David Ernesto Munar, 11/30/11

President and CEO, AIDS Foundation of Chicago

It's time to retire another worn-out dichotomy: the global v. domestic response to AIDS. We need a unified commitment and a detailed plan for fighting the epidemic at home and abroad.

David Protess, 11/28/11

President, Chicago Innocence Project

While abolitionists cheered the news that Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber had declared a moratorium on executions last week, the public reacted with surprise. Oregon has the death penalty?

Regina Fraser and Pat Johnson, 11/29/11

The Grannies on Safari

I know the word muse is an overused term for people who inspire creativity in others, but I find it appropriate to use when I remember the spirit of Maggie Daley and her commitment to the youth of Chicago.

Dave Scheidt, 11/29/11

Writer

I'm a dude who reads a lot of comics. You think that I would garner some sort of knowledge from reading them for so many years, but I somehow still doubt my diabolical abilities.

Paul Robinson, 11/29/11

Prevention & education specialist, Between Friends

If we want our young people to have successful relationships, we need to talk to them about it. After all, you can't expect someone to succeed in a subject they've never been taught.

Mark Cassello, 11/28/11

Assistant Professor of English, Calumet College of St. Joseph

Unless a groundswell of public outrage besieges representatives in Springfield tomorrow, the Illinois State Legislature is likely to approve an enormous tax carve-out designed to benefit two of the most profitable companies in the state.

Hermene Hartman, 11/29/11

President, Hartman Publishing Group, Inc.; President, N'DIGO Foundation

Some people teach us how to live, some people teach us how to rise to the occasion, and some people teach us how to die. She taught it all. She was a cultural force in this city.

Jeff Biggers, 11/29/11

Journalist and author, 'Reckoning at Eagle Creek' and 'In the Sierra Madre'

In a blatant disregard of regulatory guidelines, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources has quietly entangled itself in an inane and potentially deadly coal slurry scandal.

Malic White, 11/23/11

Freelance writer

Break out the matching silverware -- GLAAD is joining you for Thanksgiving dinner. Along with counting our carbs, GLAAD insinuates that those of us who don't use Thanksgiving as a "golden opportunity" for LGBT progress are cowards.

Jeff Kelly Lowenstein, 11/23/11

Database and investigative editor, 'Hoy'

Before Saturday night I had never watched animated tuna fish cans fornicate, received a gift bag of doggie treats drawn from the leftovers of homemade beer, and eaten low country South Carolina oysters.

Millie Kerr, 11/23/11

Freelance Writer, Creator, expatguidelondon.com

Art Smith, 11/23/11

Executive chef

I hope that I can help people. I'm most happy that I can do it as a proud gay man with this amazing group of friends, some famous, some not, all sharing a common thread: they love to eat, and they love the man who cooks it!

Joe Moreno, 11/23/11

Alderman, Chicago’s 1st Ward

A working class backlash against Occupy would be ruinous for the movement and for the country. An entire generation of Reagan Democrats was created by the Anti-Vietnam War movement, which often went too far.

Ed Shurna, 11/22/11

Executive director, Chicago Coalition for the Homeless

The Occupy Movement rightly attacks the disparity between the top 1 percent and the other 99 percent. The rich are getting richer. The middle class treads water. And the poor, working or not, are drowning.

Michael J. Hunt, 11/20/11

Emanuel told the audience that there is no question about whether President Obama will continue to fight for the middle class and the values Democrats hold dear.

David Ormsby, 11/22/11

Public relations strategist and political commentator

A political brawl is in brewing between two high-profile lesbian human rights activists for an Illinois state House seat, a clash which has drawn in Chicago's newly minted mayor and the state's powerful House Speaker.

Andy Shaw, 11/21/11

Executive Director, Better Government Association

At first glance I assumed it was another $50 donation. Another 999 of those and we'll hire a new investigator, I thought. But as I examined the numbers more closely the written amount jolted me like an electric shock: $50,000. From people I'd never met.