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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.
How a Principal Gets Kids Excited for Back to School
CNN 5 Good Things
Aug 16, 2025
The “Parody Principal” remixes the morning announcements. New research breaks down the amount of dance moves cockatoos have up their wings. This CNN Hero is feeding thousands with free meals that were going to be thrown out. One musician’s loss sparked a creative solution to help others facing the same thing. Plus, getting your spouse’s attention is an art form at this beloved Iowa State fair contest.
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Episode Transcript
Krista Bo
00:00:00
'Hey there! I hope you're doing as well as the Swifties are this week, after the news of her new album. And if not, don't worry, I've still got five feel-good stories for you today.
00:00:11
Alright, so is there anything you think we could maybe learn from our feathered friends?
Natasha Lubke
00:00:17
Oh, definitely. I think we need to use our wings more.
Krista Bo
00:00:21
New research shows this bird probably has more dance moves than most of us. Then we head to Los Angeles. First on Hollywood sets.
Hillary Cohen
00:00:29
No one in America should be hungry because we have enough means to feed people. We're just not being responsible logistically with what we do with our wings.
Krista Bo
00:00:38
But then across town, where one musician is helping wildfire survivors who lost everything replace something truly irreplaceable and find community in the meantime. Plus...
Wendy Bryce
00:00:50
I love my husband and I cannot lie.
Krista Bo
00:00:53
A fairground tradition where yelling out your spouse's name is not only encouraged, it's how you win. From CNN, I'm Christa Boe, and this is 5 Good Things. Stick with us, we'll be back in a bit.
Mike Allen
00:01:14
Let's not lose the joy of what's happening in life and specifically around the really fun moments to celebrate.
Krista Bo
00:01:26
For a lot of kids, back to school can be kind of a bummer. But at Evansville Christian School in Indiana, Superintendent Mike Allen, better known as "the Parody Principal," has found a way to make it a party.
'Mike Allen - "Fresh Prince" parody video
00:01:37
I looked at the building, I was finally here To settle on in for another school year
Krista Bo
00:01:43
'Since 2014, he's been producing music video parodies with students and staff, turning announcements into full-blown productions.
Mike Allen
00:01:50
And they just became, what are those pieces that kids get excited for and families and teachers get excited? Those are back to school, end of school, Christmas breaks, spring breaks, fall breaks, snow days, two hour delays. And those are the things that I really kind of honed in on.
Krista Bo
00:02:08
Sometimes he'll recruit kids on the fly.
Mike Allen
00:02:10
You know, when I walk through the elementary, for example, there are kids there and I love it. They think my only job is making videos for the school.
Krista Bo
00:02:20
But whether it's a beetle's spoof.
'Mike Allen - "Hey Jude" parody video
00:02:25
Hey June, gnore our great
Krista Bo
00:02:27
or a take on a Backstreet Boys classic that gets everybody going.
'Mike Allen - "Backstreet Boys" parody video
00:02:34
Rock that eagle pride! School is back, alright!
Krista Bo
00:02:40
Mike says it's about more than music.
Mike Allen
00:02:43
What I want kids to always remember is there is always something to smile about. Life does not have to be heavy all the time. You can choose to laugh, you can choose to smile.
Krista Bo
00:03:01
Think you've got moves? Well, cockatoos really know how to cut a rug. New research shows these clever birds actually have dozens of dance moves to bust out.
Natasha Lubke
00:03:11
'My research basically revealed that it's pretty definitive that cockatoo's dance in terms of playing, which means that it is a self-rewarding behavior, makes them feel good and it's a good indicator of their welfare state.
Krista Bo
00:03:26
Animal scientist Natasha Lubke from Australia studied 45 videos of cockatoos dancing on social media and six cockatoose boogieing at a local zoo. And the results published in the journal PLOS One show cockatoas have at least 30 common dance moves. There was one particular bird, actually, that basically came up with 17 of its own moves never recorded before.
Natasha Lubke
00:03:47
They do what looks like head banging to us or like the swinging side to side. They do little foot lifts or shuffling with their feet using their wings. So they're flapping or kind of popping up their wings in a sort of rhythmic movement. There's all sorts of things that they would do with their entire bodies as well. And apparently
Krista Bo
00:04:07
they don't even need a beat to bust a move.
Natasha Lubke
00:04:09
I played the music, a podcast, and no noise, but the fact that all six birds in that study were identified to dance is just bizarre and really cool.
Krista Bo
00:04:19
You know, I wonder if they'd dance to this podcast. Something tells me they would. But anyway, Natasha says the next steps could be to study if certain genres get them going more than others because she thinks it's worth learning more about our feathered friends.
Natasha Lubke
00:04:32
So cockatoos, birds in general, they're more intelligent than what we give them credit for. Cockatoos in particular have very long lifespans. They mature later in life and they can be common pets. So it's really important that we consider how to improve their lives and potentially music has that ability for them.
Krista Bo
00:04:54
It takes a village to make a Hollywood production, and that village eats very well.
Hillary Cohen
00:04:58
It's not peanut butter and jelly, you know. It's like steak and lobster and salmon and grains and salads. You know, it's really delicious food that you would see at like a wedding every day.
Krista Bo
00:05:10
For 15 years, Hillary Cohen worked as an assistant director on shows like Mad Men, The Office, and NCIS Los Angeles. But what always bothered her was what happened after lunch was over.
Hillary Cohen
00:05:21
So my very first days on the union set, there was just an immense amount of food, and when lunch was over, it was all thrown into the trash can instead of given to anyone in need, and it was aggressively alarming.
Krista Bo
00:05:34
She was told it was too complicated and too much of a liability to donate the leftovers. But during the pandemic, she decided that excuse wasn't good enough. So in 2020, she launched Everyday Action. It's a nonprofit that collects surplus meals from film and TV sets and other businesses and delivers them to people who need them across Los Angeles, from shelters and food pantries to veterans' housing and community fridges. It's work that's earned her the title of a CNN hero.
Hillary Cohen
00:06:01
It's really anyone that's feeding the unhoused and those struggling with food insecurity. We're the Grub Hub. We take it from point A to point B.
Krista Bo
00:06:09
'They pick up food 24-7 from up to 10 locations a day, covering an estimated 90-mile radius.
Hillary Cohen
00:06:16
No one in America should be hungry because we have enough means to feed people. We're just not being responsible logistically with what we do our way.
Krista Bo
00:06:27
And Hillary's not the only one turning her skills into a way to help others. In another corner of Los Angeles, a music composer for TV shows like "Weeds" and "Orange is the New Black" is using his own talents and his own loss to help people get back something they thought they'd never see again. Brandon Jay and his wife, who's also a composer, lost their home, their studio, and more than 200 instruments in the Eaton Canyon fire back in January. The tragedy made him realize then more than ever how much meaning an instrument can hold.
Brandon Jay
00:07:00
It's not necessarily the monetary value, it's the sentimental value, and it's stories behind the instruments that make them special.
Krista Bo
00:07:07
After posting about what he lost on Facebook, he says friends began offering up replacements, some identical to the ones he lost.
Brandon Jay
00:07:14
So it gave me the idea to start the foundation called Altadena Musicians. And so we came up with an app called Instrumental Giving. Think of it like a wedding registry, but for music. So if you're fire impacted, you can list everything that you lost in the fire and then people can read about your story, read about the particular instruments and the stories behind them. And then they can connect with you. If they have that type of instrument, they can send you a message or they can offer something else. They say they've been able to help
Krista Bo
00:07:42
match thousands of instruments to musicians who've lost everything, often creating friendships.
Brandon Jay
00:07:48
In the process.
Krista Bo
00:08:00
Together on stage. Brandon has organized events and performances featuring wildlife survivors to help raise money for their efforts. Brandon hopes the instrumental giving apps reach will stretch far beyond California.
Brandon Jay
00:08:15
And anytime there's a natural disaster and people want to help get instruments back in people's hands, they can use our app to do that.
Krista Bo
00:08:24
Up next, the annual showdown at a state fair where summoning your spouse is kind of like a competitive sport. And if you want more goodness, be sure to sign up for the CNN Five Good Things newsletter. The link is in our show notes to signup. Be back in a bit.
Iowa State Fair VO
00:08:40
Welcome to the Iowa State Fair. Welcome to Pioneer Hall. Welcome to The Ladies' Husband Calling Contest.
Krista Bo
00:08:48
Yesterday, contestants stepped on stage with one goal. Get their husband's attention in under a minute. Loud and proud.
Contestants
00:08:59
Hey Babe! where are you? I got tour credit card. I'm about to order something off Amazon. // Jason Momoa! Why won't you call me back? I thought what we had was special! //Okay, that's it Stan! Why are you driving down the road on the tractor with no clothes on?
Krista Bo
00:09:25
'In Iowa, the husband calling contest is an over 40-year-old tradition, and it's one of the fair's many quirky competitions, like the mullet contest and the diaper derby.
Mindy Williamson
00:09:37
So the husband calling contest sort of came about because wives used to like make dinner and their husbands would be out in the fields and they would be yelling at them to come in for dinner. So because our times have changed, it's sort of evolved into something goofy and fun.
Krista Bo
00:09:57
Mindy Williamson is the chief marketing officer for the Iowa State Fair. She said winners take home a blue ribbon and the grand prize of $5. You can tell people are in it for the fun, not the fortune. And we at CNN were one of the first to interview this year's winner.
Wendy Bryce
00:10:17
Hey, stop what you're doing, cause it's supper time. So get it while it's hot. Get it while...
Krista Bo
00:10:24
Wendy Brice from Ottawa, Iowa.
Wendy Bryce
00:10:27
I love my husband and I cannot lie.
Krista Bo
00:10:30
'Her musical mash-up, Call, has made this her second year winning the contest.
Wendy Bryce
00:10:34
I probably take this way too seriously than maybe most people, I don't know, but I literally spend the entire year kind of brainstorming like what I want to do, so you know, it's a silly contest, but it's super fun and it brings joy to a lot of people.
Contestants
00:10:53
Time! I love you, baby!
Krista Bo
00:11:02
All right, that's all for now. Thanks so much for listening. And if you like the show, please consider giving us a good rating or review wherever you listen or sharing it with a loved one. It really helps us spread the good vibes. And be sure to join us tomorrow for the next edition of CNN One Thing. Host David Rind speaks to a law professor about what President Donald Trump's federal takeover of DC is really about. Listen wherever you get your podcasts. Take care, till next time.
