"A Night of Storytelling" is a biannual Our Jackson Home event that seeks to create a warm environment for you to dig deeper into the people and places of our city by hearing personal stories from your Jackson neighbors.

The event was created upon seeing the success of theCO's past Pecha Kucha gatherings but wanting to give it an Our Jackson Home twist. So we've gathered some of the best stories of Jackson businesses, passion projects, and artistic endeavors to share with you.

This event is family-friendly and free, where you'll enjoy being told seven Jacksonian tales, hearing some live and local music, and listening to some Jackson poetry—after munching on some catfish from the Little Kitchen food truck, of course. And make sure to grab those tees and mags you've been meaning to get for so long.

We will also be taking preorders for our upcoming winter magazine (Vol. 2, Issue 4: Origins), which means you'll be the first to see the cover unveiled and to watch the promo video.

Come hear the stories of your neighbors Friday, October 21 at 7:00 p.m. at theCO, and be on the lookout for our next Night of Storytelling in the spring of 2017!

Trunetta ATWATER & Courtney Hart
Little Kitchen Food Truck

Trunetta and Courtney are a sister-brother team with an interesting journey that led to their full-time entrepreneurship. Trunetta, Owner and Marketing Manager at Little Kitchen, received her Bachelors of Business Administration in Finance from the University of Memphis and a Master of Business Administration from Union University. Courtney leads as Front Line Operations Manager, and his daily professionalism, workflow, and charismatic character are vital to the success of LK. Two completely different paths led the siblings to the same destination of owning their own food truck.

Patrick Beard
Indigenous Outreach International | TrueLight Childcare Project

Patrick Beard is the happily married father of five daughters, grandfather, on-call chaplain at JMCGH, emergency medical responder with the Madison County Fire Department, and Founder & Director of Indigenous Outreach International (IOI). IOI was established in 1999 to support native ministers through providing financial, technical and educational assistance. Today it supports over seventy ministers in Ethiopia, Brazil, and Togo. It has also connected over 240 at-risk children with sponsors from the USA and Europe through the TrueLight Childcare Project in Addis Abeba, Ethiopia.

Read more about IOI and TrueLight Childcare in our fall magazine (Vol. 2, Issue 3: Harvest).

James E. Cherry
 Local Poet

A Jackson native, James E Cherry is the author of three collections of poetry, a collection of short fiction, and two novels. His latest novel, Edge of the Wind, was published in October 2016 from Stephen F Austin University Press. He is also an active member of the Griot Collective of West Tennessee, a local poetry organization.

Read some of James' poetry in our fall magazine (Vol. 2, Issue 3: Harvest).

Natalie Douglas
Local Artist

Natalie Douglas is a Jackson native and recent graduate of Watkins College of Art, Design & Film in Nashville. While her favorite medium is acrylic, she focuses mostly on a developing art form called "scrapping," which turns odds and ends often considered as trash into viable art. Natalie also was a proud participant of our inaugural 731Day mural at ComeUnity Café. She will be sharing about her artistic process specifically concerning her submission to theCOtoberfest Pop-Up Art Gallery.

To see more of Natalie's work, follow her on Facebook.

Michelle James
The Downtown Tavern | The Downtown Dogs Group

When Michelle isn’t busy with her day job as a Financial Analyst for West Tennessee Healthcare, she is dreaming of a world where every dog and cat has a loving family. She is Co-Founder of the Downtown Dogs Group, a rescue formed in 2009 to assist special-needs animals in West Tennessee. In 2015, Michelle and her hero-husband Walt purchased The Downtown Tavern: a place where everyone knows your name, your drink, your favorite song—and where your night on the town helps make a difference for dogs, musicians, and this wonderful community we call home.

Read more about the Downtown Tavern and Downtown Dogs Group on our blog and our fall magazine (Vol. 2, Issue 3: Harvest).

Sara Miller
The West Tennessee School for the Deaf

Sara Miller is a deaf adult who has been a teacher of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing for going on nine years. The 2016-2017 school year marks seven years of teaching at the West Tennessee School for the Deaf, where she teaches the 5th and 6th Grade. She is currently obtaining a Masters in Educational Leadership at the University of Tennessee at Martin.

Read more about the West Tennessee School for the Deaf on our blog and our spring magazine (Vol. 2, Issue 1: Discovery).

Keegan Paluso
Small Town Big Sound

Keegan Paluso is a West Tennessee native and the creator of Small Town Big Sound, an organization focused on helping working musicians while exposing and growing the vast musical culture that permeates West Tennessee. Over the past three years, the group has recorded and released music that features some of the finest working singers, songwriters, and musicians that the area has to offer. Keegan is also a musician, songwriter, and music educator.

Read more about Small Town Big Sound in our upcoming winter magazine, Vol. 2, Issue 4: Origins.