of humanity. Every Saturday, take a breather from the headlines and hear all the uplifting happenings across the world with 5 Good Things from CNN.
An Athlete with Terminal Cancer Tackles an Ironman
CNN 5 Good Things
Nov 9, 2024
Kids in South Carolina got an important civics lesson at their local library. Against all odds, an athlete with a terminal cancer diagnosis completed one of the most grueling races in the world. Classic music lovers are inspired by newly-discovered music an iconic composer left behind. A nonprofit is training giant rats in uniform to sniff out illegal wildlife contraband. Plus, an beloved character just turned 50!
Episode Transcript
Krista Bo
00:00:00
Hey there. We have some feel good stories that just might bring you a little peace or make you smile after a tense week. An athlete with terminal cancer didn't let the disease stop him from completing one of the most challenging fitness feats in the world. Plus,
Izzy Szott
00:00:16
They really, really cute. They have big personalities. You can tell they're very engaged and happy to work.
Krista Bo
00:00:21
An army of giant rats in tiny jackets could soon help solve a huge problem worldwide. From CNN, I'm Krista Bo, and this is Five Good Things.
Krista Bo
00:00:37
When Isaac Cramer became the director of South Carolina's Charleston County Board of Elections, he wanted to do something for his community's future voters. He got an idea for a children's book that would help kids understand voting in a way that would actually apply to their day to day lives.
Isaac Cramer
00:00:53
'By and large, election books for children, you know, I've never seen one. And I'm like, yes, I want to read that to my five or six-year-old.
Krista Bo
00:01:01
He brought this idea to the Charleston County Public Library, which helped him develop and write the book. They made the library system's mascot an owl called Albert, the main character.
Isaac Cramer
00:01:12
So Albert and his friends, they're playing soccer on this field and they see vote signs start popping up. And it's whether to turn this empty lot they play soccer on into a playground or keep it as it is.
Krista Bo
00:01:26
'His classmates are divided on playground versus soccer field. And in the end, the vote for the playground wins - which is not what Albert wanted. But the teacher in the story helps him feel better about it.
Isaac Cramer
00:01:37
There's that message of the book talking about you have your own voice, and even when your decision or choice doesn't win, that doesn't mean you stop voting or you don't stop making your voice heard.
Krista Bo
00:01:49
'The book ends with Albert's teacher giving the students a chance to put that into practice by taking a different vote - cake versus ice cream. When the library held an event to launch the book last month, kids got to try that in real life, complete with specially made cake versus ice cream paper ballots and blue ballot boxes. Cake won in that race. Isaac, in his official capacity, tallied the votes. But in this case, they let the kids have their cake and eat their ice cream too.
Isaac Cramer
00:02:17
Everyone was so excited. And that's what voting should be about. This is the United States of America. That right to vote that we have is so important. And seeing that children do that on a smaller scale was really an amazing experience for me.
Krista Bo
00:02:34
'Last month, more than 2400 endurance athletes from all over the globe converged on the Hawaiian city of Kona to compete in the 2024 Vinfast men's Ironman World Championships. They had to swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 miles, and then run 26.2 miles - all under 17 hours. For Jonathan Pascall, a 50-year-old endurance athlete from California, the Ironman was a way to test his limits. According to CNN affiliate Hawaii News now, he had done Ironman triathlons 16 times. But qualifying to compete in the World Championship was extra special.
Jonathan Pascual
00:03:11
My cancer is called Mediastinal Paraganglioma. It is a neuroendocrine type of cancer. It is one of the rarest of the rare, wherein two to six people out of one million will have it.
Krista Bo
00:03:29
Jonathan's cancer is stage four and has spread to different parts of his body, including his lungs, pelvis and spine. With treatment and medication, Jonathan has been able to stay active. But there are challenges, especially during swims.
Jonathan Pascual
00:03:42
The longer that I am in the water, my face starts swelling and it gets harder and harder to breathe.
Krista Bo
00:03:49
'He raced for his life and against the clock, since the swim for the Ironman has a cutoff time of two hours and 20 minutes. He reached land with just two minutes to spare. By focusing on maintaining his pace and eating enough, he crossed the finish line after 16 hours and two minutes - just before midnight.
Announcer
00:04:10
Jonathan Pascual, you are an Ironman!
Jonathan Pascual
00:04:15
When you have stage four cancer, people write you off. People think you're done. I believe that that is a myth. And I am here to challenge that notion. And all I have to do is simply do the things that I have been doing all along.
Krista Bo
00:04:35
On our October 12th episode, we told you about a new song composed by Mozart discovered recently. Now, a brand new piece from another iconic classical music artist has just been released, nearly 200 years after his death. That's a waltz in A minor written by renowned Polish composer Frederic Chopin.
Robinson McClellan
00:05:06
I think he's a composer who has a particularly personal connection for people. And I think it has to do with the depth of emotion that people hear in his music.
Krista Bo
00:05:16
Dr. Robinson McClelland first discovered the manuscript earlier this year when going through a collection he had to sort through for the Morgan Library Museum in New York City. He's the museum's curator for music manuscripts.
Robinson McClellan
00:05:28
Of course, I was immediately skeptical because the chances of an unknown Chopin piece are very low. These things don't turn up every day. So I quickly contacted Jeff, who is the real expert on Chopin.
Jeff Kallberg
00:05:43
I was I was absolutely astonished to see this thing.
Krista Bo
00:05:45
That's Jeff Kohlberg. He's a musicologist and associate dean of arts and Letters at the University of Pennsylvania.
Jeff Kallberg
00:05:51
You know, it's my business to know all Chopin manuscripts. I rarely encounter one that I have never seen before. The music in it was also music I had never heard before.
Krista Bo
00:06:07
That's Jeff playing the waltz, by the way. He said after analyzing Chopin's musical MOs, his handwriting, the ink and paper choices, he thought the manuscript was the real deal. And after consulting other experts, the Morgan Museum agreed, and unveiled the piece thought to have been written by Chopin in the 1830s last week. Robinson said there's still some debate and discussion around whether or not Chopin had help composing it. But other artists have been inspired by the new piece, adding on to it even. He sent me a bunch he liked, including this one from Valky River on YouTube.
Robinson McClellan
00:06:43
They keep composing in the style of Chopin, their own new music inspired and based on this waltz. And they do all of the things that Chopin might have done if he had extended it. It sort of feels like it's reanimating his whole musical spirit, in a sense.
Krista Bo
00:06:57
It's the first major Chopin find since the 1930s. The composer died when he was 39, and Jeff said he didn't leave behind much music, which makes every piece precious.
Jeff Kallberg
00:07:07
To suddenly find this new piece is a gift from him, from the past to the future. And it's really marvelous.
Krista Bo
00:07:20
When you think of animals that help law enforcement find illegal contraband, dogs usually come to mind first, right? Well, now giant rodents with tiny jackets are being trained to help rat out wildlife traffickers. The Tanzanian nonprofit, APOPO studied just how powerful African giant pouched rats noses are. The group has already shown that the cat sized rodents can sniff out landmines, tuberculosis and even survivors amidst the rubble, following national disasters. Behavioral research scientist Izzy Szott says that kind of success led a South African wildlife organization to reach out to APOPO about using the rats to tackle another widespread problem.
Izzy Szott
00:07:59
And they said, hey, there's this big problem with illegal trafficking. A lot of it goes through shipping ports. It's really, really impossible to screen all of the stuff that goes through it. Do you think the rats can help?
Krista Bo
00:08:10
And as it turns out, the rats can help, which is good because illegal wildlife trafficking is estimated to be an industry worth up to $23 billion worldwide. New research led by APOPO suggests these rats have now been successfully trained to sniff out contraband like elephant tusks, rhino horns, pangolin scales and African Blackwood. Dogs have already been doing this job. But as he says, these rats could be a complementary tool. They're smaller and can move more easily through a densely packed shipping container. They're also cheaper to house, feed and transport. Plus,
Izzy Szott
00:08:44
They really, really cute. They have big personalities and they're very trainable. They're curious. I mean, the scent work definitely is fun for them. They're very engaged and happy to work.
Krista Bo
00:08:53
This research is still in its early stages, but a proof of concept study at a Tanzanian seaport yielded some promising results. The rats found 83% of planted targets.
Izzy Szott
00:09:03
If we communicate it right to the rats, they've always been up to the task so far.
Krista Bo
00:09:13
'Can you guess which iconic character is now half a century old? We'll tell you after we take a quick break. But before we go, we want to hear from you. Do you have any good news to share? Did you help a neighbor in need raise awareness about a cause? Do something that will help people and or the planet. Call us and let us know. The number is 404-981-2293. Don't forget to tell us your name and how we can reach you. Your voicemail could be featured in an upcoming episode of the podcast. We'll be right back.
Krista Bo
00:09:47
You probably know of her. She weighs three apples and stands about five apples tall. She's got the cutest of all yellow nose and whiskers, and she's almost always rocking a bow. I swear she doesn't age, but somehow. Hello Kitty just turned 50! And her iconic look is beloved by fans of all ages. Like a Asako Kanda.
Asako Kanda (Translation)
00:10:07
My mom, gave me some Hello Kitty stationery and school supplies. I just fell in love with them. That's how it all began.
Krista Bo
00:10:16
She's been collecting Hello Kitty memorabilia ever since. In total, she's amassed about 10,000 toys and items.
Asako Kanda (Translation)
00:10:26
As I grew older, I faced some tough and sad times. During those moments, looking at Hello Kitty items would soothe and comfort me. That's when I realized I could never part with them.
Krista Bo
00:10:37
Hello. Kitty's birthday is November 1st, 1974, and since then, her merchandise and onscreen appearances have earned about $80 billion in sales. She's also been a Unicef ambassador, a special envoy for Japan's foreign ministry and the subject of themed restaurants, amusement parks and even a maternity hospital. Illustrator Yuko Yamaguchi has been designing the character for almost 45 years and says they formed a close bond. She hopes to keep Hello Kitty around for future generations to enjoy.
Yuko Yamaguchi
00:11:06
Now I feel like the two of us are working together to bring happiness to others. It's our way of giving back to all the fans who love and support Kitty.
Krista Bo
00:11:20
All right. That's all for now. Join us tomorrow for the next edition of One Thing. Host David Rind talks to a formerly reliable Democratic voter about why he voted for Donald Trump this time around. Five Good Things is a production of CNN Audio. This episode was produced by Eryn Mathewson, Emily Williams and me, Krista Bo. Our senior producers are Felicia Patinkin Faiz Jamil. Matt Dempsey is our production manager. Dan Dzula as their technical director, and Steve Lickteig as the executive producer of CNN Audio. We get support from Joey Salvia, Haley Thomas, Alex Manasseri, Robert Mathers, Jon Dianora, Leni Steinhardt, Jamus Andrest, Nichole Pesaru and Lisa Namerow. Special thanks to Alex Rodway and Katie Hinman. And thank you for listening. Take care. Till next time.
