On July 6th, 2026 I, hailo, headed to downtown Wichita to visit NICHE's Culinary School. Photo by Kevin Colborn Niche is a part of Wichita State's Technical School, training the next generation of chefs, restaurant operators, and others suited to disrupt the hospitality industry. Hospitality is an industry close to my heart--in DECA competitions as a teenager, I always competed in hospitality events, and I spent two years in New York working for a very exciting restaurant-tec

It's May. One of those balmy days, quite warm with raindrops speckled throughout the day. I'm walking down Orchard St, coming up from Grand and I see him, sitting outside. Erwin, with his strong, kind face, looking down at his phone. So I sneak up really quiet and drop into the chair in front of him. "Hello!" I say. He laughs. I laugh... "You know, I always remember you," he says, taking off his phone case to reveal a Hot Literati sticker. We grow up in a lot of places. If we