Blue Sky Times: Beatles History, Guide Penguins and the Ultimate Tourist

Chicago saw some very sunny days this past week just in time for Valentine’s Day. These sunny days come with a reminder of all of the love and beauty that exists in the world. The Blue Sky Times is here to also remind you to show some extra love and sunshine to all the people who mean something to you this Valentine’s day. Here are this week’s good news stories.

Beatles Photos On Display

Photos taken by Paul McCartney on a 35mm Pentax camera from 1963-1964, right at the start of what was known as “Beatlemania,” were mostly unseen and left as negatives and contact sheets. Two years ago, these photos were rediscovered, CNN reported. 

The 60-year-old photos are currently on display at the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Virginia and will be on display at the Brooklyn Museum from May 3 to Aug. 18, The New York Times reported.

The photos are all taken by Paul McCartney and capture different images of the world around the band as they rose to fame in the early ‘60s, according to CNN. The photos also show John Lennon, Ringo Starr, George Harrison and McCartney during this time.

“Looking at these photos now, decades after they were taken, I find there’s a sort of innocence about them,” McCartney said in his book’s forward. “Everything was new to us at this point.”

Penguin and Squid

Penguin, a penguin at Birdworld in Surrey, England, has become something of a “guide-bird” for their companion Squid, a three-year-old penguin who suffers from cataracts, a condition which causes the lens of the eye to cloud and lose the ability to see, according to an article from the Longview News Journal.

The two have become inseparable, and Penguin successfully helps Squid to navigate their enclosure and find food, surprising their handlers and visitors alike, according to the article.

“The intuitive behavior observed between Penguin and Squid has revealed a remarkable level of empathy and understanding, showcasing the profound connections that can form within the animal kingdom,” a member of the staff at Birdworld said in the article.

Penguin also experienced an unknown illness during the pandemic, causing him to be timid and separated from the other penguins at Birdworld, according to the article. The two were able to lean on each other as Squid lost their eyesight and Penguin was reintroduced to other penguins.

“That is how Penguin has been such an enormous help to her,” the penguins’ keeper said. “His stability is something she could rely on, the base from which she has steadily expanded her world.”

Ultimate Tourist

Miami resident and 79-year-old Luisa Yu finally achieved her long-standing goal of traveling to every country in the world when she visited Serbia last November, the only remaining country she had yet to visit out of the 193 recognized by the United Nations, NPR reported.

Yu first began to dream of traveling as a child in the Philippines, inspired by the movies she saw, especially American Westerns whose natural backdrops she longed to visit. When she later came to the U.S. as an exchange student, she quickly began exploring the country and has been to all but two states — Kentucky and Oklahoma.

To aid in her travels, Yu eventually became a part-time travel agent which created even more opportunities for travel and more access to countries the standard tourist might have more trouble accessing, like in 2008 when she was invited to Iran to see the tomb of Cyrus the Great.

While she had to sometimes juggle up to three jobs at once, earned a real estate license and waited 15 years to obtain her green card. These difficulties couldn’t hold Yu back from experiencing the world. In her triumph, Yu said she plans on slowing down and becoming more selective with the countries she visits next.

Have a great week everyone and remember, as The Beatles once sang, “And in the end / The love you take / Is equal to the love you make.”

This article was written by Isabella Grosso, Lilli Malone and Hunter Minné