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 fought a lot as a kid. That’s just how it is when you grow up in the hood. I would have fought a lot more if it wasn’t for one simple phrase: “My bad”. For those of you that don’t speak hood, “My bad” is the equivalent of saying “I’m sorry.”
When I young living in my neighborhood was different from today. We couldn’t do the things that the young people do today. The white kids had more privilege then us blacks we couldn’t even go to the beach.
After Hurricane Jeanne and Frances, all the neighbors were checking on each other, sharing resources and in general reaching out to support each other, even though on a day to day basis, there may not be much interaction.
Last Halloween we went to our neighbors house and we had a thousand homes in our community and a lot of young families halloween is a good event in our community my neighborhood is friendly oriented and family oriented and have lots of fun
I remember one night I was at home. Next thing you know I hear gunshots. I thought nothing of it until I went to watch the news the next day and seen somebody was shot and killed by my house. It worried me about my safety.