Inspired with hope for the future

I AM a member of the Huntington Woods Peace, Citizenship and Education Project (www.hwpeace.org) in a suburb of Detroit.

I have been involved in several peace projects since the start of the Iraq war, but after years of spinning my wheels without seeing much progress, I was starting to feel like I needed to do something more. To "rev things up," my daughter, who is a member of the International Socialist Organization (ISO), suggested I attend Socialism 2008 in Chicago this past June, with the promise that "it would change my life."

Changed my life, it did! I found the entire conference to be absolutely amazing. It was very well organized, the speakers were outstanding, the crowd was filled with passion, the discussions enlightening and, most of all, the experience filled me with hope for the future.

This week, I gave a report back to my group about the four days I spent in Chicago. I passed around the schedule of all the workshops, rallies and the list of speakers--they were thoroughly impressed. My group was so excited about your conference that we are considering promoting Socialism 2009 to all the peace/antiwar groups in the Detroit metropolitan area, with the goal of getting enough people to fill a bus!

I want to thank the ISO and everyone involved in putting this conference together. To be around so many people who are so knowledgeable and passionate about change has restored my hope in the human spirit.
Shirley Chalmers, Detroit