Editors note: Dafna Michaelson is going around the US, interviewing people who are catalysts for change, and posting the interviews at www.50in52journey.com. When she interviewed me, I turned the tables and interviewed her. Below are her own words about this project. —Shel Horowitz, editor, Peace & Politics

Shel:
What made you decide to travel around the country collecting these stories?

Dafna:
What put the idea in our head was the question, what would you do if you won the lottery? I said I'd go to every governor and ask, what are you doing to engage your citizens in community, and how do you engage them in solving community problems? I decided to do it anyway, even though we didn't win the lottery. And then I realized, I didn't want the governors, I wanted the people who are self-selecting to solve problems not only for themselves but for the people around them.

I live in Denver. In Denver, during the last couple of years, we've been completely focused on the presidential election, because we hosted the Democratic National Convention. But at home, the lack of control over the economy, environment, Iraq, that they conceived they couldn't control. People were feeling down. I felt the focus on Washington for the future was misguided. If people could see that right around them, there are all these extraordinary people who are making a difference, they'd understand we're not at the end of the road, and perhaps be inspired to take action on their own and solve what they might see as a problem.

I interview you and then edit it down to 5-10 minutes, and I blog, and I take still images, and hope to share that journey. At the end, our goal is to create the Journey Foundation, and ask people around the country what problems they want to solve, and then we'll select, say, four issues per year, match people up who are trying to solve similar problems, bring them to Denver for a summit, and organize a fundraiser.

How are you funding the project?
I did some fundraising right before the bottom fell out, I raised about $6000, and then we all know what happened. The question became, is this the right time to do this? I felt so strongly that this is when people need it, and what's going to go on this year is going to impact our lives in ways we can't even tell, and this is a time when people need to be inspired into action.

So I liquidated my already-plummeted 401K, applied for and got a 501c3 [registered nonprofit tax-exempt status with the Internal Revenue Service]. I'm almost out of money, but I've got airfare through July.

My son just turned 7, and 8, and I only travel on the days they're with their dad. We share custody 50-50. He lives about a mile from me.

What motivated the interest in social change?
The furthest back that I can think of being aware of behaviors—when I was 14, I was sitting on a bus on my way home from school. I was looking out the window at a church, and it occurred to me, what if I, from a religious Jewish family, am doing it wrong? And I asked my mom.

She said, Dafne, as long as you are true to what you believe and you are good to other people, you're doing it right. That became the beginning, that I respect people for who they are and what they do. That planted the seed. I saw that other people didn't [see it that way]. It wasn't until much later that I actually did anything. But I started to see adults complain about what was wrong, but they weren't doing anything about it. I became very frustrated.

I made a promise that I would not complain about a problem unless I was willing to work on the solution. I got on my first board at 14; I won an election. I didn't know I was running against someone every one disliked.

I worked in the nonprofit Jewish world for 15 years, then I had a workplace violence experience that was the catapult for taking a job outside that community for the first time. So I became president of the Denver chapter of Hadassah to assuage my guilt. 1400 members in Denver, I was president for two years, just stepped down.

I was all of a sudden working at a 500-bed public hospital serving Denver's indigent population, and started being involved in issues that were outside my immediate community. Where it goes, who knows—but it opened my eyes and I'm learning what are the issues around America. And I'm working on the ways where if I'm not working on a solution, I can bring highlight to those people who are.

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