There was so many rich quotes from the national worker cooperative conference that took place in Berkeley last weekend.  Many got lost in my unreadable handwriting.

Here are only a few that I was able to capture: 

"This isn't for everyone.  Co-ops are awesome."

--Hilary Abell, WAGES Executive Director.

"They say that young people are the future, but they don't treat us like that.  It's like we're a burden. ...We're the leaders of today, not just tomorrow."

--Patricia Feraud, business and fundraising coordinator for Toxic Soil Busters, a youth lead-remediation cooperative. 

"We have to shrink the economy.  We have to get rid of the oil economy and develop an economy that will sustain life. "

--Bernard Marszalek, re-"leisured" worker owner and JAS-Econ organizer

"Conflict is the fastest way to build community." 

-- Bill Say, workshop leader on conflict and communications

"We looked for democratic schools, and we couldn't find one."

Dee Grover Thomas, of EdVisions Cooperative in Minnesota, which helps run a school that teachers created where students "own" their learning--they decide on a project through which all subjects are taught.