As 2017 wraps up, The State of Things staff goes “behind the glass” to join host Frank Stasio for conversations about the highlights of the year. Some of producer Charlie Shelton-Ormond’s favorite segments include a conversation with activist and community organizer Bree Newsome who removed the Confederate flag from the South Carolina statehouse in 2015. He also chose a segment with North Carolina filmmaker Patrick Read Johnson about the time Johnson saw a rough cut of the original “Star Wars”

2017 marked a unique moment for journalism. Headlines broke each hour, and conversations that long took place in the margins were brought to the center. With all of this barely in the rearview mirror, The State of Things staff takes turns joining host Frank Stasio in the studio to recap their favorite moments of the year.

Note: this segment is a rebroadcast from June 1, 2017. Patricia Lockwood grew up in a Catholic family in the Midwest. But her family’s circumstances were a little different: Lockwood’s father was a priest. Throughout her upbringing, Lockwood navigated her father’s larger-than-life personality and the institutional bindings of the Catholic church.

Note: this segment is a rebroadcast from June 20, 2017. In May 1862, Robert Smalls became a Union hero overnight when he stole a Confederate steamer from the Charleston harbor. Smalls had been enslaved his whole life and decided to free himself and his family by stealing the Planter and piloting it to the Union fleet outside Charleston, South Carolina.

Note: this segment is a rebroadcast from June 26, 2017. North Carolina has been battling a growing opioid addiction epidemic. New Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data from North Carolina hospitals show the rise in intravenous drug use is also causing a sharp increase in the rate of heart infections.

As the year comes to a close, popular culture experts Natalie Bullock Brown , professor of film and broadcast media at St. Augustine’s University in Raleigh, and Mark Anthony Neal , chair of the department of African and African American studies at Duke University in Durham, recap some of the best cultural moments from 2017 with host Frank Stasio.

There was nothing in Dwane Powell’s upbringing to suggest he would end up a political cartoonist.

Christopher and Taylor Malpass didn’t go to daycare when they were little boys. They went over to their grandad’s house instead and listened to the old country jukebox records he brought home from his store.

For many North Carolinians, food is the anchor for friends and family to come together over the holidays. And a simple request to “pass the potatoes” can be a welcome interruption that keeps the family dynamic from spiralling downhill. So how do family traditions emerge and what determines their staying power for generations to come?

Democrat Doug Jones won the red state of Alabama in his senate race against Republican Roy Moore this week.