Free to Be - In Honor Of Our Minneapolis Home

Today’s episode is an encore of episode 220, “The PCPS Sings Along with Free to Be…You and Me (and Marlo)." We’re re-releasing this special episode at a moment when its message feels more necessary than ever.

In the wake of recent events in Minneapolis — a city deeply connected to the heart of PCPS — we’re returning to Free To Be… You and Me, the landmark project created by Marlo Thomas and friends that shaped how so many Gen X kids learned about empathy, fairness, individuality, and what it means to live in community with one another.

This episode isn’t just about nostalgia or sing-alongs (though there are plenty of those). It’s about revisiting the values we were raised on — values reinforced by Sesame Street, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, Schoolhouse Rock, and other touchstones that taught us to see the humanity in everyone. At a time when fear and division feel loud, these lessons remind us that kindness, understanding, and connection are not naïve ideas — they are essential ones.

We’re sharing this episode again as an invitation: to remember, to reflect, and to carry these messages forward. Our Weekly Reader newsletter will also include ways you can help, show support, and stand in solidarity with those affected in our community.

The music and the messages of "Free to Be… You and Me" weren’t just songs from our childhood. They are an affirmation of what it means to be human — together.

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