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”).
I loved my neighborhood minus the violence it has the today the kids are different but there’s always a handful that comes and sit and talk to me. They are sweethearts. Then the others won’t even help themselves.
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.
Born in 1947, started working when I was 15 years old. Most important thing I experienced coming up is due to workforce-the sugar cane. I got older, getting a job with us sugar-I worked for 35 years. It was hard, very hard work but you had to make a living somehow. I also picked spring beans but the harvesters took the work away. I grew up in lake harbor and they bussed us to school. Quiet waters used to be lake shore high school and we were bussed from the camps in lake harbor. I had 4 kids, they went to glades central, to make ends meet we did any work we could.
All the best conversation is happening in GroupMe, Slack, WhatsApp, private email lists, or over drinks after work. People feel comfortable analyzing, debating, and joking in these places, where they can express themselves without fear of judgment, unwanted notifications, or death threats.
In high school when i received a full ride to UF.
The police said he grew up in clewston he said it was great they helped one another when you get into trouble from with your neighbor you get in trouble at home