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”).
Important moment in my life would be finding my first job. Nothing is giving to you around here so you have to go get it. I was 16 when McDonald’s hired me and I’ve been working since.
You could make a living. If you wanted to work, there was work. Finished high school (Lakeshore, 67). Moved to Hartford, CT. 8 siblings. Spent half his life here. Tired of cold weather up north. Retired and came home. Has two kids (grown up). It’s home.
I grew up in Plains, GA. I grew up with Jimmy Carter. Plains was a little town and everybody knew everybody. Black and white did not make a difference. My brothers and Jimmy used to play together. We all worked in the fields together.
The most important moment in my life (I was born and raised in Belle Glade). I lost my mom in 96 by of Belle Glade, an my son and nephew lost to gun violence a few years ago. After all of that, I am still standing, I might stumble, God has carried me. He is always there. Hypertension and diabetes and heart problems went through my family, and God has been there for us. My mom lived 7 years with kidney failure with NO medication. She didn’t suffer when she died. We took care of her and my husband when they were sick. We all take care of each other. That’s a family tradition.
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