I think we can all agree that 2017 was an unusual year. It was intense, confusing, emotional. A little less than a year ago, as I decided to resume another "season" of episodes, I was determined to focus on community and on positivity through art and creative expression.

At least, that's what I told myself, and it's also what I told you. In the introduction to the first episode of 2017, an interview with jazz club owner and musician Spike Wilner, I said "I want to look at the role of community in supporting individual voices and in contextualizing those voices."

As the year quickly comes to an end, I decided to look back at a year's worth of episodes to see if I delivered on that promise, and to figure out what were the big questions and the major themes that emerged. With the benefit of even just a little bit of hindsight, I can see that indeed the theme of community informed the whole journey.

Featuring Spike Wilner, Michael Dorf, Adam Schatz, Dave Jemilo, Ben Wendel, George Colligan, Irv Williams, Mark Davis, Jeff Hamann, Andrew Crocker, Peter Giron, Billy Peterson, Benji Rogers, Ralph Simon, Ryan Gruss, David Garibaldi, Jack Stratton.

www.third-story.com