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 moments in my life was sports. Growing up around here I had to be into something so I didn’t get caught in the street life. My parents didn’t want me to In up in jail.
Coming up i had a lot of brothers so i can say they was important to me. They protected me and always made sure i was straight. I don’t really know where i would be without them.
You have probably gotten this story a hundred times already but the 2 shootings that had happened this year. Our young men are dying for no reason. They didn’t get to live their life. This is not good. The community needs to work together to prevent this.
An important moment in my life is when discussions leads into other things such as fighting and killing.Many people don’t get over the fact that you had an argument and can end with a simple apology but it leads to other dangerous things.
One shooting happens then later on another shooting happens. Why is this gun violence going on for. This should be stopped. That’s could’ve been one of my grandchild or anybody else’s. Kids need to stopped taking life for granted and d the right thing.
Thirty-five percent of participants stopped important activities after their events, with personal illnesses having this effect most frequently. In addition to these negative consequences, participants reported positive consequences of their stressful events for their lives.