There is so much going on at TCASK that it has been difficult finding the time to write. Alex has been on the road to Memphis yesterday and heading to Jackson tomorrow. Over the weekend, Kathryn Lea and I staffed a TCASK booth at the Presbytery of Middle Tennessee's annual Mission Conference all day Saturday, and then, I led a Sunday School class at First Presbyterian in Hendersonville on Sunday. Yesterday, I furiously worked to complete our application for the placement of a Jesuit Volunteer with TCASK; and, today, both Alex and I have been in an all day meeting learning to be better grant writers. Alex is currently on the Hill...okay...I am out of breath from just writing about all that has been going on!

But the week is young. Hopefully you already know that this Thursday, March 1, is a big day for abolitionists around the world as it marks International Death Penalty Abolition Day, celebrating the anniversary of the date in 1847 in which the state of Michigan officially became the first English-speaking territory in the world to abolish capital punishment. It is a day to remember the victims of violent crime and their survivors; it is a day to remember those killed by state sanctioned violence - guilty or not- and their survivors; and it is a day for intensified education and action for alternatives to the death penalty.

TCASK will be hosting Write-a-Thons all over the state on March 1, asking lawmakers to support both a moratorium and a study bill. We will write in order to thank the Governor for the current moratorium, to explain why the moratorium needs to continue in order for a full study to be conducted, and to ask the Governor to pardon Paul House. Some TCASK chapters will also be writing to their city councils asking for resolutions in support of a moratorium and study. Hopefully, no matter where you live in the state, a write-a-thon is happening somewhere near you: Dyersburg, Jackson, Memphis, Nashville, Murfreesboro, Chattanooga, Sewanee, Knoxville, and Bristol.

If you are not located near one of these areas, please write letters from wherever you are. A letter writing toolkit is available to you on the website. Get your writing hands warmed up, and let's generate the most letters ever this year to let our state leaders know that the time is now for halting the death penalty in Tennessee.