That Podcast in Hutch - We ❤️Hutch

Takeover of Podcast gathers love stories about our community

I’m a little behind on pushing this episode out - mainly because I hadn’t had a chance to listen to it yet.

Normally, that’s not necessary, because I would’ve been in the studio during the recording. But for this episode, my friend and producer Christopher Acker took over the show during September’s Third Thursday.

The question was simple - tell us what you love about Hutchinson.

Until this morning when I had a chance to listen, I had no idea who had been recorded or what they had to say.

As I listened, I was moved by the stories people. The themes that emerged were that Hutchinson is a “right-sized” town and that with just a little bit of effort, one can find a place and a community here.

I absolutely loved hearing these stories, and I loved hearing that sense of belonging come through in their voices.

Christopher asked me to record an intro so I could share what I love about Hutchinson. In it, one of the things I mentioned is that I can have a crazy idea and so many people in this community will support me in. They’ll show up, and they’ll participate - and that is just one of the ways that for me, Hutchinson has become more than my hometown, more than the place I live, but something like a family.

Especially this time of year, I think it’s easy to carve ourselves up into this or that, to put on our team’s colors, and buy into a narrative that anyone who isn’t with us must be against us.

But that’s not the way families or communities work. And it’s not the way of the natural world, either. In any ecosystem, a lack of biodiversity and the creation of a monoculture leads to collapse. An ecosystem that lacks complexity and depth eventually loses its resiliency, and the ability to adapt to changing conditions.

The same is true for a community.

I hope you enjoy listening to these stories from our community. I hope you’re inspired to bring your ideas to our community, and I hope you, like me, feel fortunate to live in a place with so many good people.

You can listen to That Podcast in Hutch on your favorite streaming service, or follow the link here.