Wow. My first day at work! This is so exciting!

Now, granted, this is not really very new. I've been working this job for a year now, but, up until this point, I had been working it as a Jesuit Volunteer. Today, after a quick trip back home to New York to put affairs in order, I am back as a full-time TCASK employee. Although I keep saying that I'm a Jesuit Volunteer out of habit.

I'll admit that I don't feel particularly different - maybe the magic JV dust hasn't worn off yet, or maybe there is some first day of work aura hanging around, or maybe there never was any magic JV dust to begin with, but I think that this day is important for reasons beyond my own feelings.

So, as any organization that has a history professor for the chair of its board would do, we should embark on a little history lesson. You see TCASK came into being in 1992, though there were several precursor abolitionist organizations in Tennessee going all the way back to before the death penalty's reinstatement in 1977. Until 2000, TCASK was a completely volunteer organization, but in December of that year, our Executive Director, Randy Tatel was hired. Randy, who is currently battling a deadline for a very large grant proposal, held the fort all by himself for five years, until the lil' Jesuit dude, as I have resigned myself to being called, appeared on the scene a year ago.

Now TCASK is stuck with me, and, as unfortunate as this may seem to those who know me well, it indicates a great time of growth for our organization. A year ago the idea of hiring a second full-time staff person was simply not a viable one. Today, there are two of us and, as anyone who has been following the blog knows, we are looking to add a third. And there are not, sadly, many state abolitionist organizations that can boast that large a staff. When you add the potential for an intern or two and the possibility of a new JV, or possibly a Young Adult Volunteer (from the Presbyterian faith tradition), in the coming years, we are looking at an organization that is seriously ready to challenge the use of capital punishment in our state. So buckle up, Tennessee, because TCASK is on the move. We'll be doing even more traveling and speaking, more training and empowering all over the state, including some places where the light of abolition has never shone before. It's going to be a great year!