Faces of West County: Daniel Swid

We're excited to bring you this new column by Steven Einstein

My column, Faces of the West County, began a number of years ago in Sonoma West Times and News, in print and then online. It is meant to shed light on a diverse range of local individuals, young and old, little known and better known. After a brief hiatus, I’m happy to continue interviewing local residents of all sorts, now for the new Sebastopol Times.

Daniel Swid, a neighbor of mine, is a breath of fresh air. Just when I get all bent out of shape about Greenland melting, or the threat to our democracy, or how the Supreme Court could possibly rule on this or that, I’ll find myself chatting with Daniel, and he’ll set me straight. He thinks outside the box and can see possibilities where I didn’t even know they existed. Here’s Daniel.

Where and when were you born, Daniel?

November 10th, 1978, at the UCLA hospital. I’m knocking on 44.

Who’s in your immediate family?

My wife Sharon, and kids, Mika, Zoe and Gilly, ages 16, 13 and 10.

And your parents?

Vitorio, my father, was born in Tripoli, Lybia, but nine months later, in 1948, he was a refugee bound for Israel. Most of the Jewish community of Lybia grew scared and threatened, and as soon as there was a safe haven to go to, Israel, they fled. He came to the states, to LA, at age 27. Like many, he came with the dream of acting, and like most, that dream didn’t quite happen. He worked mostly as a clothes presser in a dry cleaning shop.

We grew up very working class.

My mom, Rose-Marie, is Swedish. She too came to the states at age twenty-something to be an au pair. Her first charge was Hubert Hoover the 3rd, the heir to the vacuum cleaner empire, in Bel Air. She grew up in Smaland, which is the same area as Pipi Longstockings, and the guy who founded IKEA.

Although I’m obviously American, I romanticize my Swedish and Israeli heritage.

How did you spend your summer vacation?

Our whole family went to Israel for two months. My wife is Israeli with close family there and many dear friends. Then I went on to Costa Rica for a week. It was work stuff there: a regenerative farms and design sprint kickoff of a rotational grazing protocol in the tropics.

And from this you make a living?

Apparently so. I wear a lot of hats. I have a software engineering and user experience design background. I get to work with real visionaries, and there are many out there. There’s a collective vision emerging which is very exciting.

Okay. Stop there. This sounds far less apocalyptic than the narrative running through my head every night. What vision do you speak of?

I’m working with, and a co-founder of, Better Worlds. It’s a communications platform. Our premise is that there are three different worlds; 1) the natural world, 2) the human made world, and 3) the virtual world.

Because the natural world is under threat, we’re forced to focus and reevaluate the human world, and how it relates to the natural world. We can’t escape to the virtual world, but need to figure out how the virtual world can support and regenerate the natural world.

This is why you’re the optimist to my doom-and-gloom-Greenland-is-melting-for-crying-out-loud fatalist. Are you in fact optimistic?

Yes. There’s no other way, and it’s a lot more fun.

You think outside the box. So what’s your best idea?

I can’t say it’s my idea, but there is an emergence of attitudes that’s in the air. We’re more connected in the world today than ever before. We share so much with each other, that will impact our survival. I share a vision of a more cooperative world with many others. The tools we have today will help us get there. I’m trying to help facilitate that.

Yet, I think people overlook the power of their own agency.

What’s that mean?

People, individuals, are capable of so much more than we know. Although we’re reliant on each other, at the same time we can solve so much and create so much on our own.

What do you think the most important thing Sebastopol should be doing today?

I think that it would be wise to focus on the people who live here and not cater to or be reliant on the tourist class who come from outside. Local infrastructure, bike paths, kiosks for the low-overhead micro economy,…. that’s what we need more of.

I really see something new emerging. If you’re stuck in the old model, there’s reason to believe things aren’t going to improve. If you see things as a cooperative new vision, you can see the possibilities for something so much better where we live in harmony with each other, and the natural world.

What do you do for fun?

I swim, I like to get lost and discover new things, and of course time with my family. We’re an outdoor bunch. We like adventure.

Do you have a favorite hike?

I run a loop around town, especially in the dark. First Street to Jewel to Leland. … Pomo Canyon is good. Willow Creek is a jewel.

What book are you reading now?

Martin Shaw wrote “Smoking Hole: Looking to the Wild in Times of the Spyglass.” It’s great. He’s a mythologist and very inspirational.

And if you had an extra 20$ to give away?

Some kid in line at Mimi’s to buy more ice cream with. I like knowing where my money goes.

Thanks for your time Daniel. I appreciate your capacity to see into our future with optimism and your support of that positive something that is developing out there. I hope it gets here soon.