podcast
CNN 5 Good Things
How about a break — for your ears? At CNN, we know the news can be a lot to take in. So each week, 5 Good Things offers you a respite from the heavy headlines and intense news cycle. Treat yourself to something fun and uplifting every Saturday as we share the bright side of life from all over the globe.
History at Home Plate: the MLB’s First Female Umpire
CNN 5 Good Things
Aug 9, 2025
This club is going viral and helping members relieve stress, one scream at a time. A veteran umpire is making history on the pro baseball field. Meet the world-class chef that’s running a plastic-free restaurant in hopes others will do the same. Thousands in Michigan play their library’s reading game that goes way beyond books. Plus, this isn’t your average summer camp – it’s where wisdom meets curiosity.
Episode Transcript
Krista Bo
00:00:01
Hey there, today, August 9th, is National Book Lovers Day. And in one Michigan town this summer, the local library isn't just handing out books.
Graham Hautamaki
00:00:09
I just like want to like run around and not be in like inside all day.
Krista Bo
00:00:14
'It's sending thousands of locals of all ages on a city-wide scavenger hunt. Plus...
Chef Edward Lee
00:00:20
We're not here to sort of stand on a pedestal and say, 'hey, look at us, we're so cool.' We're really trying to figure out practically how can we get rid of all of this disposable plastic.
Krista Bo
00:00:32
This Top Chef contestant goes all in on flavor and all out on plastic, with his new restaurant to offer a blueprint for others. And teens and grandmas teamed up at this special summer camp. From CNN, I'm Krista Bo, and this is Five Good Things.
Krista Bo
00:00:53
Everyone needs to let off a little steam sometimes, and in Chicago, some people have turned it into a group activity.
[Scream Club Chicago post]
00:01:01
Group scream
Krista Bo
00:01:01
That's the Scream Club Chicago, a group that meets every Sunday at 7 p.m. On Lake Michigan's North Avenue Beach to scream into the void and, well, just let go.
[Scream Club Chicago]
00:01:14
Group scream
Manny Fernandez
00:01:14
'Here's things that happen in our lives that we don't necessarily know how to deal with. And I think that we're all just balls of energy that, you know, with everything that happens on our day-to-day lives, that we just hold on to that stuff a lot.
Krista Bo
00:01:24
Manny Fernandez is a life coach and a breathwork practitioner who started letting loose at the lake as a personal ritual to release all that stress and emotion. It caught on and went viral on TikTok. Now, he guides a group of sometimes as large as 200 people each week, no matter the weather.
Krista Bo
00:01:40
The Chicago screamers first write their frustrations onto biodegradable pieces of paper, take some deep breaths, toss them into the water and scream three times. I'm not gonna do that to blow out your ears.
[Scream Club Chicago]
00:01:55
Last chance to let it all out. Anything you're holding on to. This is your opportunity. Going in 3, 2, 1. [Scream]
Xander Ruvalcaba
00:02:04
I attended one day and it just made me feel happy at the end of it, you know, getting all that screaming out of my system.
Mamie Amin
00:02:14
We've had a lot of change in our life lately and my daughter's been feeling a lot of feelings and I feel like it's a really good thing for her to see grownups handling all their sad and hard feelings in a really healthy way.
Krista Bo
00:02:27
The windy city club has already inspired others to let loose. Kansas City, Missouri just launched a Scream Club of its own.
KC Scream Club
00:02:34
Grouup scream
Krista Bo
00:02:34
Want to join or start one? Head to the ScreamClub.com. The link is also in our show notes.
Krista Bo
00:02:41
There's a new face behind the plate of a pro baseball game this weekend, and she's making history with every call. Jen Pawol will be the first woman to umpire a Major League Baseball regular season game. The league said she's working the bases during today's doubleheader between the home team, the Atlanta Braves, and the Miami Marlins. She'll be calling balls and strikes behind the plate on Sunday. Pawol is no rookie to breaking barriers, as CNN's Andy Scholes explains.
Andy Scholes
00:03:07
Hey Krista, that's right. Pawol has steadily climbed the umpire rank since beginning her pro career in rookie ball back in 2016. She reached AAA in 2023, becoming the first female to umpire at that level in 34 years. And this year she became the first female umpiring 17 years to work in MLB spring training game. And now she's officially getting the call up as a former college softball player from Hofstra University. This weekend Pawol joins a very exclusive club of women who've shattered sports officiating ceilings. That includes Violet Palmer and Dee Kantner in the NBA in 1997, Sarah Thomas for the NFL in 2015, and Stephanie Frappar for a FIFA Men's World Cup match in 2022. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said this historic accomplishment in baseball is a reflection of Jen's hard work, dedication and love of the game.
Krista Bo
00:04:00
Could you run a restaurant without a single piece of plastic? That's what a celebrity chef is trying to find out with this new nonprofit restaurant where the mission is just as bold as the flavors.
Chef Edward Lee
00:04:12
Hi, my name is Edward Lee and I'm the chef and director of Shia Restaurant in Washington, D.C. Shia is actually the root word for seed in Korean and we want to hopefully plant this seed of sustainability in the restaurant business and see it blossom over the next few years.
Krista Bo
00:04:31
'Shia is a modern Korean restaurant that opened up last November as part of a five-year experiment to see what it takes for a restaurant to be plastic-free.
Chef Edward Lee
00:04:40
So we are a zero plastic restaurant, which means we don't use cling wrap or ziplock bags or silicon molds. We don't use plastic equipment or spatulas. We use biodegradable garbage bags. Even our pens, we don t use plastic pens.
Krista Bo
00:04:57
So they've made swaps like using muslin fabric and beeswax wrap instead of cling wrap, and ceramic stainless steel and glass containers instead of plastic ones, just to name a few.
Chef Edward Lee
00:05:07
We're not here to sort of stand on a pedestal and say, 'hey, look at us, we're so cool.' We're really trying to figure out practically how can we get rid of all of this disposable plastic. So, as the research goes on now, we've now upped it to like 45 points of plastic that we were able to replace. You know, everything from a broom handle to a pen to a magic marker, you know, your soap dispensers in your bathroom, little things that you don't even think about that are all made out of plastic. You may be spending more money, but you're not replacing it because these are permanent, durable.
Krista Bo
00:05:42
Just to paint a picture for you of how big a problem plastic waste is, the UN says that every day, the equivalent of 2,000 garbage trucks full of plastic are dumped into the world's oceans, rivers, and lakes. Since opening the restaurant, the former Iron Chef and Top Chef contestant says the fine dining spot has already prevented up to about 775 pounds of plastic from going into landfills. But for Lee, success isn't measured by perfection, but by progress. He hopes what he's doing in his professional kitchen could be replicated in home kitchens too.
Chef Edward Lee
00:06:16
If a thousand restaurants decide to reduce their plastic by 10%, that's amazing, it's better than nothing. If we can inspire just everyone to just get rid of one plastic reliant, you know, piece of technique that they use, we can really change things.
Krista Bo
00:06:32
If you want to learn more about the impact and the products you could buy to make the plastic free switch, head to shiarestaurant.org/research. That link is also in our show notes.
Krista Bo
00:06:44
Every summer in Ann Arbor, Michigan, thousands of people chase clues around the city and read tons of books to rack up points, playing what's called "The Summer Game," hosted by the local library.
Eli Neiburger
00:06:57
'So the Summer Game is a city-wide scavenger hunt reading adventure puzzle solving extravaganza that keeps families and adults and kids busy all summer long.
Krista Bo
00:07:12
Ann Arbor District Library Director Eli Neiberger and his team run the game each summer. This year is kicked off on June 11th and ends on August 24th. And each week brings new challenges. Some take you to parks or museums. Others live inside the library catalog or even on lawn signs.
Eli Neiburger
00:07:29
One thing will be like, go to this park, find this bench near the entrance. There's a plaque on the bench and the third word is your first code. Then go down the path and you'll find a sign and the fifth word on that sign is your code.
Krista Bo
00:07:42
'Players earn special badges and points for everything, from solving puzzles to raiding and reading books. And those points unlock prizes. We're talking mugs, t-shirts, books, and a stuffed mascot that changes every year.
Eli Neiburger
00:07:56
'This year, our stuffed animal is SG Flamingo Pants, which is a little pink flamingo with a little ADL t-shirt on. The kids go crazy for those.
Krista Bo
00:08:04
Since it launched 14 years ago, Eli says the summer game has become more and more popular.
Eli Neiburger
00:08:09
We're crossing 16,000 players this summer. That's up like 30% over last year. It just keeps growing and growing.
Shannon Hautamaki
00:08:18
I think this is our seventh summer playing. I pretty much don't think my kids have memories of not playing the summer game.
Krista Bo
00:08:25
Shannon and Brett Hautamaki said the first time they realized their oldest son Graham could read was when he was reading the summer game codes after kindergarten.
Graham Hautamaki
00:08:34
It's just like fun to like run around and not being like inside all day.
Krista Bo
00:08:39
Some locals discover parts of Ann Arbor they never knew existed, while others discover one another.
Eli Neiburger
00:08:44
People make friends playing the summer game, lifelong friends. We've already had two different weddings from people who met while playing the Summer Game. And you know, that's magic. It's what libraries do best, helping people know about things that they didn't even know they were looking for.
Leena Albinali
00:09:01
We have learned so much from the camp, like so many skills that are lost in this day and age.
Krista Bo
00:09:07
These teens and elders loved this summer camp so much, they wanna plan monthly events to stay in touch and keep learning from each other. Stick with us, we'll be right back.
Krista Bo
00:09:18
Summer camp season is coming to a close, but the participants and instructors at the Intergenerational Summer Camp in Orange County, California are still gushing about their time together.
Leena Albinali
00:09:28
Camp was just magical.
'Sister Haqiqah Abdul-Rahim
00:09:31
It was a beautiful experience. And part of that was because we were sharing what our knowledge is. And then we had the young people sharing from their perspective. So we got both sides of the equation.
Krista Bo
00:09:45
'Leena Albinali, who's 14, and Sister Haqiqah Abdul-Rahim, a grandmother, participated in the four-week-long summer camp that wrapped up last week. Hosted at a local community center, the program brought grandmothers and kids as young as eight together to bond and teach one another skills.
Summer camp recording
00:10:01
Today we are learning how to wrap this gift wrap.
Krista Bo
00:10:06
'From sewing, cooking, and craft-making, to using AI and other technology. The camp is hosted by Olive Community Services, a nonprofit based in Fullerton, California that works with seniors and their families. It also partners with the Golden Connections Club, which was started by Leena as a way to build relationships between elders and teens.
Summer camp recording
00:10:30
You could always double loop it.
'Sister Haqiqah Abdul-Rahim
00:10:33
There's nothing better than interacting with someone who really wants to learn.
Leena Albinali
00:10:39
I want the camp to be known as a place where people don't just learn skills, but where they build like friendships and learn things that the internet cannot teach you.
Krista Bo
00:10:54
All right, that's all for now. Thanks so much for listening, and be sure to join us tomorrow for the next edition of CNN One Thing. Host David Rind speaks to a county health administrator in Texas to discuss how a rise in childhood vaccination exemptions could put school children at risk. Listen wherever you get your podcasts. Have a good day. Take care. Till next time.
