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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Join us as we chat about the 1979 movie, The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders (starring Jane Seymour) and how “America’s Sweethearts” grabbed hold of (two of) us long before their reality show and Netflix series. Which one of us was infatuated with them? Who not only despises the DCC but considered them their mortal enemy? And which host do we discover not only tried out but MADE an NHL dance team?!? Listen now!

Shop our link at bookshop.org to support independent bookstores and the PCPS.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel here

Follow the Pop Culture Preservation Society on Instagram, Facebook an TikTok

Support the PCPS by becoming a patron on Patreon. Check all the extra perks you get here.

Help the PCPS keep on truckin' by making a one-time donation here

Subscribe to the PCPS email newsletter, "The Weekly Reader" here

Send us an email at hello@poppreservationists.com

Your pop preservationists turn into cultural analysts as they discuss new findings about how young people listen to music today -- and what that could mean for their future nostalgia. You all know how much we treasure our music memories (and we know you do, too -- that's why you're here!) and it gives us heart palpitations to think that future generations might miss out on that????? If the music industry continues down its current path, music nostalgia as we know it is indeed in danger. But all is not lost! If we all understand the value of what those someday-grown-ups will lose, we can all contribute to its salvation. The question is HOW? Share your thoughts with us after listening!

Shop our link at bookshop.org to support independent bookstores and the PCPS.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel here

Follow the Pop Culture Preservation Society on Instagram, Facebook an TikTok

Support the PCPS by becoming a patron on Patreon. Check all the extra perks you get here.

Help the PCPS keep on truckin' by making a one-time donation here

Subscribe to the PCPS email newsletter, "The Weekly Reader" here

Send us an email at hello@poppreservationists.com