Behind the Scenes Minis: Air Conditioned Rabble Rouser

Summary

Podcast Summary: Stuff You Missed in History Class

Episode: Behind the Scenes Minis: Air Conditioned Rabble Rouser
Date: August 7, 2026
Hosts: Tracy V. Wilson & Holly Frey
Podcast by: iHeartPodcasts

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Episode Overview

In this "Behind the Scenes Minis" episode, Tracy and Holly reflect on their recent main episode about heat waves and the historic figure Samuel Plimsoll—a champion for seafaring labor reform. The conversation meanders through personal experiences with extreme heat, societal responses to climate change and heat, the evolving discourse around air conditioning, and the enduring lessons of historical kindness and nuance, all set to the show's signature blend of thoughtful commentary and friendly banter.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Upcoming Topics and Lingering Fascinations

• Tracy shares her longstanding interest in covering the history of lifeguarding and lifesaving services, inspired by tragic summer drownings in Massachusetts, but laments the lack of cohesive research sources (02:26–03:38).
  • Quote: "Another thing I have wanted to talk about...is the development of lifeguards, lifeguarding life saving services. Because of all the drownings that happen." — Tracy (02:27)

2. Personal Experiences with Extreme Heat

• Both hosts discuss how the increasing frequency and severity of heat waves have affected their lives.
  • Holly, who professes to usually enjoy hot weather, describes experiencing heat exhaustion for the first time as an adult while in Florida, leading her to be more vigilant about hydration and self-care (04:23–05:53).
    • Quote: "This is the first year that I can think of...where I've been, like, oh, yeah, too, too hot." — Holly (04:29)
  • Tracy reflects on her small yard and how mowing in the heat is now more physically challenging.
  • Conversations touch on generational shifts in awareness—children today are taught to take heat more seriously than previous generations (06:05–08:17).

3. Shifting Attitudes Toward Heat and Safety

• Both hosts agree that heat has historically been taken less seriously than other weather threats, recounting stories from their youth and the delay in broader recognition of its dangers, particularly for athletes and outdoor workers (05:55–09:20).
• Holly now acts as a personal "watchdog," always ready to offer water to laborers she encounters.

4. The Air Conditioning Discourse

• Tracy expresses frustration with the oversimplification of air conditioning debates, particularly the prescriptive attitude of "just install AC," ignoring costs and European building constraints.
  • Quote: "Let me tell you, that cost $30,000." — Tracy, on installing ductless AC (10:54)
• Holly brings levity, sharing humorous stories of Europeans at the U.S. World Cup, both delighted and dismayed by America’s powerful air conditioning (11:32–13:26).
• The discussion underscores AC’s cultural ubiquity in the U.S. versus its scarcity and recent necessity during European heat waves.
  • Quote: "I saw so many people on social media being like, how am I gonna go home to a place without air conditioning after being in hotels that are, like, blasting degree air...?" — Holly (12:37)

5. Museum Heat and Travel Challenges

• Tracy recounts booking a London hotel during a historic heat wave, relieved by finding a hotel with actual working air conditioning, but surprised by the lack of AC in major museums (13:26–15:19).

6. Reflections on Samuel Plimsoll

• The hosts transition to discuss Samuel Plimsoll, his enduring kindness, and his impact on maritime safety reform.
• Holly reads a heartfelt excerpt from Plimsoll’s preface, emphasizing the value of sincere, direct communication (18:51–19:28).
  • Quote: "'I have no idea of writing a book...The idea, therefore, is very formidable to me. I will suppose myself to be writing to an individual and to be saying all I could think of...'" — Samuel Plimsoll, read by Holly (18:53)
• Both hosts connect this philosophy to their own approaches with fans, public speaking, and making history relevant and approachable (19:30–23:47).

7. Historical Nuance and Kindness

• Discussion of how stories often oversimplify people and events, and appreciation for Plimsoll’s nuanced understanding of the complexities in historical and political relationships (31:50–32:46).
  • Quote: "There's plenty of...historical context that's super, super relevant that people will want to boil down to, this is good, this is bad...and it's like, no, really, we're still talking about actual human beings operating from a variety of motives." — Tracy (32:01)
• The hosts assert that care, empathy, and self-kindness are required to be resilient and effective—inspired by Plimsoll's example (33:35–34:03).

8. Memorable and Lighthearted Moments

• Holly jokes about Plimsoll's Victorian insult, "He was not a gentleman," as the most severe rebuke he could muster (29:10).
• Relatability of experiencing an 80s pop song as an internal soundtrack for modern dissociation, adding the show's signature wit (29:14).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments (with Timestamps)

• "Well, it would be upbeat because we would be talking about how we save people from drought from drowning." — Tracy (03:42)
• "So like, yeah, we can do this, but a lot of people cannot afford $30,000." — Tracy, on AC installation costs (10:56)
• "I'm just more. I'm used to it. The 80s will feel great to me, which is why I want to travel." — Holly, on temperature differences between the UK and US (12:02)
• "'He was not a gentleman.'...I just found that hilarious. I love that whole story. What a little rabble rouser." — Holly, on Plimsoll’s politest insult and legacy (29:10–29:14)
• "May we all be such kind creatures as him and so willing to...put ourselves in the line of fire." — Holly, on Plimsoll’s legacy (30:45)
• “That is also important because it makes you able to go out into the world a better and more resilient person.” — Holly, on self-care (33:37)
• “We just want to take care of each other. I think he's a great inspiration and an icon of kindness that we can all get behind.” — Holly (34:03)

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Important Timestamps

• 02:26 — Discussing heat waves, lifeguarding, and the hazards of summer.
• 04:23 — Personal anecdotes about extreme heat and new challenges.
• 05:55 — Reflection on attitudes toward heat as a “minor” weather threat.
• 07:19–08:17 — Changing awareness and tragic examples of heat danger.
• 09:30 — Advocacy for legal protections for outdoor workers.
• 10:54 — The realities and costs of installing air conditioning.
• 12:37 — Soccer fans’ surprise at American air conditioning.
• 13:26 — Traveling abroad and the stress of unexpected heat and lack of AC.
• 18:53 — Holly reads from Plimsoll’s charmingly humble preface.
• 29:10 — The “not a gentleman” anecdote as a period insult.
• 30:45–34:03 — Closing reflections on Plimsoll’s impact and attitude.

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Takeaway Themes

• Climate and Historical Context: Heat is only growing as a hazard, requiring modern solutions, increased societal awareness, and historical perspective on responses.
• Kindness and Advocacy: Both in history and now, people like Samuel Plimsoll highlight the power of persistent, compassionate advocacy for societal reform.
• Nuance in History: Real people and events are more complex than simple good/bad narratives—careful, empathetic storytelling matters.
• Practical Resilience: Self-care (including appreciating rest and comfort) is necessary to sustain the work of kindness, advocacy, and learning.

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Host Tone & Conclusion

The tone is warm, conversational, and at times self-deprecating. Holly and Tracy mix historical insight with present-day relatability, never shying away from candid personal experience or humor, and always steering back to the value of caring for each other and learning from the past.

Final Sendoff:
“We just want to take care of each other… [Plimsoll is] a great inspiration and an icon of kindness that we can all get behind.” — Holly (34:03)

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For listeners: This episode is an engaging blend of historical insight, relatable anecdotes, and practical advice, all anchored by the legacy of Samuel Plimsoll’s kindness and tireless reform. Even if you missed the main episode or the broader discourse, you’ll come away informed, amused, and perhaps inspired to look out for yourself and others during the next heatwave—or any challenge the world throws your way.

Transcript

[Tracy V. Wilson]

This is an iHeart podcast.

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[Tracy V. Wilson]

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[Tracy V. Wilson]

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[Holly Frey]

Welcome to Stuff youf Missed in History Class, a production of iHeartradio.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Hello and Happy Friday. I'm Tracy V. Wilson.

[Holly Frey]

And I'm Holly Fry.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

We talked about some historical heat waves or historic heat waves. Both words Work. I think in this case, yes, literal years, I've been like, heat wave something heatwave talk about on the show. Another thing I have wanted to talk about the show, which is tangentially related, is the development of lifeguards, lifeguarding life saving services. Because of all the drownings that happen.

[Holly Frey]

Oh, yeah.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

In the summer. And that came up briefly in the episode when we talked about how many people have drowned in the heat waves that have taken place in Europe. That happens other places too, obviously. One of the things that has made me think that I want to do an episode at some point about lifeguarding, those kinds of life saving rescue operations is a few years ago we had a particularly bad season of drownings in Massachusetts where just a very tragic number of people who again, were all just trying to get cool and play in the water, drowned. And I have not found great resources to be able to pull that together. Maybe it will happen someday.

[Holly Frey]

Maybe not for our upbeat drowning episode.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Well, it would be upbeat because we would be talking about how we save people from drought from drowning. This episode of heat waves is a big bummer episode because the world's just getting hotter.

[Holly Frey]

Yeah.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

And while France is legally bound to achieve carbon neutrality, we are living under an administration that's canceling green energy projects. And yeah, I hate it.

[Holly Frey]

Yeah, it's not a good feeling, I will say, just to talk about the weather.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Okay.

[Holly Frey]

As you know, as people know, I love hot weather.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

I like heat.

[Holly Frey]

And I know this one is freaky humidity.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Yeah.

[Holly Frey]

This is the first year that I can think of and some of this might just be that I'm getting older, but where I've been, like, oh, yeah, too, too hot. I have actually had two, like, kind of dehydration, heat strokey events this year when I was in Florida both times. And like, both times it was a matter of, like, get some electrolytes in me, plenty of water, and I bounced right back. But. And I talked about it with my doctor and she's like, yeah, I think that's just heat strokey dehydration. That has never happened to me before. I mean, it did when I was a kid, when I was a little more delicate, but not in a long time. And that's like, for me, my own personal, like, experiential data. I'm like, oh, yeah, it's hotter than it's ever been. I can tell even when I mow the lawn, which I have to do now in like 25 to 30 minute increments because it's so freaking hot.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Yeah.

[Holly Frey]

Like, our yard is biggish. It takes a couple hours to mow the whole thing. And so, like, over the course of four days, I slowly get the lawn mowed because it's just even. I am like, wow, it's stupid if I stay out here any longer.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Yeah. Yeah. Our yard is not big. Our yard is very small. It can be done in very much less than one battery of our battery operated rechargeable mower.

[Holly Frey]

Oh, no. We have three batteries. And I will buzz through all of them and keep going. Come back the next day.

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[Tracy V. Wilson]

One of the. I thought of a lot of things while working on this one. We said at the top how it seems like heat is taken less seriously than some of the other.

[Holly Frey]

Yeah.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Forms of weather. And one of the things I talked about or thought about was back when I was a teenager, I was in a drum and bugle corps. And we rehearsed outside in the hot and the sun for hours. And I remember a couple of situations where we would be like, pushing toward a competition. They would call for a water break. An instructor would say, color guard, come over here. I wanna go over those last, you know, 16 measures again. And then we wouldn't get any water.

[Holly Frey]

Oh, no.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

And Right. And there was at least one time that somebody who was in the color guard with me wound up having to get, like, medical attention. Like she. Her. I don't. I don't know what specifically. There are multiple heat related things that can happen. And I don't know which specifically it was, but she just sort of shut down and got on the ground and wrapped her flag around her and went to the hospital. And I am hopeful that drum corps are better about that now. Surely it's one of the sources of mixed feelings that I have about my time in drum corps.

[Holly Frey]

Oh, yeah. I mean, again, this often comes up and I don't mean to like, be, you know, kind of like just throwing out the PAT thing, but like, our childhoods were dangerous.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Yeah, they were.

[Holly Frey]

Like, there just wasn't as much. And I don't mean to be like back in our day, but there was not as much information about things like this. And I think one also, there was less danger. I mean, I feel like we hit that moment in the early 2000s where things started happening where like, very fit athletes were having issues, like high school athletes. Like, I remember vaguely. And I. I feel bad cause I'm not gonna remember the details of like a foot. Like a high school football player that died because he got dehydrated during practice or Something.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Yeah.

[Holly Frey]

And forgive me if I'm not conjuring the right thing, but there was an event like that and I think that was a moment where a lot of people were like, oh, yeah, kind of

[Tracy V. Wilson]

a wake up call.

[Holly Frey]

We should really start thinking more seriously about how, you know, these activities are managed in terms of like just pure outdoor in the sun, heat safety, which is great and should always be the case.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Yeah.

[Holly Frey]

Also some of us, me are really bad about drinking enough water and I'm getting better about it. Cause I got scared straight after those two little dehydration events. But it is hard sometimes. I don't love water. I've said it many times, but I like passing out even less. But I do think, you know, we all need to. I mean, this is my PSA to everybody. Please make sure you are getting enough fluids, enough electrolytes, enough, you know, not in the sun time. I worry all the time now when I see this summer, as I said, has been particularly rough. When I see like the people that, like, it's their job to work on lawns and stuff. Yeah. I feel like I've become like a one woman watchdog group where I just carry water in my car in case I see anybody that looks like they have a problem.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Yeah, yeah.

[Holly Frey]

Even if they don't need it, if they just want to pocket it, great. I just want everybody to be okay. There's no reason to pass out because you're mowing a lawn.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Yeah. Also, I can't speak for other countries. I can only speak for the United States. Advocate for laws to protect the people who work outside.

[Holly Frey]

Yes.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Like agricultural workers who literally feed us. They are providing the food for us to eat. And a lot of places have virtually no protections related to the dangers of being out in the heat all day.

[Holly Frey]

Yeah.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

I made reference in this episode to the discourse. There has been a lot of air conditioning discourse which I found very frustrating.

[Holly Frey]

I found some of it funny. But I will tell you what I found funny recently. It might be the same thing you're getting to.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Do you want to go first?

[Holly Frey]

I don't know. Do we want to end on delight?

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Let's end on funny ones. So, yeah, I'll say my thing first because I was more frustrated. I felt like a lot of people were kind of talking past each other and a lot of people in the United States were making things sound easy that aren't.

[Holly Frey]

Oh, yeah. No.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

So, like, I saw a lot of people saying, oh, they're complaining that they can't just like their windows aren't the right shape to put in a window air conditioner. You can put in ductless air conditioning systems in old buildings. We do it over here all the time. And it's like, true, true. We do put in ductless air conditioning systems. I put a ductless air conditioning system into the house that we bought in 2019, and let me tell you, that cost $30,000.

[Holly Frey]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

So, like, yeah, we can do this, but a lot of people cannot afford $30,000. And in a lot of parts of Europe, it is more than that because of shortages of the actual equipment and stricter standards about things like the energy efficiency of the systems, the historic protections on the buildings, all of that kind of stuff. So, yeah, I found the discourse frustrating rather than funny. But I want to hear what was funny, because that does sound like a good way to end the episode.

[Holly Frey]

I have two funny things.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Okay.

[Holly Frey]

One is just a funny conversation between a friend and I, and two is specifically about air conditioning. One is that I had been. As I've been talking about on the show. I'm trying to figure out when I can plan a trip to London to see the Bayou Tapestry.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Oh, yeah.

[Holly Frey]

And I was talking to one of my friends about it, and he's like, you might not want to come now. It's really hot. And, like, again, I'm not playing one upsmanship. But it was just funny because he was not taking into account, like, what people are accustomed to. And he's like, it's getting in, like, the 80s. And I was like, oh, my darling of me, it is. The real feel is 112 at my house right now. And he was like, oh, you'll be fine. Yeah, I'm just more. I'm used to it. The 80s will feel great to me, which is why I want to travel. Here's the funny thing. The World cup, okay? Watching a lot of international visitors come to the U.S. one of the things that has delighted me is seeing how 1. A lot of their preconceived notions about what the US is like, got kind of broken. Broken down, you know, like, seeing them really realize that the US Actually does love football slash soccer, you know, that it's not like. I know there was concern about being hosted in the US and discovering, like, no, there's plenty of passion for it here. But also seeing them discover foods here, like, the ranch dressing thing has been great, but I saw so many people on social media being like, how am I gonna go home to a place without air conditioning after living? After being in hotels that are, like, blasting degree air and it feeling like such a respite outside.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Right.

[Holly Frey]

It doesn't solve the problems that you were discussing. But it has been just funny. Like I feel like people did not realize how much of a difference air conditioning can make when you are having a very, very hot day. If you've been out in the stands or celebrating or doing whatever you're doing to then go back to a room that's like Arctic Blast.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Yeah, I, I did not even think about air conditioning when we were booking the trip to England that Patrick and I took earlier this spring, because I. I didn't even think about it. It is close to ubiquitous where we live, but also at this point I've made some trips to Europe and I know that a lot of parts of it, air conditioning is not ubiquitous, but also generally in earlier years the temperature was more likely to be milder. And so we were going to England at a time when like the average temper temperature is more like in the high 70s. And so if we hadn't had air conditioning, it wouldn't have been that big of a deal. And instead we got there during the hottest May in a century where when I realized a couple of days out that that was what was going to happen, I was like, oh no. And looked and discovered that, okay, the hotel that we are staying in during the worst of this says all the rooms are air conditioned. And they were. And the air conditioning was very good. So we did not have heat exhaustion in our hotel rooms.

[Holly Frey]

Hooray. Hooray.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

It was kind of odd to go into a museum and have that museum be uncomfortably hot, because museum, that makes me nervous. Yeah, me too. Well, British Museum. Well, we could think about the British Museum for another reason to have questions about the British Museum. It got hot in a lot of it. So yeah, it was very strange when Patrick was like, oh, we'll just go to museums today. And I was like, honey, some of these museums have no air conditioning. Just so you're aware before we go over there. We still had a very lovely trip though. Even though it was so incredibly hot.

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[Tracy V. Wilson]

I still hang on to my old collection. Does it have Disney Moana too?

[Lingokids Advertiser]

My daughter is obsessed. Disney Moana, Frozen Zootopia. It's all in there.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

I'm downloading this right now.

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[Tracy V. Wilson]

Whether you're calling the wise women in your life, video calling your girlfriends across the country, or checking in on someone who always knows how to make you smile, Staying Connected Matters those small conversations, shared laughs and quick hellos are what keep relationships strong even when life gets busy. Some of the most life giving conversations start with just a phone call. That's why AT and T guarantees the network you can rely on so you can focus on the moments and people that matter most. That's the AT&T guarantee. AT&T connecting changes everything. Terms and conditions apply. Visit att.comguarantee for details.

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[Tracy V. Wilson]

The old gays return for season two of Silver Linings, their hit podcast from iHeart's Ruby Studio in partnership with Veeve Healthcare. Just wait until you hear what hosts Robert McBill and Jesse have have in store. This time around, they strut back down memory lane, navigating life, love, loss and everything that shaped them along the way. And as usual, someone just might break into song. From leather bars to bath houses, dance floors to drag brunch, nothing stays off limits. These are the kinds of insights that can only come from experience. So listen to your elders, honey, and discover the silver linings you can take with you. All Sass, zero filter and decades of perspective from four friends proving that queer joy only gets better with age. On the podcast that never gets old. Listen to Silver Linings available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Holly Frey]

We talked about Samuel Plimle this week.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

We did, we did.

[Holly Frey]

She's like a delightful ma'. Am. One of the things that charmed me to pieces while I was reading his book was the preface, which I'm going to read a small excerpt from, because it just encapsulates who he was.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

I think he writes, I'm excited.

[Holly Frey]

Quote, I have no idea of writing a book. I don't know how to do it, and fear I could not succeed if I tried. The idea, therefore, is very formidable to me. I will suppose myself to be writing to an individual and to be saying all I could think of to induce him to lend his utmost aid in remedying the great evil which we all deplore. And I will write so far as I can, just as I would speak to him if he were now sitting by my side. That's so sweet. I understand why people who are like, what are you doing here in the United States? Were then like, we love you, Samuel Plimsoll.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

That's some good advice.

[Holly Frey]

It is.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

It reminds me a little bit of many, many years ago, I was on the first Jonathan Colton cruise that was ever done. And a lot of the performers were people that I had been fans of for many years who I was gonna have the opportunity to actually have conversations with beyond just like having a signature done at a book signing or a fan table or something like that. And so I dealt with this by just pretending that I was also famous. And that really helped me to get over my jitters and just have regular conversations with people. And I think that's a little similar.

[Holly Frey]

I think I do the reverse of that.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Oh, yeah.

[Holly Frey]

I just am like, this is a human who needs to do human things. They have to eat and use the ladies or men's room or whatever room they wish. They have to do all the same stuff as me. It's very. You know, they put their pants on one leg at a time.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

I feel like that's two sides of the same coin because it's two different ways of saying we're the same. And I can talk to you. Does that make sense?

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[Holly Frey]

Mine is a little. I don't know. I feel like mine might be a little more or less. I don't know. I just strip them of their fame. In my head, I'm like, you're just a dude who happens to know about a thing I need to talk to you about.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

This was also, like, 15 years ago or something. And who knows what I would. How I would approach things in a similar situation today.

[Holly Frey]

You know what? Also, really, I mean, I already felt this way, but there was an instance that really cemented that, which was leading up to the 2020 election, I hosted a podcast that we did at iHeart called why I'm Voting. Oh, yeah. And I got to interview a lot of very famous people about, like, what brings them to the poll. And this was, of course, going on during the pandemic, and so it was all online, and I would literally see people just, like, join in from, like, sometimes their bathrooms. Like, they were like, this is the room with the best sound. Like, this is where I'm sitting. Or also in their closet, like me. And it's just like, you know, at the end of the day, we all equalize. Sure.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

We all equalize. Yeah.

[Holly Frey]

This is a very fun show to do. There were a lot of great conversations and people that were very surprising in how frank and kind and lovely they were.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Oh, yay.

[Holly Frey]

A lot of great conversations on that show. Super duper fun. But, yeah, I think the idea of, like, if you're writing and you're scared to write, but you need to just write like you're writing, like you're talking to somebody.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Yeah.

[Holly Frey]

That will be your truest voice as a writer anyway. In most cases.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Perfect. I feel like that's that sort of similar advice in public speaking. Um, like, I remember when I was in school, people were like, imagine the audience in their underwear. And I was like, that's not gonna help me at all. But focusing on a person and thinking of it as I'm talking to this person, not I'm talking to a whole auditorium full of people, could really help.

[Holly Frey]

Yeah. Again, I do it a little. I think of it differently. There's a thing. Moons ago, I did a TEDx that was largely about, like, being truthful about your life so that future historians will have an easier time understanding what was going on in our current day.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Yeah.

[Holly Frey]

And I talked a lot about social media and whatnot and likened it actually to Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, which I will always try to bring up in every conversation. But one of the things that I started really thinking about, and it's something that's guided a lot of this show for both of us, is like, you've heard me do my soapbox about history is not just things that happen in seats of government or on thrones. It's about every single everyday person. And so for me, kind of the way around it is not so much picturing that I'm talking to one person in a public speaking situation. It's remembering that we are all sharing one unique moment that will never be replicated. And that kind of makes it just like.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Yeah.

[Holly Frey]

It's like we are making our own moment of history together right here today. You're a part of it as much as me. And we can all, you know, have our little jamboree moment. Yeah. So I just love it's important. And I feel like when I recently at a convention was talking to a little girl. Cause she was talking about how she didn't like history. We were talking about Star wars things and it came to history and I was like, oh, my darling, there is so much amazing history for you. You just need to find literally someone exactly like you has been in history from day one. And like you, if you find their stories, history comes alive. And her mom looked at me like, what?

[Tracy V. Wilson]

How?

[Holly Frey]

Really? And I was like, yeah, yeah. She's like, this is. I never thought about it that way. And I'm like, you should.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Lovely.

[Holly Frey]

That's what makes people connect to history, because they remember that they're part of it.

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[Tracy V. Wilson]

I still hang on to my old collection. Does it have Disney Moana too?

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[Tracy V. Wilson]

The old gays return for season two of Silver Linings, their hit podcast from iHeart's Ruby Studio in partnership with Veeve Healthcare. Just wait until you hear what hosts Robert McBill and Jesse have in store. This time around. They strut back down memory lane, navigating life, love, loss and everything that shaped them along the way. And as usual, someone just might break into song. From leather bars to bath houses, dance floors to drag brunch, nothing stays off limits. These are the kinds of insights that can only come from experience. So listen to your elders, honey, and discover the silver linings you can take with you. All Sass, zero filter and decades of perspective from four friends proving that queer joy only gets better with age on the podcast that never gets gets old. Listen to Silver Linings, available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. So you're considering getting a home security system, but you want something that fits your space well. With ADT Blue, it's easy to customize a system that's right for you and set it up yourself. Just pick the kit and monitoring plan that makes sense for your home. Let's say you're worried about package theft. The ADT plus app can walk you through setting up a new doorbell camera kit once it's installed. ADT Pros can help you keep tabs on it 24, 7 or you can manage it yourself from the ADT app. There are no long term contracts, so you can change your monitoring plan whenever you want. The flexibility doesn't end there. You can add to your system as you need to with things like extra cameras or motion sensors. Some life decisions are hard, but thanks to ADT blue, you can DIY trusted ADT Home Security in a snap. Head to ADT.comBLU to build your system today and to hear more about home protection and other grown up topics, check out new episodes of Grown up stuff on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Holly Frey]

Anyway, Samuel Plimsoll I got genuinely choked up reading obituaries of him. Like I had to stop because it was like everyone was so ebullient about what like a pure soul he was and how incredibly kind he was to everyone he met. And you know, while he would be very aggressive and frank about people doing bad things. He himself wouldn't even like, really be that. Unless you're a toll booth person.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Right.

[Holly Frey]

Causes him trouble. One of the things that he said about that man, that cracked me up. This is, to him, the worst insult he could come up with. He was not a gentleman.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Yeah,

[Holly Frey]

I just found that hilarious. I love that whole story. What a little rabble rouser. Yeah, in a very sweet package. I still have the same problem I talked about on a previous behind the scenes, where A Million Miles Away plays in my head over and over. Oh, yeah, listen, if anybody's looking for a good, you know, 80s bop about disassociation, that's the song for you. It's great. I love it. And I quite enjoyed learning about Samuel Plimsoll. I will say there was a thing that happened, you know, we talked about the two different colliery disasters, that he raised money for the survivors and the remaining families afterwards. I initially was having so much trouble with that because some biographies will only mention one or the other of them. And as a consequence, I think things that have drawn from those and been written later will sometimes conflate the two. And so it would be like this disaster that happened in this place in this year, and I would be like, there's no such on record that I can find what is going on. And it took me a minute to be like, there are two separate events that each happened in somewhat similar ways and that he provided support for. But, like, it seems like those, in some cases, people only remember, like, he raised money for survivors of a mining disaster and it becomes one that was a little tricky to suss out, but we did it.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Yeah.

[Holly Frey]

You know, may we all be such kind creatures as him and so willing to. I mean, the things that he kind of put himself in the line of fire legally with that whole shipping situation, because he was like, you guys are corrupt. You are making money off of this. How dare you try to vote down or quash bills that will reform this industry. Listen, we have not solved that problem at all of, like, people in government being corrupt. So I appreciate his incredible resilience. And, you know, his wife Eliza was very much in that fight with him and would also, like, do her own efforts in those bigger fundraising efforts. She was out there talking to people about the need for reform in labor and particularly in maritime labor. Just. What a. Yeah. What a good egg. Yeah, thanks, Samuel Plimsoll. Thanks for trying to get people to look at history in a more nuanced way as well. When I first read that I was like, is this dicey? It doesn't seem to have been.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Yeah.

[Holly Frey]

Because he really was like, look, we know you had every right to leave and want to have your own country. We get that. Let's be cool now, though.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Yeah, well, and I think not so much about the relationship between the US and the uk, but there's plenty of other stuff going on in the world that has some kind of, you know, historical precedent that's. Or historical context that's super, super relevant that people will want to boil down to, this is good, this is bad. These people were good, These people were evil and be outraged if anybody tries to be one hair more nuanced than that. And it's like, no, really, we're still talking about actual human beings operating from a variety of motives. Yeah, yeah. What?

[Holly Frey]

I mean, I feel like that's a lesson we still learn all the time on the show. Right. I mean, I still have moments of revelation in that regard. We talked about it on a recent behind the scenes where we were talking about the, you know, the golden age of piracy and really realizing how tied that was to political machinations and the ways that, you know, the decisions of people in seats of government kind of funneled into that problem of piracy at the time. It all connects. Everything has its own, you know, context and nuance. And if you're not looking at all of that, you're missing so much of the story. I mean, this is the whole premise of our show. But in any case, in any case, if this is your weekend coming up, I hope you do good works. Unless you're exhausted, in which case sometimes the good works is hanging out on your couch with a cup of coffee and a cat.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

It's great.

[Holly Frey]

That is also important because it makes you able to go out into the world a better and more resilient person. If you don't have time off, I hope you still get some time sitting on your badonk. If that's your thing. It's certainly mine. Doing something that brings you joy or peace or some combo of the two. And I hope that everyone is kind and that everyone carries the spirit of Samuel Plimsoll out into the world.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Oh, yay.

[Holly Frey]

We just want to take care of each other. I think he's a great inspiration and an icon of kindness that we can all get behind. We will be right back here on Monday with a brand new episode and tomorrow we will have classic for you to enjoy.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Stuff youf Missed in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite show.

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[Tracy V. Wilson]

I still hang on to my old collection. Does it have Disney Moana too?

[Lingokids Advertiser]

My daughter is obsessed. Disney Moana, Frozen Zootopia. It's all in there.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

I'm downloading this right now.

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[Tracy V. Wilson]

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[Holly Frey]

Hey everybody. We are getting ready to go on a trip. We're not packed yet, but our brains definitely are because we have a trip to Baja Mar on the horizon and it's kind of all I can think about. I'm so excited about the food. There are amazing restaurants and lounges there that I'm going to sample everything I possibly can. I'm going to gaze into the water and mostly I am going to watch the daily Flamingo Parade, which might be the thing I'm most excited about. There's also an incredible spa and I know Tracy's going to be taking advantage of that. There is Excited and then there is Baja Mar. Excited. Start [e-mail].

[Tracy V. Wilson]

this is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.