30-minutes of millennial nostalgia
THE ULTIMATE DEEP DIVE INTO THE TRENDS THAT DEFINED A GENERATION
Recess Forever is the podcast that rewires millennial nostalgia through sharp storytelling, cultural x-ray vision, and the weird, wonderful artifacts of our childhood.
Each episode takes one iconic object or trend: a toy, a rumor, a snack, a brand, a status symbol, and breaks it open to reveal the sociological forces, psychological patterns, and design cues that shaped an entire generation without us noticing.
It’s fast, funny, deeply researched, and a little uncanny: equal parts memory séance, cultural critique, and playground confessional. You’ll laugh at the things we swore were cool, cringe at the things we collected, and suddenly understand why these tiny pieces of the past still echo through our adult lives.
If you remember the electric joy of new school supplies, the drama of cafeteria politics, the chaotic glow of neon plastic, or the impossible promise of every commercial break...this is for you.
Ep. 5: ""StumbleUpon: The Last Era of Serendipity and the Dead Internet Theory""
Before TikTok feeds, before Pinterest boards, before the algorithm decided who we were...there was StumbleUpon. In this episode, we revisit the strange, delightful portal that defined early-2000s internet exploration and ask what its rise and disappearance reveal about how we got from the chaotic, curiosity-driven web to the hyper-optimized, over-curated internet of today.
Ep. 4: "The Super Soaker: Water Guns, Innovation, and the Weaponization of Play"
What began as a high-pressure water gun engineered by a former NASA scientist became one of the most defining toys of a generation. But beneath the neon plastic and backyard laughter lies a far more complicated American story.
Ep. 3: "G.A.T.E. Intelligence, Burnout, and the Gifted Program to CIA Pipeline"
Once a week, I was quietly pulled out of class, put on a bus, and taken to a small sunlit building where the work felt different : harder, faster, strange. This episode traces the arc of U.S. gifted education, how intelligence has been tied to eugenics, and the conspiracies surrounding the G.A.T.E. to CIA pipeline.
Ep. 2: "Rainforest Cafe: The Theme Park Designed As A Dinner Restaurant"
When I was a kid, themed restaurants were my Disneyland. Medieval Times. Hard Rock Café. Even Cracker Barrel (at least in the early 2000's); back when it still felt like a roadside museum instead of a chain.
None of them hit me quite like Rainforest Café.
Ep 1: "Ed Hardy: The Tattoo That Became a Fashion Gospel (and a Punchline)"
I was in the mall the other day and I could have sworn I was transported back to the early millennium.
Dragons. Rhinestones. Skulls with roses.
For a flash in the early 2000s, Ed Hardy was everywhere, from Paris Hilton’s wardrobe to strip-mall knockoffs, from celebrity yacht parties to your local Macy’s clearance rack.