Marlo Thomas: Free to Be… You and Me — Forty Years Later.

Forty years ago this month, a group of my friends and I released “Free to Be… You and Me,” a children’s record created to expel the gender and racial stereotypes of the era, while rewriting all those pat “happily ever afters” that dominated the fairy tales of our youth. Our mission was simple: to convince children that their dreams were not only boundless, but achievable.

Marlo Thomas and friends in “Free to Be… You and Me.” Isn’t it time we remade this?

Saw this article by Marlo Thomas on HuffPo and immediately sent it to a friend. My friend is always banging on about this music and TV special. She has a seven year-old daughter and as “Free to Be…” was a seminal part of her own youth in the 70s, she wants her daughter to find the empowerment that she felt she found in “Free to Be… .”

We both think it’s way past time that someone remade this, include new ideas like same-sex parents, multi-racial normalcy, bullying, childhood suicide and depression and so much more. This stuff is too important to be sluffed off as a period piece.

Who should we get to spearhead this? My friend and I think Ellen is the right choice. Let’s get on that.