Chicago's Next Voices
We launched Chicago’s Next Voices to hear more of the diverse experiences and perspectives that make up our community.
Nestor Gomez, a Sun-Times Chicago’s Next Voices columnist, writes about the Resilience Arts Festival coming next month to Definition Theatre in Hyde Park.
A national and regional housing shortage presents an opportunity for Chicago entrepreneurs and developers to create low-cost manufactured homes that could be assembled locally, shipped anywhere and erected on site, John Wasik says.
Many seniors feel they must go directly to a four-year college or university. But Lashaunta Moore researched options and attended a Chicago City College with a Star Scholarship, paving her way to a career in media.
Social media gets stories to millions. But this activism often reduces complex issues to viral microtrends. Social platforms shouldn’t be substitutes for activism — organizing, educating and demanding accountability — our Next Voices columnist writes.
A suggestion that the former concentration camp should have been torn down had Chicago’s Next Voices columnist Sarah Enescu, a Willowbrook High School junior, confront how disturbing monuments help us understand the past.
Steven Jiang rode the L to school in the Loop, never noticing the art all around. One day, he did. And gradually he came to think public art could breathe life into Chicago’s neglected communities.
When was the last time you saw the world from a teenager’s perspective? They’re going to help you do that.
Kennedy Grooms lost her father Philip Grooms to heart failure in November and has leaned on family, counseling and the example her father set as she navigates life and loss
Between 1959 and 1963, an elementary school class in West Chatham went from majority white to majority Black, and Next Voices columnist A.J. Sanders witnessed history playing out.
Essyl Ghim was born in Evanston, part of a traditional Korean family. Family and economic difficulties forced her family to move many times, but she was drawn back to Chicago, where she’s carving a path for herself, leaving traumas behind.
As part of our goal in the last few years to better reflect Chicago’s diversity in our news pages, we published a series of columns written by community members and held listening sessions in neighborhoods throughout the city, among other efforts.
Norma Jean McAdams discovered her inner blues diva late in life. With encouragement from Buddy Guy, she started a band with her guitarist husband and began performing regularly around Chicago.
Sandra Jackson-Opoku’s family moved into the Trumbull Park Homes in the ‘50s, where they encountered hatred from white neighbors and where Frank London Brown chronicled the struggles of Black lives and desegregation.
Hasta el 31 de diciembre, se anima a los escritores de 13 a 18 años a enviar al Sun-Times un relato inédito sobre el tema “Mirando hacia adelante”. Los ganadores serán seleccionados por el personal del Sun-Times y los textos se publicarán en impreso y en línea.
As a female comic in a male-dominated field, Madeline Esterhammer-Fic felt excluded. Her solution: Put on her own show in Edgewater.
Through Dec. 31, writers 13 to 18 years old are encouraged to submit an unpublished story to the Sun-Times on the theme of “Looking Ahead.” Winners will be selected by Sun-Times staff, and submissions will be published in print and online.
They’ll be writing about Chicago communities and of the hopes, frustrations and fears that connect people.
Nestor Gomez dragged a patio chair to the beach and watched as it was moved from shade to sun to sand. Online, neighbors complained about and defended the chair. Then, it disappeared. But that wasn’t the end of this story.
City Hall could start by lowering speed limits and building corridors for cyclists and walkers, guest columnist John F. Wasik writes.
Few people realize what a wide range of career and technical education programs the Chicago Public Schools offers, says guest columnist Lashaunta Moore, who learned broadcast media skills at Percy L. Julian High School in Washington Heights.