By Scottie Andrew

For years, I’ve heard about the decline of the American neighborhood — that we don’t talk to the people we live next to, that we don’t engage with our immediate communities, that those seemingly superficial social ties we have with the residents within our zip code are dying. 

I beg to differ! The people in my little orbit, whether we meet once in passing or run into each other weekly, make my neighborhood feel like home.

Last week, I held up a grocery line because the cashier and bagger and I were eagerly exchanging stories of our Beyoncé concert experiences, all because they spotted my Cowboy Carter hat. A mixologist at my favorite bar quietly comped my drink by surprise. A neighbor at the end of my street gives a friendly honk from his trunk whenever he drives past me and my dog. And a server at a restaurant where I left my wallet ran over to the address on my ID after her shift ended to reunite me with it, sealing the delivery with a hug. All of this within a half-mile radius of my home!

People really can be wonderful, thoughtful and warm. So show some love to the people who make your neighborhood a lovelier place to live!

Here are some good things that happened this week.

Kangala Wildlife Rescue/Facebook

A wily weenie comes home

As a Dachshund owner, I have been anxiously awaiting updates on the quest for Valerie, a Miniature Dachshund who ran away from her owners during a 2023 trip to Australia’s remote Kangaroo Island. Despite her small frame and competing for food with wallabies, kangaroos and feral cats, Valerie has thrived in the wild! Residents spotted her several times on the island, but the wily pup constantly evaded capture — until now!

After almost a year-and-a-half on the run (529 days!), the Miniature Dachshund was finally captured with a plan as sly as she is. Rescuers baited her using a tatty T-shirt that belonged to her owner — even after more than a year away from home, Valerie still recognized their scent!

Rescuers tore up pieces of the smelly shirt to lure Valerie into an open cage, where Kangala Wildlife Rescue director Lisa Karran was wearing what remained of the shirt. After a few trips to the cage (and snuggle sessions with Lisa), Valerie sauntered over to the area one night to find the door to her enclosure close behind her. Her rescuers remotely triggered the door to shut. After some initial anxiety, Valerie fell back into an old habit from her past life as a pet — she curled up in a little donut and fell asleep. (If you have a Dachshund, you know exactly how precious this pose is.) Dear Val is getting her bearings at the rescue, but soon enough, she’ll be back on the mainland with her owner, no doubt wreaking adorable havoc.

CNN

Robot whizzes learn to rebuild

This team of mini engineers is heading to nationals! The Marquez Charter Elementary School fourth-grade robotics team just won a competition in Iowa with their “Hole in One” bot who can expertly dunk a tiny, robot-sized ball into a small basket. 

Even more impressive, though, is how the team got here. The Los Angeles-based students lost their school and all of the robots they’d built in the Palisades Fire earlier this year. Some of the bot fanatics even lost their family homes. 

Charlie Liu, fourth grade engineering whiz, remembered seeing smoke fill the sky while evacuating and thinking, “Oh my god, the school … oh my god, the robot!” 

You can’t keep a determined kid down, though, so even after they moved to another elementary school unharmed in the fire, and with limited time before their next competition, they decided to rebuild their bots from scratch. For three days a week every week, thanks to donations from their neighbors, the team worked on their robots and even improved on existing models.

“Just look at their spirit!” said Ethan Tyre, whose son Winston is heading to nationals with his team. “The fact that this happened, but we’re not defeated.”

Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP/Getty Images

Wanna flourish? Read this

Are you flourishing? It’s not the same as being happy. “Flourishing” more broadly describes what it means to live a good, full life, bolstered by good health, financial security and strong relationships, among other criteria, says the Global Flourishing Study, which polled residents of more than 20 countries to see whether they were really thriving. Indonesia has the highest rate of flourishing, researchers found. (The US ranked 15th.) 

Researchers are still figuring out why the top-ranking flourishers felt that way. But what they do know is that some of the most important factors of flourishing are within our control. We can participate in our communities and form new friendships or deepen existing ones, they told CNN Health. 

To figure out whether you’re flourishing, the research team devised a 12-question survey that asks us to interrogate our mental and physical health, contentedness and purpose. Read the story to learn more about what it means to really flourish!

CNN

A massive canvas with a major meaning

“Impossibility is a Myth” — that’s what Kanyeyachukwu “Kanye” Tagbo-Okeke believes. The 15-year-old Nigerian teen named his record-breaking art piece for his belief that, as a nonverbal person with autism, he isn’t to be underestimated. 

“He doesn’t talk, but we want his art to tell his story on his behalf,” his mother Silvia told CNN. 

Tagbo-Okeke just won the Guinness World Record for largest painted canvas, which was unveiled on World Autism Day in April. His work, which shows a giant infinity sign surrounded by faces of varying emotions, measured over 12,380 square meters (around 133,267 square feet). 

Tagbo-Okeke’s work is meant to signify “acceptance of neurodiversity,” his mother said. 

“That’s why Kanye does what he does,” Silvia said. “Awareness for people to know the kind of person he is — to understand people like him.”

Natalie Behring/Guinness World Records

Tall meets small

The world’s smallest dog met the world’s tallest dog in April, and the Guinness World Records folks were there to capture their playdate for the ages. Itty bitty Pearl stands at a whopping 3.6 inches tall, while Reggie looms above her at 3 feet, 4 inches. A study in extremes!

Florida-based Chihuahua Pearl traveled to Idaho for a get-together with Great Dane Reggie, which solidified the two as easy friends. They sniffed each other with caution and excitement before settling on the couch to snuggle. They followed each other around Reggie’s house into the kitchen — Pearl can fit in the gentle giant’s food bowl, and Reg can comfortably rest his head on the countertops. For their good behavior, I say they’ve more than earned a big treat (or tiny one, considering Pearl fits in her owner’s palm).

And here’s one more picture of their meeting for good measure:

Natalie Behring/Guinness World Records

Johnny Stockshooter/Alamy Stock Photo

For all of its flaws, Florida is still my happy place. It’s where I can reliably spot the most beautiful birds, where I can still find the best café con leche and where the natural world is ever-present even in the most developed parts of the state. It’s CNN anchor Boris Sanchez’s happy place, too — specifically, the timelessly stunning Florida Keys.

To get there, you’ve got to take the Overseas Highway, a 113-mile-long marvel that takes you across the Atlantic Ocean and Florida Bay (and some of the bluest water you’ve ever seen) from mainland Florida down to Key West. All the way down, there are sites that’ll stop you in your tracks: shipwreck dives offshore, a sea turtle rescue teeming with awe-inspiring patients and the Old Seven Mile Bridge, which recently reopened opened for pedestrians and cyclists to walk above the water and view the reefs below.

For more about why Sanchez feels most himself in Florida, and why it’s not all bad news down there, check out his episode of “My Happy Place,” a CNN series that follows staff and celebs to their personal paradise. 

This week on the 5 Good Things podcast, a primatologist weighs in on the viral 100 men vs. silverback gorilla debate. After losing a loved one to drunk driving, the Montana Bar Fairies helped pass a new state law. Plus, can we grow food in space? 

Apologies for the Dachshund spam, but I simply must share footage of an annual meeting of the weenies in Hungary. Hundreds of the long-snouted cuties recently gathered in an attempt to break a world record and look cute doing it. Click here to watch!

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