The frogs are jumping and the green beans need picking. I’m in self-imposed isolation as I ready myself to visit Mom later this week.

My personal good news is that we have AC again. And man-o-man is it a big one. For some reason, efficiency in cooling does not translate to space efficient. Or maybe someone in marketing wants us to feel like we got what we paid for.

Here’s a bit of good news that came my way this week while I remembered when a summer meant moving as little as possible.

From what I read, nakedness is an accepted form of protest in Portlandia.

Naked in Portland

Okay, this might not really be classified as good new, but it did bring a smile to my face, so I’m including in hopes it will do the same for you.

First of all, please don’t put your naked orifice on the bare pavement. You don’t know who spit there or what bird pooped there.

Okay with that out of the way…

Dubbed Naked Athena, this woman wore nothing but a mask and a toque. She appeared in a haze of tear gas against a line of federal officers. She remained unfazed as agents fired pepper balls at her feet. A young man tried to protect her by stepping in front of her with a makeshift shield.

Some compare her to the Vietnam protester who placed a daisy in the barrel of a gun during a demonstration way back when.

Douglas park renamed Douglass Park

For three years, students at North Lonsdale’s Leadership academy lobbied the Chicago Park district to change the name of the Steven Douglas Park to honor Frederick Douglass.

Steven Douglas was a slave owner from Illinois who lost the presidential bid to Abraham Lincoln.

Fredrick Douglass was an abolitionist. He spoke at the 1893 Chicago’s World’s Fair. He represented Haiti, the only Black nation with a pavilion. He said this about the “Negro Problem:”

There is, in fact, no such problem. The real problem has been given a false name. It is called Negro for a purpose. It has substituted Negro for Nation, because the one is despised and hated, and the other is loved and honored. The true problem is a national problem. The problem is whether the American people have honesty enough, loyalty enough, honor enough, patriotism enough to live up to their own Constitution.” 

From WTTW website

Wow. That was in 1893. When will things change?

Park District board member Jose Munoz acknowledged that the change would probably not be happening without the relentless efforts of the students.

Larry is a Miracle

“I’ll never stop fighting.” That’s the text 64 year-old Larry Kelly sent his wife before he was placed on a ventilator. More than three months later, and after 51 days on a ventilator, Larry finally went home.

At one point, doctors called his wife in for their final good-bye. Remembering his promise, she said no to removing life support.

“I said he would want to live,” she told CNN.

Larry offered this advice:

“I’m very lucky. But on Easter Sunday in New York 527 people died, so people were dying all around me and I didn’t die. Is that a miracle? I don’t know, but this disease affects not only individuals but their entire families.” 

“I feel so much for the people who lost loved ones, and it’s on everybody to wear their mask,” Kelly said tearfully. “You don’t want this. It was not easy to get here.”

CNN.com.

Now, that’s some really good news!

What’s on your good news radar this week? More is always better.