Guest Columnists
Guest Column: An open letter to John Konchar
“All of that aside, John K., it’s no mystery to me why the crowd goes crazy when you get in the game,” says Candace Echols in her open letter to the Grizzlies player.
Candace Echols
Candace Echols is a Midtown resident, wife, and mother of five. A regular contributor to The Daily Memphian, she is a freelance writer who also recently published her first book, the children’s book “Josephine and the Quarantine.”
There are 99 articles by Candace Echols :
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March 2022
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Guest Columnists
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April 2022
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Guest ColumnistsGuest column: Let’s take care of one another
“In honor of our five starters, I’d like to offer five ways Memphians could learn from our Grizz, hone our niches and find ways to work and play together.”
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May 2022
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Memphis Grizzlies Mama Bear: Brandon Clarke’s mom knew he was destined for the NBA, even as a toddler
“Canada didn’t have the opportunities for him that the U.S. offered. I knew what I had to do and I followed my heart,” says Whitney Triplett.
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Memphis Grizzlies Mama Bear: How Kyle Anderson’s mom helped her son to the NBA
“We never let anyone get a big head in our family. Everyone played a sport,” said Suzanne Anderson, mother of five.
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Memphis Grizzlies Mama Bear: How Jaren Jackson Jr.'s mom used her own upbringing to inspire his
“If things were optional at school — things like the science fair or spelling bees — they were not optional in our house,” said Terri Carmichael Jackson.
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Memphis Grizzlies Mama Bear: How Ziaire Williams’ mom shifts between probation officer and pro parent
“Basketball is not all that he is. It’s just what he does,” Marquita Williams said. “As his mom, I get him away from all of that. It’s about finding a balance, just like it is in anything.”
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October 2022
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Guest Columnists Opinion: Dealing with a time when ‘nothing is normal, nothing is right’
For a city reeling from trauma, “Nothing is normal. Nothing is right. You’re not yourselves and really, neither is anyone around you. Maybe not anyone in all of Memphis.”
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Guest Columnists Echols: Seeing the scar and the beauty all at the same time
After their seemingly perfect life crumbled, my parents — who run Jones Orchard — bounced back because of a tested and proven walk with God.
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Guest Columnists Echols: If I left Memphis, I’d be trading one kind of venom for another
“There is a unique splendor here that is unique in comparison with any place I’ve ever been. It’s found in the bare and beautiful faces of so many folks who make up this space, and in the way they live in community with one another — even when it’s hard.”
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Guest Columnists Echols: Memories of childhood mysteries better left undisturbed
The Enchanted Forest, Adventure River, The Wonder Bread factory and all the things that “brought me memories filled with laughter and delight.”
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Opinion Echols: Finding what we believe down deep — where it matters
“There’s no person who is completely free of faith. Even atheism requires a hearty and confident step of conviction. And when you find you’re locked in a teeny, tiny closet, even the smallest step matters.”
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November 2022
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Guest Columnists Echols: ‘Don’t grow up. It’s a trap.’
“It makes sense of a mother’s tears on the first day of kindergarten or at high school graduation. It recognizes a college graduate’s homesickness for her roommates. It validates a father’s emotion as he gives his daughter away on her wedding day.”
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Guest Columnists Echols: ‘My Magnificent Lover’
“Real, gut-level laughter is a gift from God; laughter was his design. It’s also a wildly underestimated instrument of light for both children and adults. It has the power to cut through some dark moments, and we need tools that have power like that right now.”
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Guest Columnists Echols: Thanksgiving traditions for the modern family
“The modern American — me, included — can barely sit through a wheat-harvesting description without checking her phone for something a tad more interesting.”
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December 2022
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Guest Columnists Echols: A Christmas column that isn’t tinsel and twinkles
“Today’s column is about the ways the evil of this world threatens humanity, both through our own choices, and through the spiritual forces in and at work around us. Which is exactly the reason for Christmas.”
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Guest Columnists Echols: Ja Morant’s game hints at something more. Something sacred.
“Each of us has a particular history, personality, community, set of strengths and weaknesses – and most importantly – heart full of loves. All of these are useful as we sort out how we might fit into Memphis.”
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Opinion Echols: ‘Nothing but a breath between us and the telephone poles’
“It wasn’t until I reached adulthood that I realized nothing that can be wrapped will fully satisfy. And if the stuff in the boxes — the stuff I flew up and down Poplar looking so frantically for — won’t satisfy, what will?”
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Opinion Echols: ‘I look to Hollywood to remind me of the power’
“I believe this old Christmas story is true for lots of reasons. But when I’m in a pinch and can’t think of any of those, I look to Hollywood to remind me of the power in the name that’s behind everything good in my life.”
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Opinion Echols: The love between siblings at Christmas
“Brothers and sisters are not impressed by our accolades and titles, but they love that we hold their histories just as they hold ours. And we still like to connect on Christmas.”
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January 2023
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Guest Columnists Echols: How shadow of crime impacts everything
“It shouldn’t be surprising that my own health seems to mirror the health of the city in which I live. The more crime seems to plague us, the more anxiety impacts my body and mind.”
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Opinion Echols: A song for a city swimming in pain and anxiety
“Memphis, I cannot write in this space what I wish I could, which is a song that cries for you and with you and through you. But instead, I offer something better.”
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February 2023
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Guest Columnists Echols: ‘Even nature is wondering how this will all play out’
“The natural world around us is not just the backdrop of our lives. It’s a very real character in our story – one that has been around much longer than we have. It’s worth paying some attention to it, even now, when everything looks so bleak.”
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Guest Columnists Echols: Memphians who are working to ‘push back the dark’
“With the minutes and hours and days they are given — in big and small ways — these otherwise ordinary folks are pushing back the dark by trumpeting hope to the world around them.”
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Guest Columnists Echols: A letter to the men of Memphis
“Our lives have been stolen from us. Even the biggest, baddest, most intimidating woman you know is looking over her shoulder at every turn.”
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Opinion Echols: The world waits
“One morning, not too far off, we will wake up, we will go outside, and we will discover that while we were sleeping, something that looks an awful lot like mercy has visited our natural world.”
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