The People Issue 2024 – Chicago Reader

Sometime the summer before last, the Reader team gathered in person for an all-staff event organized to review our guiding policies and mission statement, take staff photos, and welcome new team members. Among longtime staffers who hadn’t seen each other since the start of the pandemic, there was a palpable mix of awkward excitement about reconnecting face-to-face, along with the equally awkward giddiness of finally meeting new colleagues we’d only known through their work or brief Zoom appearances.

It was a warm, lovely day, and I was grateful for the chance to connect one-on-one with the editorial team for the first time as a new managing editor. Yet, admittedly, what stayed with me most—and became a recurring topic in side conversations—was my trip to the event, spent in the backseat of a rideshare driven by a candidate for the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District commissioner.

“You’re just the person I wanted to see!” they exclaimed after our polite introductions revealed who we were to each other. The feeling was mutual. I’d always wanted to meet a political candidate in a casual setting, hoping it might reveal a less media-attentive side of their personality.

We discussed their unconventional background, thoughts about the upcoming race, and reasons for running. And for one brief moment, we connected over our shared concerns about serving those we hoped to lead. In that small window of time, I felt connected and engaged with all of Chicago—not just focused on my role in it. I saw myself as a thread in its wonderfully shaggy fabric and, perhaps naively, became convinced these heart-to-heart conversations could help us understand a little more about one another—and perhaps even about what our city is made of.

This is the ninth People Issue, and like last year and every year before it, it’s truly a labor of love for us. Each year, the team debates how many people to feature and how best to represent their stories. Choosing just 15 profiles this year was not easy, but I hope we’ve captured some of the many threads weaving our city together. You’ll find familiar Reader features on art and culture makers, like cartoonist Seitu Hayden and filmmaker Jack McCoy, as well as scientists, like Bin Chen, and community organizers, like Ron Camacho. Maybe you’ll encounter someone unexpected who will inspire you to engage more deeply with Chicagoans and feel a stronger connection to the city’s enduring tapestry.

I’d be remiss not to mention what I love most about our People Issues: the wonderful snapshots they give us of Chicagoans who generously share a moment of their lives with our writers and photographers. Last year, our print edition of the People Issue opened with a photo (by then newly arrived Reader art director James Hosking) of photographer, filmmaker, disability activist, and podcast producer/host Justin Cooper, whose radiant smile lit up our pages against a familiar Chicago fall backdrop.

Cooper’s story left a lasting impression on many of us. Tragically, he died July 9. I encourage you to revisit that profile (Vol. 53, No. 6, p. 6), which ends with a quote that seems fitting to repeat here. It captures the essence of what makes Chicagoans so extraordinary and what inspires us to create the People Issue year after year. Cooper said, “I love my city. Through the good and the bad, I love being here, and I would never leave it. I’ll defend it the moment somebody talks bad about it. I love having a camera in my hand and exploring areas I might not have otherwise. From my chair, I can capture just how gorgeous this city is.”

This was originally published in the 2024 edition of our People Issue, the Reader’s annual special of first-person stories, as told by your neighbors, classmates, and the weirdo at the end of the bar.