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”).
When she was a dance teacher and she had to help her dancers understand all the good things that come from this small town and how it builds character.
Everything my mama warned me about came true. So listen to everything and speak on nothing. That was the most important thing because of what was going on and i saw my sister not listen to anything as i listened to everything and long story short my me and my sister now live two totally different lifestyles
Neighborhoods with poor quality housing, few resources, and unsafe conditions impose stress, which can lead to depression. The stress imposed by adverse neighborhoods increases depression above and beyond the effects of the individual’s own personal stressors, such as poverty and negative events within the family or work-place.
Coming up I had alot of important moments in my life. I was finding my husband and i still remember how theres where. Until he was killed by a drive by shooting.
The neighborhood was a family, every child was each other’s, whenever there were needs, the others would help. My mother died in 1977, my neighbor had 4 girls but made sure we had decent clothes to wear. Born one of thirteen children, dad worked on the farm, woke up at 3 am and came home late. Mom was authority figure, caring for one another. Did not have much but made sure we had enough. We didn’t see ourselves as being poor. If someone was sick, we helped each other.
I remember one night returning home and my mom looked puzzled when I looked out the window I seen this someone was breaking into my dad’s truck my dad immediately got out of the car and begin to taste the person about the person got away and the police took