On Monday evening, TCASK Chattanooga, as well as the TCASK staff, got a special treat, a visit from Equal Justice USA's Southern Field Organizer, Catilla Everette! Everette was hired by EJ to work in four Southern states including Tennessee and we are certainly lucky to have him. On Monday night we got a taste of exactly why that is.

One of the tasks that Everette has taken on since arriving is to be the point person developing the chapter in Chattanooga (while Randy works in Knoxville and I tackle Memphis - poor Memphis got the short end of the stick). Monday night was Everette's first chance to meet the Chattanooga chapter, and I think it's safe to say that a great impression was made. Everette took over facilitation of the meeting and within an hour had pulled a full vigil plan, with outreach to important communities included, from all the different thoughts and ideas that people at the meeting had.

For me, it was nice to be at a meeting where I wasn't facilitating, so I could just sit back and observe the master in action and it really was a pleasure. Everette has a great organizer's persona, that is to say that he can be persuasive while empowering others to bring their views forward and then distilling, sometimes rambling, thoughts into concise and coherent visions, while at the same time keeping a meeting on track. Chattanooga is going to be flying high.

So even though we're still staring down an execution date for Sedley Alley in less than a week, there is some good news on the TCASK front. Shout out to Everette, who knows how to git 'er done!