It's not hyperbole to say that working as the features writer for the Chicago Reader is my dream job. I've wanted to work here since before I could legally drink, since before I permanently moved to this city. In college, I'd take the train from Kalamazoo to Chicago on weekends and over long breaks: that's how I ended up at Do Division Street Fest summer of 2008. I no longer remember what I did at what booth to win a Reader t-shirt, but 17 years later, I still have it: paint- and sweat-stained, cut into a muscle tee these days, but still going strong.

The Reader itself is sweat-stained, and boy do we got muscle. I'm deeply proud to serve as one of three Reader union co-chairs. Like many of my comrades, I've taken a six month 20 percent pay cut on an already slim salary to try and save union jobs. Many of our nonunion coworkers have done similarly, a sacrifice I am grateful for every day. 

Your support will help us see these next six months through. The work that we do, and that I do, is essential to understanding the city, and will grow only more so as the U.S. faces the greatest internal threat to our survival since the Civil War. 

I write about drugs and people who use them; harm reduction and the way it saves lives; and homelessness from the perspective of people who live on our streets. President Trump has threatened people who deal drugs with the death penalty, RFK Jr opposes medical treatment for addiction in favor of "drug rehabilitation farms" aka camps, and progressive elected officials all over the country, including here in Chicago, continue to criminalize, arrest, harass, and otherwise gravely harm our unhoused neighbors, even as federal funding for housing is slashed and rent hits all time highs.

You can bet your ass I will be covering how these actions impact Chicagoans, and what we can all do to protect each other, no matter what. Help me do it for you here, at the Reader. 

We need your help today

After more than 50 years of serving Chicago, the Reader faces imminent closure. 

Can you imagine Chicago without the Chicago Reader? We can’t either. But a perfect storm of sudden economic downturns has put us in a precarious position, without much time to spare.

We’re not giving up though. We have a clear path forward, but only if we can raise enough from enough supporters to make it through this crisis. 

If you value the Reader, and want to see it survive, please chip in now with a tax-deductible donation. 

Questions about giving? Email development@chicagoreader.com or at:

Reader Institute for Community Journalism, 2930 S. Michigan Ave., Suite 102 Chicago, IL 60616

The Reader Institute for Community Journalism is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (EIN 84-3670420). Donations are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.