A look back at the 2017 Arts and Culture stories that made for a richer community.

It’s that time of year again, when we look back on the year that was, and hopefully find that it was filled with endeavors that made life fuller, and stories worth another look.

Before the Champion of the Arts award gala, film composer Alan Silvestri talks creativity – Jan. 14 In a follow-up Arts & Culture blog post to a shorter print story, Alan Silvestri – the man who scored the music for hit movies like Back to the Future and The Avengers – revealed, “The blank paper sits there and it is daunting. As daunting as it was in the very beginning.”

A day in the life of the 31st Annual Martin Luther King Jr. March in Seaside – Jan. 17 “It was a beautiful day for a walk. Not too cold, not too hot. It was a day made for walking.” A chronicle of the holiday that brought together union members, activists, church folk, politicians, students, parents, a community, like it was 1963 all over again.

A handful of reactions to the much-anticipated first episode [of Big Little Lies] – Feb. 23 A multi-voice cover story critique of the first episode of the HBO show set on the Monterey Peninsula and starring Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman and Shailene Woodley. We had issues. But it went on to win eight Emmys, and is returning for a second season. So there.

Artists respond to the Trump administration with creativity – March 2 Among 10 local creative people, those responses ranged from doubling down on reason and literacy – “This is now the job of culture,” said painter David Ligare – to angry rap verses from Baktun 12: “Sorry, I’m not sorry if you voted for that fraud/ When the nation falls I’m going to say it’s all your fault.”

CSU Monterey Bay and a Pulitzer Prize-winning author revisit the Vietnam War – March 30 Colleges and universities can marshall the capital to lure heavyweight speakers like screenwriter Dustin Lance Black or poet Robert Hass. For a colloquium on the Vietnam War, CSU Monterey Bay got author Viet Than Nguyen, who told the Weekly, “One of our basic tools as a writer is empathy.”

Two representatives of the Monterey Symphony explain why they are leaving Sherwood Hall – April 27 This opinion piece posed questions to two of the symphony’s leaders about money, class, geography and mission.

Photos at Monterey Museum of Art show multiple angles on Monterey Pop – June 15 Everybody wanted to jump on that locomotive that was the 50th anniversary of the Monterey International Pop Festival. With anecdotes like, “At the [original] festival, Lisa Law was pregnant, bottle feeding a puppy, and manning the ‘trip tent’ for people who had overdosed on acid,” we weren’t immune.

Fledgling theater company brings two classics to the stage – at the same time – July 19 Corinne Trachsel interned at the Weekly in 2015 when she was just 17 years old. She went off to Sarah Lawrence College, and after her first year came back this past summer to write stories (like the theater story referenced above, about Paraphrase Productions), edit the Student Guide, and work on a cover story or two. Or three. She’s a bright light in the future of arts journalism.

See what’s waiting at the Big Warehouse Book Sale in Salinas this Saturday – Aug. 10 This photoblog, accompanied by snarky captions, includes a photo of a trio of books from Joyce Carol Oates, Dave Eggers and David Sedaris, each of whom I’ve had the privelege of interviewing.

Western Stage does Lin-Manuel Miranda’s first masterpiece, about a neighborhood – Aug. 31 Western Stage smartly (or serendipitously) capitalize on Lin-Manuel Miranda’s meteoric success with Hamilton by going back to his earlier hip-hop-infused immigration musical.

Philip Glass and his famous friends bring big-city art to Carmel to celebrate his 80th year – Sept. 28 When the Philip Glass Ensemble leaned into his experimental and challenging early synthesizer breakthrough, Music in Similar Motion, it cast a kinetic spell that reminded audience members, in case they had forgotten, about the power of music.

Ohlone/Costanoan-Esselen Nation rebury their ancestors in a historic ceremony – Oct. 30 This ceremony, steeped in painful history and healing ritual, was not open to the public. Not directly, at least. But two writers – Claudia Melendez of the Monterey Herald and myself – were granted access in order to commemorate the occasion and report on it to readers.

One of the writers of hit TV show Atlanta broke it down for CSUMB film students – Nov. 20 His name is Ibra Ake, and one of his media insights included this: “On [news talk shows], why, when there’s a huge debate about something complex, why do we have [rapper] Cam’ron representing black people? There’s a little bit of minstrel to it.”

Face to Face: James Burks – Dec. 14 This interview took up a full page instead of the usual three-quarter page; in place of his photograph, I asked Burks, an illustrator and animator, to submit a drawing of himself. The Salinas Valley Comic Con was the impetus for this Q&A, but the focus was the art and business of creativity. A fine subject to end the year on.

On the Weekly’s website, mcweekly.com, click on the links to all of these stories.