Pop Culture Preservation Society

Join us today for a continuation of our discussion about the most beloved ancient relic that ultimately belonged to just one generation (hint: it was us): and that is the mixtape, a DIY medium exchanged between friends and lovers that was, on its surface, a way to share music but was actually a thinly veiled communication device intended to express our feelings to another person.

There is one very particular kind of mixtape that we couldn’t fit into last week’s discussion – and to shortchange it would’ve been to erase an entire generation’s yearning for something very specific...Today we are talking about the Make Out Mixtape. Because of the age we were when we were making mixtapes – whether you were in middle school, high school, or college – a lot of our mixtapes were intended to woo. Or inspire special feelings that encouraged us to get closer to another person. Possibly with our bodies. Because we were in the midst of our sexual awakening.

Even if you never got any action in high school, these tapes were aspirational. Maybe they were helping you fantasize about the things you would like to do if you were ever given the chance. Or maybe your tape was just step one in helping someone think about you in that way.

Today's episode will take you behind the curtain of both Carolyn's and Kristin's adolescent makeout sessions and the soundtracks that accompanied them. Get ready for the swoonworthy sounds of makeout masters like DeBarge, Phil Collins, Chicago, Anita Baker, Lionel Richie, and Feivel the mouse (not even kidding). Time travel with us and let's see if we can get that estrogen flowing again!

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Have you ever stopped to acknowledge the profound impact of your childhood friendships, even the most casual and fleeting ones, on your adult identity? This week's episode is a re-share of Kristin's interview with Dear Nina: Conversations About Friendship; a discussion that shows how nostalgia for our childhoods is helpful when discovering who we are today. Carolyn and Michelle help introduce the episode with their own discoveries, too -- friends who mirrored their complicated family situations, friends who showed them what wealth really looks like -- we all have people from our pasts who helped us learn about ourselves.

Here's what Dear Nina has to say about this episode: Walk down memory lane with Kristin Nilsen, a middle-grade fiction writer and co-host of The Pop Culture Preservation Society Podcast, as we scrutinize our early social interactions and their lasting influence. We acknowledge the importance of these friendships, even those that were temporary, and appreciate the roles they played in shaping us. We also take a quick nostalgic dive into the central friendship themes in our favorite childhood books from Charlotte’s Web to The Secret Garden to The Babysitter’s Club series and the Sweet Valley High series. Special shoutout to Braeside Elementary School and the many classmates who made my childhood so special."

Many thanks to Dear Nina for the opportunity, the conversation, and for the friendship!

If we get real about the books we read in the Gen X era, there might be one category that helped us the most -- the books we passed around our classrooms and hid under our mattresses because they brazenly talked about all the messiness of growing up (like bodies, babies, boobs and body odor). These were the guidebooks for our own coming of age journey. Join us as we dish about all those paperbacks from library shelves and drugstore spinners, the cautionary tales of drugs and unintended pregnancies, the portrayals of real kids (just like you) struggling with real problems (just like you), from authors like Norma Klein, Paul Zindel, and ANONYMOUS. But no conversation about coming of age is complete without the inclusion of Judy Blume; we top off this episode with an interview with Rachelle Bergstein, author of the new book The Genius of Judy: How Judy Blume Changed All of Our Childhoods. You might be surprised to find out just how big her contribution was and how much her work reflected a very unique moment in history.

Purchase “The Genius of Judy” at

Books and Books Key West (Judy Blume’s bookstore)

Amazon

Bookshop.org

Follow the Pop Culture Preservation Society on Instagram, Facebook and 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 [email protected]

There's a new reason to celebrate the awesomeness of "Free To Be Generation" and we're chatting all about it in today's new opening. Kristin shares some exciting news which just might involve a PCPS roadtrip and meetup. Listen for all the scoop.

Free To Be ... You and Me was our generation's manifesto, played in every household and every classroom across the nation until we all knew that it was all right to cry, and mommies are people, and Atalanta didn't have to get married if she didn't want to. Join us for a deep dive on the album's origin story and take our hands, come along as we r-u-u-u-u-u-n-n-n-n with our own thoughts and feelings about our favorite songs and stories. Which lyrics made Kristin cry real tears ON THE AIR? And, 50 years later, how far do you think we've come? You might be surprised at some of the responses.

Watch “Stars in the House” with Marlo Thomas

Watch Trey McIntyre Dance Project

Free To Be You And Me performed by Sarah Bareilles

Follow the Pop Culture Preservation Society on Instagram, Facebook and 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 [email protected]

Fresh off a group viewing of the 1980 Brooke Shields, Christopher Atkins classic “The Blue Lagoon” we react, cringe, shout, and mostly, just wonder where CPS was during the filming. Does the movie hold up? Which one of us remembers it clearly? And what name do we decide to call Richard's oft-exposed lower region? Trust us, this is a conversation you want to be a part of. Loincloths are optional, obviously.

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