Columnist Ismael Pérez leaves the Chicago Sun-Times

In the summer of 2022, drama was stirring up at Lake in the Hills.

A bakery was hosting family-friendly drag shows to bring in more business, a man responded by breaking windows and spray painting hurtful messages, and officials then tried to prevent further disruptions by ordering the bakery to stop performances. The ACLU of Illinois vowed to protect the business against the village’s actions and “prepared to respond appropriately.”

While on the Sun-Times editorial board, I wrote that “resolving the dispute, without a legal battle, is an opportunity to show right-wing agitators that hate won’t win.”

An ACLU of Illinois spokesperson later told us: “We heeded your editorial’s advice and managed to resolve the bakery issue without litigation. The attention and pressure from folks like you really did help.”

That felt good. But I’m a Capricorn and knew I could do better.

A year later, I called Jakki Love (a drag performer at the bakery), along with Chicago drag artists Starr Banks and Allegra Dee and asked them to personally tell Sun-Times readers about challenges they experience in life and politics, followed by uplifting performances to lighten up the room. In solidarity, I also performed and opened up about my own challenges, all while wearing a dress. I think I was the first Sun-Times staffer to do that in the newspaper’s history.

I was so overwhelmed, experiencing the positive impact of my work that night, that I cried myself to sleep with happy tears for the first time.

It’s career-defining moments such as those that are washing over me now as I’m wrapping up my final days at the Chicago Sun-Times. I took a buyout offer, along with some loved colleagues, and I’m now filled with mixed, strong emotions about leaving a newsroom that molded me into someone I never imagined I could become.

A ‘why not you’ newsroom

Trophies on my desk will tell you I won a “best columnist in Chicago” award after my first attempt at writing one. To prove it wasn’t a fluke, I won a national award for column writing my second year, and a prestigious award that honored the best of the best Chicago columnists in my third.

That wasn’t supposed to be me.

I got my start here in the fall of 2019 as an audience engagement specialist — a crucial role that continues to grow in importance but isn’t taken seriously by some news veterans. It was a position, in some newsrooms, kept far away from serious projects and investigations, the attitude being: “We don’t need your input; just retweet my story, thanks.”

That wasn’t the case at the Sun-Times.

I knew this job was different when then-executive editor Chris Fusco took the time and invited me for coffee on my first day. The things that happened next, people would understandably question.

Why’s the new guy giving his opinion in editors meetings? Why include him in meetings with the CEO? And why in hell would you consider a 28-year-old for the editorial board after only 10 months working here?

But the response from many was instead: “Why WOULDN’T it be you?”

It’s hard making it to a legendary place like the Chicago Sun-Times. But standing out among newsroom titans? That’s easy when those same people you admire are rooting for you.

Then, there’s you, dear readers

In my last two years, I had the privilege of getting to know the city and its residents on a more personal level through my advice column Someone in Chicago.

As Chicagoans grew frustrated with dating apps, I went speed-dating to help them understand how it works. The next time I tried it, one of the men said he read my column on his way to the event. We didn’t match, though.

When I wrote about losing friends to suicide, a grieving mother wrote to me saying, “I had not heard that finding you stated about ‘suicidal trance’ and found it very helpful in trying to come to terms with how he came to make his decision.”

And then there are those of you who told me you got a sense of pride whenever you saw my name and skin tone when reading the Sun-Times. I have nothing left to say but thank you for all the love and support.

I’m not sure what the future will bring. But I do know I’ll continue to chase those happy tears. And I will be rooting for the next rising stars at this beloved newspaper.