Echols: Nine fresh ideas already happening in Memphis
“These people have no idea I’m writing about them. But they are using what they have in time, money, energy and ideas to bless the rest of us.”
Candace Echols
Candace Echols writes whatever she notices as she goes about her daily life. Living that way has landed her bylines in National Geographic, Garden and Gun, The Gospel Coalition, Southern Living, golf.com, Cowboys and Indians, Common Good, Risen Motherhood, and others. Someday, she hopes to have a writing cottage in Oxford, England or Oxford, Mississippi; either will be just fine. Candace and her husband live with their children in Midtown Memphis.
There are 160 articles by Candace Echols :
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February 2025
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Guest Columnists -
Guest Columnists Echols: The most important thing about us
“Holding God’s transcendence and his immanence in view at the same time will not make me perfect, but it will change how I handle my own wrongdoing, as well as how I love God and others...”
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Guest Columnists Echols: We were born to sweat
“My underlying hope is that when I do A and B, the promised C will result. But you only have to live a little while to learn that’s not the way life works.”
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January 2025
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Guest Columnists Echols: The reasons we travel
“Whether its nature or people that speak to us most clearly when we travel, taking in a new place with fresh gusto and does our hearts’ good. “
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Guest Columnists Echols: A precious stone for each mothering hurdle
“It would be rewarding to receive badges for things like getting a kid to sleep through the night or helping a child master multiplication facts.”
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December 2024
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Opinion Echols: The power of a dog’s love
“For those who love dogs, children or miracles, this story won’t seem far-fetched at all. As a matter of fact, it may strike some as downright splendid.”
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Guest Columnists Echols: It’s all about time
“Whether too much or not enough or just the right amount, time is the thread running through every last tidbit of our human existence. ... And time is what this season of Advent is all about.”
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Guest Columnists Echols: ‘Month after month, we gathered at Houston’s’
“It seems ridiculous to feel sad over a chain restaurant leaving town. But for me, it’s as much about the memories as it is the chicken tenders. Because when it comes to meals regularly eaten in community, it’s hard to tell where food ends and friendship begins.”
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Guest Columnists Echols: ‘Motherhood, it seems, is falling out of fashion’
“Women of childbearing age are becoming more and more likely to kick parenthood to the curb. And who can blame them? There’s a government-issued health warning about it.”
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Guest Columnists Echols: At St. Jude, ‘We’re here for each other’
A Memphis parent realizes how St. Jude “is a sacred space,” now that she, too, has a sick child and is at the marathon thanking people for running.
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Guest Columnists Echols: Converting a benchwarmer into a player
“Whether you are handed a roster of registrants or whether you run the tryouts and hand-select the team yourself, find a way to work in every player, every game.”
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November 2024
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Guest Columnists Echols: Christmas, death and the scent of marijuana
“Anger wrestled my grief to the mat. ... The news of uncle’s death had cracked open my heart, but a great many griefs came pouring out.”
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Premium
Guest ColumnistsEchols: On shedding the constant noise in our heads
Candace Echols says The Retreat House is “A place that feels like a massage, a nap, a good book, a cup of coffee and afternoon recess on a countryside playground — all together at the same time.”
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Guest Columnists Echols: Should students be able to carry cellphones?
Two Memphis schools are now several months into their decisions to go completely phone-free during classroom hours. Last week, Candace Echols checked in with both campuses to see how things are going.
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Guest Columnists Echols: What to do about the election
“Seventy-two hours from now, everybody will be in the same boat: The votes will have been cast, and once the votes have been counted, we’ll all know who won. And ... we will all know who lost.”
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October 2024
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Guest Columnists Echols: When you don’t know whether or not to stay in Memphis
“What happens in a Memphis marriage if one spouse is committed to staying in this city, but the other spouse is worn out by all that has happened and all they want to do is go?”
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Guest Columnists Echols: The simple but deep pleasures of mahjong and pickleball
“Why has the American adult world gone so nuts over these two fresh pastimes?”
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Guest Columnists Echols: Visiting the Biltmore — before Hurricane Helene
“As utterly wonderful as a place may be, it really is the people who are the heartbeat behind it.” Now the North Carolina mansion is closed indefinitely.
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September 2024
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Guest Columnists Echols: Derrick Rose, Von Trapp skaters, and one too many lizards
“Thirty-nine of my 46 years have been spent in Memphis. But this week, I have seen five things in Memphis that are all fairly new to me.”
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Guest Columnists Echols: Who are we without wonder?
“We don’t ask to be born and are given absolutely no say in the matter. We don’t get to choose our era, our families, our location of birth. One day, we’re just aware that we are and it takes effort to believe that all of human life and existence didn’t start the very same moment I did.”
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Guest Columnists Echols: Memphis ‘has the capacity to be marked by peace’
“We have the capacity to be good neighbors to one another again, even as we continue to work through our collective crime-related trauma and the unpredictable triggers it ushers it to the surface.”
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Arts & Culture To refugee children, ‘You are brave and loved’
The artist who wrote and illustrated the children’s book “Marisol’s Dress” said she hopes the it will help refugee children understand that while their paths have been fraught with difficulty, hope is within reach.
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August 2024
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Guest Columnists Echols: Candace asks readers to share their stories
“Paying attention to the world around you and then flapping your lips about it ... starts to feel decidedly one-sided after a while, a bit like talking to yourself out loud for the whole city to hear.”
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Guest Columnists Echols: ‘The tapestry of cultures’ in Memphis
“Memphis is a fascinating tapestry of subcultures that I suspect is far more complex and nuanced than most of us would ever dream. This is both our bane and our beauty.”
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Opinion Echols: ‘A wrinkle in time’
“This parenting journey from crib-to-college goes bizarrely fast. As a mother, I can almost feel as if I’ve been cheated out of something. Mocked. Duped. Ripped off.”
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