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This Life with Gracie

AJC columnist Gracie Bonds Staples is retiring after more than 40 years in the newspaper business.
OPINION: Goodbye, readers, and thank you
Gabby Dollar, 31, will no longer be able to live independently if proposed waiver changes are approved. (Courtesy of Robin Rayne/ZUMA)
OPINION: Waivers keep lives of developmentally disabled in flux
The Rev. David Lower (left), pastor at Saint Luke’s Presbyterian Church, is pictured with the Rev. Eric Powell, pastor at Dodd-Sterling United Methodist Church. during a joint church service. (Courtesy of David King)
OPINION: An arranged friendship, then deepening fellowship, faith
More from Gracie Bonds Staples
Families First recently announced the launch of its new mission to build more resilient families. (Courtesy of Families First)
Agency puts families first in new effort to build resilience
Niang Muang, pictured here shadowing a local dentist, has been accepted into dental school. (Courtesy of F.R.E.E.)
OPINION: Refugee’s wildest dreams come true. College then dental school
A supporter of President Donald Trump carries a Confederate battle flag inside the Capitol building in Washington, as a mob of his supporters protest the presidential election results, on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021. Historians said it was unnerving to see a man carry the flag inside the Capitol, something not even Confederate soldiers were able to do during the Civil War. (Erin Schaff/The New York Times)
OPINION: Roots of Capitol attack long in the making
Truancy Intervention Project Georgia fears students are unaccounted for during the COVID-19 pandemic. (Courtesy of TIP)
OPINION: Are all students accounted for? Probably not
Molly Welch hopes every Georgian will display these stickers on their vehicles to help cut down on distracted driving. (Courtesy of Molly Welch)
OPINION: Will magnet stop distracted driving? Crash survivor hopes so
New Year's resolutions give us a sense of purpose.
OPINION: In 2021, resolving to be better, do better
The marquee at River Trail Middle School in Johns Creek recognizes the kindness of Sayed Naqawe. (Gracie Bonds Staples / Gracie.Staples@ajc.com)
OPINION: In a school where character matters, a custodian bubbles to top
Emory graduate candidates for the class of 2020 (from left) Katie Matuska, Liz Olinde and Izzy Saridakis spray Champagne as they celebrate at Emory's Haygood-Hopkins Gate in Decatur on Saturday, April 25, 2020. They were all roommates and wanted to celebrate their graduation together since they may only have a virtual graduation ceremony this year. (Hyosub Shin / Hyosub.Shin@ajc.com)
OPINION: COVID-19′s other unnamed victim — ceremony
Congresswoman-elect Nikema Williams, who won the Nov. 3 election to represent the 5th Congressional District in the 117th Congress, sat recently for her member portrait. (Courtesy of Nikema Williams)
OPINION: Congresswoman-elect Nikema Williams already taking the lead
Demi Brandenburg, 12, stares at a candle outside of the National Museum for Civil and Human Rights on Thursday evening August 27, 2020, as part of the “Loved Ones, Not Numbers” campaign to humanize the toll of the current pandemic. BEN GRAY / FOR THE AJC
OPINION: ’Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted’
Republican supporters watch returns for Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Raphael Warnock and Republican incumbent Kelly Loeffler come in at the Georgia Republican Party Election Night Celebration Party at the Intercontinental Buckhead Atlanta hotel on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020, in Atlanta. The two candidates are now in a Jan. 5 runoff. (Curtis Compton / Curtis.Compton@ajc.com)
OPINION: Loeffler ads attacking Warnock reveal more about her than him
Nadine Lynch is the unit manager for Wellstar Kennestone Hospital’s Green 4 North Intensive Care ECMO Unit, where most of its COVID-19 patients are housed. (Courtesy of Nadine Lynch)
OPINION: Death inspires Kennestone nurse to do ‘what I was meant to do’
OPINION: Oxford College dean seeing hope, healing in purple Georgia
OPINION: Another year, another World AIDS Day
OPINION: An unlikely friendship forged during, well, coffee breaks
OPINION: In time for Thanksgiving, Army vet’s home mortgage paid in full
OPINION: Furloughed bartender plants hope with a sip of paradise
OPINION: A stirring in the heart, a party and two teens get forever homes
If your Thanksgiving table is smaller this year, mailing care packages to those who won't be there can be a way to connect with your loved ones. (Dreamstime/TNS)
Thanksgiving 2020: Finding gratitude in the midst of a pandemic
People dance in the streets to celebrate President-elect Joe Biden’s victory over Donald Trump in the U.S. general election in Midtown Atlanta, on Saturday, Nov. 7, 2020. (Rebecca Wright for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
OPINION: Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and the electric slide
The Rev. Ed Bacon is interim rector of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Atlanta. (Courtesy of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church)
OPINION: How mourning might help build a unified community, nation
Gabrielle Tobin, 14, of Smyrna created a video series to help her peers master math. (Courtesy of Gabrielle Tobin)
OPINION: Not a numbers whiz? For Math’s Sake promises to change that
Voters line up at Park Tavern in Atlanta on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020. Voters waited outside polling places Tuesday morning to be among the first to cast their votes on a crucial Election Day. Even before Election Day, 3.9 million Georgians had already cast early or absentee ballots. (John Spink / John.Spink@ajc.com)
OPINION: Whatever happens, never forgo your right to vote
Sarah Booth, who came to Christian City as a broken 12-year-old, now oversees some of the nonprofit's programs. (Courtesy of Christian City)
OPINION: Taking care of the least of these
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