When I emailed my friend Dalia about an interview for The Cusp in the fall of 2015, I thought it’d be a long shot.
Election day was a month away. Her race for a seat on the Fairfax County School Board in Virginia was heating up. She was campaigning every day, door knocking after work on weekday afternoons and weekends.
But it was too good an opportunity to pass up. So I went for it:
“Hope you had a great week. And congrats on pushing through another fundraising deadline ... I can't believe it's almost election day!
I want to extend an invitation to you. Since I was laid off in April, I've been exploring a creative project I've had in my head for over a year. It feels closer to the kind of work that is my true passion. Here's the result. Later this Fall/early Winter (Editor’s note from 2018: Wishingful thinking!), I plan to launch a podcast called The Cusp. It's an interview show exploring what we think about, feel, and learn when we are about to experience a significant moment or transition in our lives.”
Two days later, she responded. She was in, agreeing to sit down with me just 11 days before election day. “This month is beyond intense,” she wrote, concluding, “Hope this makes sense (I'm exhausted). Abrazote, D”
My stage was set. The world really was whirling around Dalia. And here I was, being given the chance to take a temperature check in the midst of chaos.
What was she thinking about?
If she won, how would she feel?
If she lost, what then?
How was she processing the home stretch as a first-time political candidate up against an incumbent in a community she had called home since the age of six?
