Khaai Wilson could have had a very different life – one that didn’t include good parents teaching him to make the good choices that led to being named 2023 Youth of the Year by the Boys & Girls Clubs of South Central Kansas. The award recognizes the club member who best embodies academic success, good […]
Wichitans You Should Know
Wichitans You Should Know highlights members of our community who are often unseen, through stories of their lived experiences. Know someone we should spotlight? Get in touch.
Posted inWichitans You Should Know
‘I am the magic’: How Michelle Leo found her way back
This story contains references to sexual abuse, self-harm and drug use. When 24-year-old Michelle Leo tells her story it does not have a beginning, a middle and an end. It does come with a trigger warning: Leo wants you to know it’s going to be dark and maybe you won’t want to hear it. Stories […]
Posted inWichitans You Should Know
Muslim in Kansas: Taben Azad’s quest to belong
Sometimes you love a place that doesn’t love you back. Taben Azad loves his family, his faith and his hometown. But as a Kansas-born Muslim it’s hard for him to find a sense of belonging. “I’m too Muslim to be American, and I’m too American to be Muslim,” Azad says. “I don’t feel like I […]
Posted inWichitans You Should Know
Defying a “gang list” label to find his voice and lend it to others
There is the life you are born to — and the life you create. Desmond Bryant-White is creating his chosen life through words: written words and spoken words, filling books and covering whiteboards. Words rising out of pain, struggle and injustice, uttered at poetry slams, press conferences and policy panels. And now leaders of Wichita’s […]
Posted inHousing, Wichitans You Should Know
Surviving the winter without shelter: What it’s like for one Wichita couple
Denise and Richard Dodd currently live next to a river in Wichita. We asked the Dodds how they came to live beside the river. This is their story.
Posted inWichitans You Should Know
New York, Paris, Milan, Wichita: Hazel Stabler makes waves in fashion and on the school board
Much as Wichita sits at the confluence of two rivers, Hazel Stabler lives at the confluence of two identities – fashion designer and school board member. Hazel and her husband, Hollis, retired to Wichita about 10 years ago. Originally from Emporia, Hazel is of Yaqui and Ojibwe heritage; her husband is Omaha. Hazel has a […]
Posted inWichitans You Should Know
Armando Minjárez hopes to highlight the humanity of Wichita’s immigrants
Armando Minjárez was once an undocumented immigrant, a status that put him on a path to both art and activism. The multidisciplinary artist and organizer moved to Wichita in 2012 to co-found the grassroots organization The Seed House/Casa de la Semilla. But he is best known for directing Horizontes, the public-art and documentary project that […]
Posted inLocal Government, Wichitans You Should Know
Why Reggie Davidson is the city of Wichita’s 2022 Public Service Award winner
For Reggie Davidson, working as recreation superintendent for the city’s Park and Recreation Department looks different every day. Some days, he may be at city hall, working in the office. Others, he’s at a golf course or a city pool. But his favorite days are when he gets to fill in as a camp counselor […]
Posted inLocal Government, Wichitans You Should Know
‘Don’t treat them different’: One formerly homeless Wichitan on what the city needs
It started with a recipe he concocted on his own — Southern-style barbecue chicken spaghetti. But pretty soon, Joseph “J.W.” Harris was spreading the cooking gospel to his neighbors and friends at The Studios, a permanent-housing apartment complex for people experiencing homelessness. In April, he led his first cooking class at the complex on North Topeka […]
Posted inWichitans You Should Know
‘They were villainized’: Daniel Pewewardy challenges Native American stereotypes through comedy and film
Daniel Pewewardy is best known to Wichita audiences as a stand-up comedian and creator of memes, those jokey combinations of text and images that fill your social media feeds. But over the past few years, the 36-year-old has found their way back to filmmaking, which they studied as an undergraduate at Oklahoma State University. Pewewardy, […]