A Look at Five Amazing Local Voices

When Patch launched the Local Voices platform a few months ago, I was honestly a little doubtful of it.

It's not always easy for a person to put their ideas and feelings in the public eye, especially when it's being read by a community of people they may or may not know.

So you can imagine my surprise when, three months later, we've got a diverse group of thinkers discussing a miriad of topics, from health to family to religion to student achievements and so on. 

As my way of saying thanks to these awesome people, I would like to draw special attention to their personalities and their work with Patch.

- Better known as Coach Lupe, thanks to her health-oriented Facebook page, Mrs. Ramirez holds the honor of being our first consistent Local Voices columnist. She has written candidly about her feelings . Her emotions shine through in every post, making her series possibly the most inspiring of the bunch. 

- Anyone who visited us during election season got to know Art Wiggins pretty well. He quickly became known for his well thought out comments and occasional verbal battles with fellow Patch user Winston Wolf. Art's first Local Voices post was , and even in his complaints about the issues, it's easy to see how much he loves his city.

- This science teacher made his Patch debut courtesy Homewood-Flossmoor Editor Ryan Fitzpatrick (Thanks, Fitzy). He wrote about his students accomplishments so well, many readers mistook him for a journalist. Barry told us all about his and that cool Solar-Powered Oil Recovery Center that has .

- Chris is unique to this blogger list because he was a personal friend of mine before he became a Local Voice. Despite hearing him speak publicly as a minister and having plenty of conversations with him about his beliefs, Plenty of readers are looking forward to future posts from Chris. 

 - The newest Local Voice, Mr. Wiley shows a passion for writing about wide-spread issues from the perspective of a longtime cop and an elected official. , and today he told a story that may . We'll also see another post tomorrow. The topic: Children of the incarcerated. Controversial? Maybe. But somebody has to start those conversations, right? 

All of these writers have contributed to Chicago Heights Patch in a way that editors and reporters never could. They are the truly opinionated and should be commended for that. 

Thanks Lupe, Art, Barry, Chris and Marc!

If you would like to become a Local Voice for Chicago Heights Patch visit our application page and tell us about yourself.