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CNN 5 Things
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5 Good Things: The Porch-to-Porch Concert Crawl
CNN 5 Things
May 23, 2026
This Massachusetts neighborhood is setting the soundtrack for Memorial Day weekend, one porch at a time. We’re also celebrating World Turtle Day with a turtle whisperer in Florida. A children’s hospital rolled out the red carpet for teen cancer patients. Graduates from a historically Black college in Atlanta are making history together. Plus, we check on America’s favorite feathery power couple and the efforts of elementary school kids to save their nest.
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Host/Producer: Krista Bo Polanco
Producer: Eryn Mathewson
Senior Producer: Felicia Patinkin
Editorial Support: Lisa Wong
Episode Transcript
Krista Bo Polanco
00:00:00
Hey there, happy Memorial Day weekend! With summer around the corner, the vibes are high. I'm Krista Bo Polanco, and this is CNN 5 Good Things.
Bette Zirkelbach
00:00:07
An animal as ancient as our dinosaurs is worth paying attention to.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:00:14
We do a health check on some of the planet's oldest residence. Plus...
Presli Juliana Denson
00:00:18
It just felt unreal and you felt on top of the world like you could do anything after that.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:00:26
Teens facing serious illnesses got the chance to celebrate a rite of passage they almost missed. Later on...
Jenny Voisard
00:00:32
These kids are getting exposed to the concept that if they do something or they try something or if they believe in something, something can happen.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:00:42
The young fans who have helped name America's favorite bald eagle couple's chicks are now fighting to save their nest. When we come back...
Cam Carr
00:00:49
I think that's super important for people to have community and come together for something like this.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:00:54
Nothing screams summer more than live music outdoors. We're having fun here, stick with us.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:01:03
Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial kickoff to summer, so time to break out the lawn chairs, the sunshine, and live music outdoors. In a neighborhood in Gloucester, Massachusetts, they're spending the holiday weekend with a live music event called Porchfest, and it's exactly how it sounds.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:01:21
17 local bands are jammin' out on neighborhood porches as visitors wander from house to house with lawn chairs in tow. But Gloucester isn't the only town turning front porches into concert venues. What started in Ithaca, New York, back in 2007, has grown into at least 250 communities across the US, Australia, and Canada, throwing their own porch fests. And last weekend, our friends at CNN 10 stopped by a Porchfest in the Virginia Highland neighborhood of Atlanta.
Sarah Miller
00:01:56
It's a good vibe building community and what better way to do that than live music on porches.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:02:01
Sarah Miller works for a nonprofit that organized the community's sixth annual Porchfest, where nearly 40,000 people showed up to rock the block.
Sarah Miller
00:02:10
We open up applications in like January and this year we had over 300 bands apply and we have 65 porches so you definitely have to, it's a little competitive. So we'll have some funk, we'll have some soul, we will have jazz, we have a marching band. But I will say Porchfest has really gotten known for like the indie rock bands.
Cam Carr
00:02:31
So if you don't know don't know who, our name is Schmooze. We're from Athens, Georgia!
Krista Bo Polanco
00:02:37
That was the band's lead singer, Cam Carr.
Cam Carr
00:02:39
It's a community thing and I think that's super important for people to have community and come together for something like this and music is just something that really unites people and I think that's, I think that's sick. So I'm glad to be a part of it.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:02:50
There's more on PorchFest where that came from, so check out CNN 10's full segment. The link is in our show notes.
Bette Zirkelbach
00:02:58
They have survived this planet for over 110 million years, and if I have anything to do with it, they will not go extinct on our watch.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:03:06
It's World Turtle Day today, so we thought we'd call up the turtle hospital in the Florida Keys to check in on how some of the ocean's oldest residents are doing.
Bette Zirkelbach
00:03:14
All species of sea turtles found in and around the United States are protected by the endangered species lists. What that means is all species are listed either as threatened or endangered.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:03:27
Bette Zirkelbach is the general manager of the Turtle Hospital in Marathon, Florida. They've spent the last 40 years rescuing, rehabilitating, and releasing more than 3,000 turtles back into the wild.
Bette Zirkelbach
00:03:37
Some good news is people do care about sea turtles and there are a lot of conservation efforts going on globally. Nesting numbers are increasing. Working in the rehabilitation end of things. My concern is I see the worst of the worst. So even though there are more turtles, there's still reason for concern. Things like boat strikes, fishing line and fishing gear entanglement, plastics or synthetic ingestion. That's a lot what we see.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:04:03
She said the hospital has a 70% success rate when it comes to returning sea turtles back into the wild, including a juvenile sea turtle named Lily Jay. This weekend, she's heading back to her ocean home after about three months of treatment for a severe boat strike. If turtles could talk, Betty thinks they'd tell us to take care of this planet.
Bette Zirkelbach
00:04:22
The sea turtles are an indicator species. What we see happening to them is not only happening to our marine ecosystems, but will eventually affect all of life. An animal as ancient as our dinosaurs is worth paying attention to. They've seen the history of the world in our oceans and they would certainly tell us, you know, look beyond a single day and what you're doing and how it's affecting the bigger picture.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:04:51
For a lot of teens, milestones like prom are just a part of growing up. But for kids undergoing treatment for cancer and other serious diseases, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital made sure they didn't miss out by throwing a formal of their own.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:05:07
'The hospital rolled out the red carpet for its annual Teen Formal in Memphis, Tennessee. This year's theme was: On Cloud Nine. More than 60 patients and their guests were in attendance, trading hospital visits for hair appointments and treatment plans for tuxes and dresses -- a chance to celebrate how far they've come.
Presli Juliana Denson
00:05:25
And we just got to do a whole bunch of cool things like getting our makeup done, getting our hair done, going in a limo there, walking the red carpet. I had a lot of fun.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:05:35
'That's Presli Juliana Denson. The 16-year-old from Tishomingo, Mississippi, was diagnosed with stage four Hodgkin's lymphoma last November.
Presli Juliana Denson
00:05:43
I was very scared and I was going to be missing a lot of school and it was just sort of out of the blue.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:05:48
She spent months at St. Jude going through six rounds of chemotherapy while keeping up with her schoolwork virtually.
Presli Juliana Denson
00:05:54
When you're going through treatment, you don't really see any of your friends as much. You can't go out and do normal things and it just feels like you can't be normal in that moment.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:06:05
'By March, treatment ended and she was back in school cancer-free. Now the soon-to-be high school juniors on summer break, excited to hang with their friends and tend to her family's cows. For Presli, Teen Formal was more than just a night to dress up. It was a chance to reconnect with other teens who understood what she had been through.
Presli Juliana Denson
00:06:23
It just felt unreal and you felt on top of the world like you could do anything after that. And it just made you feel connected to a whole bunch of new people.
Cori'Anna White
00:06:37
Good afternoon to the oh so lit class of 2026.
Alyssa Richardson
00:06:43
Today I stand before you deeply grateful...
Mariama Diallo
00:06:46
We did it Joe, yes we did.
'Nia-Sarai Perry
00:06:48
Today we stand here, not only as graduates, but as proof of what is possible when faith...
Krista Bo Polanco
00:06:55
'You just heard from a couple of Spelman College's valedictorians speaking at Sunday's commencement. Yes, you heard that right, a couple. In fact, there were actually seven valedictorians out of nearly 600 graduates. Now the all-women's Historically Black College in Atlanta has had multiple co-valedictoriants for the past several years. But seven is a record for the school. So it's only fitting that these scholars earned a special nickname: the Spelmen Seven. Student government president Cori'Anna White and fellow valedictorians Alyssa Richardson and Nia- Sarai Perry told CNN they're appreciating their close-knit bond with one another.
Cori'Anna White
00:07:30
This is the epitome of sisterhood, this is the epitomy of Black excellence, but it's also the epitom of being able to recognize our worth, putting our best foot forward and knowing what it is that we want to accomplish with that.
Alyssa Richardson
00:07:43
To be the Spelman Seven together has been amazing. I love these girls so much. And it's just really been a ride and we're gonna be sisters for life.
'Nia-Sarai Perry
00:07:52
This is only the beginning for us. It's only up from here. And we are only just going to continue to break down walls and break down barriers.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:08:02
'Up next, a famous bald eagle couple's live-streamed love story continues. But a plot twist is a race to protect their home. Hear how elementary school kids are getting involved after a quick break.
Jenny Voisard
00:08:23
It's unscripted, it's in the raw, the dynamics of their relationship. They act like an old married couple.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:08:32
Perched about 145 feet up at Jeffrey Pine overlooking Big Bear Lake in Southern California sits one of the internet's favorite nests. Almost 800,000 people subscribe to a YouTube channel that livestreams the trials and tribulations of America's favorite bald eagle couple, Jackie and Shadow. It's basically a reality show in its rawest form, filled with drama and heartbreak. But this season, there was some good news. They welcomed two new chicks that hatched over Easter weekend. Keeping with tradition, they let local third graders get the final say in naming them.
Jenny Voisard
00:09:05
They are named Sandy and Luna and they are adorable and they grow every day and change every day and they will be fully grown by about week nine. Week 10 is when they could potentially fledge the nest. So we don't have too much time with them.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:09:24
Jenny Voisard worked with Friends of Big Bear Valley, the environmental educational nonprofit behind the livestream. Now there's concern that Jackie and Shadow's nest could be threatened by plans for a new housing and marina development.
Jenny Voisard
00:09:36
The last undisturbed shoreline or undeveloped shoreline on the lake is a mile from Jackie and Shadow's nest. And that's where they forage and perch for food. The reason for our organization to begin with was in opposition to this development 25 years ago. And we've been fighting it to this day, trying to preserve it. And we have one last chance to do that.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:10:01
The Friends of Big Bear Valley and San Bernardino Mountain Land Trust are racing to raise $10 million by July 31st to buy and preserve the land known as Moon Camp. They're almost a third of the way there last time we checked. The nonprofit worries that the construction noise and the habitat disruption could drive Jackie and Shadow away.
Jenny Voisard
00:10:20
They picked that nest for a reason and we just want to honor that decision and we don't want to make it harder for them to thrive.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:10:28
We've reached out to the developers for comment and haven't heard back. However, San Bernardino and project supporters told the LA Times back in September the development underwent extensive environmental review and would not negatively affect wildlife. Local students who have been watching the eagle habitat in class have sprung into action. They told CNN affiliate KGO they got to work writing letters to celebrities and community members and getting entrepreneurial to raise funds for the cause.
Jenny Voisard
00:10:56
I did a lemonade stand with Max and my friend Asher. I put up some flyers around some different businesses. I'm doing watering plants for people.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:11:05
Their efforts moved Jenny so much, she zoomed into their classrooms to personally thank them.
Jenny Voisard
00:11:10
It's so amazing because now these kids are getting exposed to the concept that if they do something or they try something or if they believe in something, something can happen. And I think these kids need that right now, in addition to the fact that they're our future stewards of this planet.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:11:29
If you'd like to contribute to Save Moon Camp, check out savemooncamp.org or click the link in our show notes.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:11:38
'All right, that's all for now. Thank you so much for listening. Be sure to join us tomorrow for the next edition of CNN One Thing, hosted by David Rind. CNN's Have I Got News for You co-host, Michael Ian Black, joins to discuss what Stephen Colbert's exit from late night TV means for comedy under the Trump administration. Take care, until next time.