The couple who were moved by your votes

Whatever happened to . . .

By Michael Kruse, Times Staff Writer
Published August 5, 2007

"We dream it, they dare it"; Jan. 11, 2007; See past coverage at life.tampabay.com.

THE STORY: Artsy 20-somethings Danny de Zayas and Nina Barry were living in New York last year when they decided not only to move but to let us pick where. They set up a Web site, dannyandnina.com, with a list of 250 cities, and asked anybody and everybody to vote - the first place to a million votes wins. The project was written about in papers all over the country, and had all sorts of Web buzz, too, and Danny and Nina came to his parents' house in South Florida to watch it unfold. In the end, South Bend, Ind., and Plano, Texas, came close, but Denver was the people's choice.

FROM THE STORY: What started as kind of a goof and what could have been just a wacky Web gimmick turned into much more: an ongoing virtual conversation on choice and adventure and free will, and the idea of a leap of faith and the ability to change and the definition of art, and ultimately the belief - the hope - that we can do whatever we want, go wherever we want, be whatever we want.

The South Bend paper called it a "quirky Internet pageant." But what works in the e-medium, of course, often is the same as what works in any medium, and for pretty much the same reason: It tugs at something fundamental on our collective insides.

This thing tugged.

THE REST OF THE STORY: Danny and Nina moved to Denver in January and found an apartment in the City Park West neighborhood. They have gone to the city's museums of art and natural science and the botanical gardens and have become members of the Denver Zoo. Nina, an artist, has been painting, and also recently applied for a job at the art museum, and Danny started a consulting company, ourstereo.com, helping small local businesses with online marketing. The couple also post frequently on blogs.move.com/dannyandnina.

The attention they got during the project at dannyandnina. com led to attention in Denver when they got there. Alt weekly Westword did a story on them and they were on a local TV show called MetroBeat. People noticed them on sidewalks and at red lights.

They met many of their closest friends, they say, because of it.

And maybe the most amazing thing? The mayor of Denver declared Feb. 14 Danny and Nina Day. Seriously.

WHAT HAPPENS (OR WHAT HAPPENED) NEXT: On July 15, their fourth anniversary as a couple, in Colorado Springs, at the rocky, beautiful landmark called the Garden of the Gods, Danny got down on one knee and asked Nina to marry him. The wedding is tentatively scheduled for next August. They're thinking it'll be in Denver.

"It's where we are," Danny said.

[Last modified August 3, 2007, 15:24:37]