“We Are Here” Stories (List View)

Palm Beach County residents were asked:

Please tell us about an important moment in your life that would help someone understand what it’s like living in your neighborhood.

The stories and micro-narratives they submitted (as part of the We Are Here SenseMaker project) are listed below. Click ZOOM IN to learn more about the community member and how they interpreted their submission. NOTE: Some stories were partially transcribed by volunteers who shortened the narratives and referred to the storytellers in the third person (e.g., “her experience was” instead of “my experience was”).


Oct 5, 2018

What glitters isn’t gold

I am well known in my neighborhood. I have lived many places because of the hype others speak about but I always end up back here where it all started. Many places had nice homes, scenery and a lot of people but those places were missing Soul and Character. Here I have my family and my church and at this age that’s all I need
Nov 17, 2018

Humor saves lives-Rickia

When I was a teenager, I was the smallest kid in my neighborhood. I got beat up, pushed around and joked on all the time until I learned how to tell jokes and make everyone laugh.
Nov 6, 2018

The right track-laroderick rickstdson

I grew up in the trenches I was selling dope and getting bad grades in school and the someone wanted to put me on the path to success and I was not selling dope and I was getting good grades
Sep 19, 2018

My community (Story #389)

In December 2017, the United Nations special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Philip Alston, undertook a two-week investigation on the effects of systemic poverty in the United States, and sharply condemned private wealth and public squalor
Oct 14, 2018

The Run

Was brought down from New Jersey with my mother
Oct 1, 2018

The hoa blues

The former president of our home owners association