shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...be very, very quiet...

that's good - okay ... so check this out - this office has been all a-titter with activity over the past 2 months, seriously, like never before ... things have been happening so fast that it's a very good thing that we have a strategic sense of things and a vision of what we're doing and why to get to abolition here in tennessee ...

a very good thing indeed ... and what are we doing so much of??? systematic, strategic outreach and relationship building ...

come again???

systematic, strategic outreach and relationship building ...

so what's the big whoop about this???

well, most of our legislative partners just don't get it ... god bless their little hearts! alex and i were in a meeting this week with these partners and they are VERY good people, bright, passionate, intensely committed, and very skilled ... But, they have an insider mentality ...

we talked about a lobby day for "justice" that would be, say in march ... and either alex or i shared what we've been doing - targeting the legislative districts of judiciary committee members, writing letters to who we need to work with in the districts to be successful, following up with phone calls, setting meetings and/or presentations, and traveling to these districts to meet people and follow through with the process, face-to-face, inside the district, of grassroots relationship building...

almost as a chorus we were asked, "great! how long will you do that?" ... with the question being 2, 3 months???

alex said, "for the next 3 years we'll be doing that..."

that's what we do - somebody has to do it - somebody has to mobilize constituents, brand new active constituents who have never spoken on this issue before - somebody has to be the outsiders who understand what the insiders do even if they don't get what we do and how it makes their work ON THIS ISSUE possible...

that's all, this is in no way, shape or form a rant ... just thought i'd share with you ... I'm only saying...

<3