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 live in a pretty nice neighborhood there is not much of a story to tell I mean one time I lost my dog and I couldn’t find him for about three days I was very sad everybody knew who my dog was he was my service dog and as a group a few of my neighbors and the kids went searching for my dog and we ended up finding him and I’m just very thankful for how sweet and generous my neighbors are
A very secluded family lived across the street from me my entire childhood and we barely spoke or interacted. I left for college and after returned to live with my parents. I notice one day a very nerdy looking young lady coming back and forth and decided to approach her. Well, she ended up being the love of my life and we are still together. I’m glad I fell in love with her and not her appearance.
I grew up with my grandparents they was very old so they didn’t have much control of my brothers and I. We grew up not having much we had to work with what we got.
When my husband decided that our family would move to his hometown of Pahokee, FL. I knew it would be a significant change moving from a metropolitan city, 1,000,000+ to a small city of about 6,000 people. My husbands return home was two fold. He wanted to be close to his family-mother, father, brothers and sister but also wanted to help his community by becoming the Mayor, which meant for him using all that he had learned and experienced, bringing it back home to Pahokee. He was adamant about returning home from the day we met in 1993 at Alabama State University. This was instilled in him from his graduation speech in 1992 at Pahokee High School. What he took away from that speech was that the speaker encouraged them to go out and gain knowledge and experience but don’t forget about returning home to help. From 1992, he kept this in his heart and vowed to return home to help his city.
Growing up in the heart of Boynton Beach and a young man was challenging for me. I grew up in a home with no positive male figures and no positive role models. I was raised by a single parent and it was no easy task. My mother did the best she could with the limited resources she had.
Growing UP and being reared by my grandmother. She exposed us to numerous things.