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Civic ImaginationMain MenuThe Big Map: an Overview of the Civic ImaginationThe Big Map of Civic Imagination all over the worldPopular Culture/FictionalCharacters, stories and fictional universes that resonate with communities and inspire actionMyth and FolkloreStories from cultures around the world that inspire Civic ImaginationReligiousStories based in faith and religionsMigrating the StoriesExplore the Big Map and then remix Imagination by migrating stories to new localesContributorsPeople who contributed stories to the projectGabriel Peters-Lazaro3bc3965831120bc593545fef6d0da73657e21ea0Emilia Yang0306ec8482b0946a4ad881acf758effb11741533
Non Fiction
12016-04-06T12:48:23-07:00Gabriel Peters-Lazaro3bc3965831120bc593545fef6d0da73657e21ea091995Real World Instances that inspire Civic Imaginationgoogle_maps2016-07-04T12:05:21-07:00Gabriel Peters-Lazaro3bc3965831120bc593545fef6d0da73657e21ea0These stories are about real people, places and events that provide inspiration about the way we shape our world. They may include figures from the distant pass or the living present. They may be international heroes of sport, politics or the arts or they may be local heroes known only to their neighbors and immediate communities. Gathering these stories here gives us a chance to see what inspiration looks like all over the world.
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12016-04-06T12:23:46-07:00Gabriel Peters-Lazaro3bc3965831120bc593545fef6d0da73657e21ea0Share Your InspirationsGabriel Peters-Lazaro6Different stories spark the civic imagination all over the world, share yours hereplain2610452016-05-24T10:39:08-07:00Gabriel Peters-Lazaro3bc3965831120bc593545fef6d0da73657e21ea0
12016-04-06T12:43:15-07:00Gabriel Peters-Lazaro3bc3965831120bc593545fef6d0da73657e21ea0The Big Map: an Overview of the Civic ImaginationGabriel Peters-Lazaro15The Big Map of Civic Imagination all over the worldgoogle_maps2016-07-20T01:12:14-07:00Gabriel Peters-Lazaro3bc3965831120bc593545fef6d0da73657e21ea0
1media/FB_IMG_1469091034549.jpg2016-07-21T01:15:34-07:00Gabriel Peters-Lazaro3bc3965831120bc593545fef6d0da73657e21ea0A Superhero7I'm writing about a man that struggled all his life to feed his parents and siblings while saving some coins after every working daygoogle_maps2016-07-21T07:45:35-07:00Gabriel Peters-Lazaro3bc3965831120bc593545fef6d0da73657e21ea0
12016-07-19T23:38:16-07:00Inae Joo52ffbcbf10706d2e9b6569ce2e40d5085b2408ecMaus: A Survivor's Tale6Maus is a graphic novel by Art Spiegelman that narrates the story of Vladek, a Jewish survivor from the Holocaust, and his troubled relationship with his son Art. It is a story that appeared as a series of inserts for Raw Magazine during the 1980’s, and that in 1992 became the first graphic novel to ever win a Pullitzer Price.google_maps2016-07-21T00:22:41-07:00Gabriel Peters-Lazaro3bc3965831120bc593545fef6d0da73657e21ea0
12016-05-20T12:09:25-07:00Sangita Shresthova497a02d289c277275bc5ece441097deedf8135e7Lakpa Sherpa6A sherpa woman who has summitted Mt. Everest seven timesgoogle_maps2016-05-24T10:47:00-07:00Gabriel Peters-Lazaro3bc3965831120bc593545fef6d0da73657e21ea0
12016-07-20T00:26:51-07:00Emma Kehlbeckbcf61f0036041eb7d519b8bc29793858cac74878Muriel: Love in abundance for Bournemouth's homeless people5In the weeks preceding my arrival in Bournemouth my new church (Lansdowne Church) had lost a lady who truly left her markgoogle_maps2016-07-21T07:25:03-07:00Gabriel Peters-Lazaro3bc3965831120bc593545fef6d0da73657e21ea0
12016-07-19T08:34:17-07:00Inae Joo52ffbcbf10706d2e9b6569ce2e40d5085b2408ecTuesdays with Morrie5Tuesdays with Morrie is set in a suburb of Boston, Massachusetts and is about a profound experience between a student and his dying past professor.google_maps2016-07-20T03:04:10-07:00Sangita Shresthova497a02d289c277275bc5ece441097deedf8135e7
12016-07-19T08:52:41-07:00Inae Joo52ffbcbf10706d2e9b6569ce2e40d5085b2408ecHow the tortoise got cracks in his shell5Once upon a time, way before any man walked upon this earth, there was a great famine all throughout Africa. Many animals died, many animals who survived where starving badly. This included the the tortoise, who grew skinnier and skinner with each passing day.google_maps2016-07-21T00:08:32-07:00Sangita Shresthova497a02d289c277275bc5ece441097deedf8135e7
12016-07-19T08:19:59-07:00Inae Joo52ffbcbf10706d2e9b6569ce2e40d5085b2408ecThe Story of Isaac Davis5Isaac Davis' story begins at the very start of the American Revolution, when the British colonials waged a war with British government in attempt to separate themselves and create a new union.google_maps2016-07-20T02:44:55-07:00Sangita Shresthova497a02d289c277275bc5ece441097deedf8135e7
12016-07-19T08:40:40-07:00Sangita Shresthova497a02d289c277275bc5ece441097deedf8135e7Sanjay's Super Team4This is an animated short film from Pixar directed and written by Sanjay Patel who based it off his experiences as a child. The story revolves around a young boy, Sanjay, and his father, an Indian-American migrant. Sanjay is watching his favourite superheroes on TV while his father is praying by the shrine in the same room. His father urges him to join in the ritual but Sanjay refuses so he switches off the TV and takes his toy in order to force him into it.google_maps2016-07-20T03:39:57-07:00Sangita Shresthova497a02d289c277275bc5ece441097deedf8135e7
12016-07-19T08:59:41-07:00Sangita Shresthova497a02d289c277275bc5ece441097deedf8135e7Freedom Writers: Bridging Racial Divides Through Writing4Freedom Writers (the movie) is based on a true story of a school in Long Beach, California. The main character, Erin Gruwell, is a new teacher at Woodrow Wilson Classical High School and placed with the students who are considered at-risk and unteachable. These students were almost entirely comprised of minorities, with the exception of one student. With such a diverse class and a group of students who had no apparent desire to learn, the film explores the real-world challenges that Gruwell faced trying to get her students to come to class wanting to learn, if they would even want to come to their classes at all. The class divides itself based on race, and fights and arguments breakout regularly. The class later finds common ground on their feelings and discussions around The Holocaust. Her students become inspired to break free from the things that originally divided them, most notably with one character speaking out against someone who she was being forced to lie for during a trial. She tasked her students with writing in a diary and then compiled those journals and writings into a collection of them all in “The Freedom Writers Diary.”google_maps2016-07-20T03:01:09-07:00Sangita Shresthova497a02d289c277275bc5ece441097deedf8135e7
12016-07-19T09:23:09-07:00Gabriel Peters-Lazaro3bc3965831120bc593545fef6d0da73657e21ea0Snow Flower and The Secret Fan4Snow Flower and The Secret Fan is a novel set in the nineteenth century in Chinagoogle_maps2016-07-21T07:36:49-07:00Gabriel Peters-Lazaro3bc3965831120bc593545fef6d0da73657e21ea0
12016-07-19T08:38:14-07:00Emma Kehlbeckbcf61f0036041eb7d519b8bc29793858cac74878"The American Dream"4Growing up in America, we all learn about the "American Dream;" the idea that if we work hard we can achieve anything we want.google_maps2016-07-20T08:12:34-07:00Sangita Shresthova497a02d289c277275bc5ece441097deedf8135e7
1media/forgiveness in mexican family.jpg2016-07-20T00:23:14-07:00Gabriel Peters-Lazaro3bc3965831120bc593545fef6d0da73657e21ea0The forgiveness in a mexican family4A girl was born in Oaxaca, Mexico. One of the poorest states in Mexico.google_maps2016-07-20T06:27:29-07:00Gabriel Peters-Lazaro3bc3965831120bc593545fef6d0da73657e21ea0
12016-07-19T08:45:39-07:00Emma Kehlbeckbcf61f0036041eb7d519b8bc29793858cac74878The continuous struggle of the Enlightenment4The story is about courageous people who challenged religious people and authoritiesgoogle_maps2016-07-20T03:32:37-07:00Sangita Shresthova497a02d289c277275bc5ece441097deedf8135e7
1media/image.jpeg2016-07-19T10:49:51-07:00Inae Joo52ffbcbf10706d2e9b6569ce2e40d5085b2408ecMy Dad4When someone asks me about the most inspiring story to me i always talk about my dad. My Father has inspired me so much that every time i feel like giving up on anything, his story simply comes to mind and it helps me get back on track.google_maps2016-07-21T00:14:00-07:00Gabriel Peters-Lazaro3bc3965831120bc593545fef6d0da73657e21ea0
12016-07-19T09:01:19-07:00Gabriel Peters-Lazaro3bc3965831120bc593545fef6d0da73657e21ea0The Bosses3A grup of women that have lived the phenomena of migration in Mexico and have decided to help the migrants by providing them food, water and shelter,google_maps2016-07-20T01:02:21-07:00Sangita Shresthova497a02d289c277275bc5ece441097deedf8135e7
12016-07-19T08:57:55-07:00Emma Kehlbeckbcf61f0036041eb7d519b8bc29793858cac74878Juggling against all odds3Nelli Kujansivu is a Finnish foot juggler based in Stockholmgoogle_maps2016-07-20T05:49:17-07:00Sangita Shresthova497a02d289c277275bc5ece441097deedf8135e7
1media/ArlenSiuFSLN.jpg2016-06-08T20:10:58-07:00Emilia Yang0306ec8482b0946a4ad881acf758effb11741533Arlen Siu3First female martyrs of the Sandinista revolutiongoogle_maps2016-06-20T17:12:39-07:00Sangita Shresthova497a02d289c277275bc5ece441097deedf8135e7
12016-07-19T08:52:22-07:00Emma Kehlbeckbcf61f0036041eb7d519b8bc29793858cac74878Hamilton's Rise to Success3Alexander Hamilton's rise to power, as told by the hit musical “Hamilton”, is one of a scrappy immigrantgoogle_maps2016-07-21T00:31:18-07:00Sangita Shresthova497a02d289c277275bc5ece441097deedf8135e7
12016-07-19T09:39:40-07:00Inae Joo52ffbcbf10706d2e9b6569ce2e40d5085b2408ecPractice what you preach3Victoria Ocampo was an argentinian feminist writer and patron of the arts. She lived in the first half of the 20th century.Her family was vastly rich and extremely conservative.google_maps2016-07-20T02:05:39-07:00Sangita Shresthova497a02d289c277275bc5ece441097deedf8135e7
12016-07-19T09:22:57-07:00Inae Joo52ffbcbf10706d2e9b6569ce2e40d5085b2408ecThe Light at the end of a Dark Tunnel3This story is about a girl who was able to find the light at the end of a very dark tunnel in her life and she has become an inspiration to many, if not all women. A recent tragedy, the story took place in 2015 at Sanford University.google_maps2016-07-20T02:36:47-07:00Sangita Shresthova497a02d289c277275bc5ece441097deedf8135e7
12016-07-19T08:20:08-07:00Emma Kehlbeckbcf61f0036041eb7d519b8bc29793858cac74878Inner peace3the story is about my father and sister, it shows what are truly the most important things in life and how a fathers love can be stronger than any adversity.google_maps2016-07-20T03:06:58-07:00Sangita Shresthova497a02d289c277275bc5ece441097deedf8135e7
12016-07-19T09:04:11-07:00Inae Joo52ffbcbf10706d2e9b6569ce2e40d5085b2408ecTrain of Hope3Due to the refugee streams into and via Austria especially in 2015 thousands of refugees came to Austria every day. While some of them entered Austria in the East of the country, lots of refugees arrived at two central train stations in Vienna.google_maps2016-07-21T00:47:11-07:00Gabriel Peters-Lazaro3bc3965831120bc593545fef6d0da73657e21ea0
12016-07-19T09:27:45-07:00Inae Joo52ffbcbf10706d2e9b6569ce2e40d5085b2408ecMy Own Revolution3The year was 1956 in Budapest Hungary, Gabor Francia-Kiss, my stepfather was faced with the Hungarian Revolution.google_maps2016-07-20T01:28:16-07:00Sangita Shresthova497a02d289c277275bc5ece441097deedf8135e7
12016-07-19T08:47:26-07:00Inae Joo52ffbcbf10706d2e9b6569ce2e40d5085b2408ecEmmeline the Suffragist3A huge step towards gender equality was made in Britain in 1928: women were given the right to vote, equally to men. But that didn’t come without a struggle. Beginning in the late 18th century, a sense of injustice brought bands of women together forming the first groups fighting for women’s suffrage.google_maps2016-07-20T02:40:08-07:00Sangita Shresthova497a02d289c277275bc5ece441097deedf8135e7
12016-07-19T09:34:00-07:00Inae Joo52ffbcbf10706d2e9b6569ce2e40d5085b2408ecThe Diary of Anne Frank3The Diary of A Young Girl is a nonfiction book of diary entries written by Anne Frank during her two years in hiding during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, until she was apprehended in 1944. The diary was retrieved from the secret annex where the teenage girl hid with her family and was given to her father, the family’s only survivor, after the war.google_maps2016-07-20T00:42:14-07:00Sangita Shresthova497a02d289c277275bc5ece441097deedf8135e7
12016-07-19T23:38:53-07:00Emma Kehlbeckbcf61f0036041eb7d519b8bc29793858cac74878The cyclist, Sarah Lee3Lee Wai Sze, Sarah is a Hong Kong racing cyclist.google_maps2016-07-20T02:09:20-07:00Sangita Shresthova497a02d289c277275bc5ece441097deedf8135e7
12016-07-20T00:07:33-07:00Emma Kehlbeckbcf61f0036041eb7d519b8bc29793858cac74878The Beauty in Breaking3My aunt, Laila, is one of ten siblings. She was raised in a small Lebanese village called Ghazze.google_maps2016-07-20T00:16:12-07:00Sangita Shresthova497a02d289c277275bc5ece441097deedf8135e7
12016-07-19T23:23:37-07:00Inae Joo52ffbcbf10706d2e9b6569ce2e40d5085b2408ecA Leader3Fouad Chehab , a Lebanese president from 1958 to 1964. If you were to ask about his presidency, a classical answer you would hear is that he was the man who built much of the Lebanese institutions and successfully fought corruption.google_maps2016-07-20T01:46:14-07:00Sangita Shresthova497a02d289c277275bc5ece441097deedf8135e7
12016-07-19T10:26:29-07:00Inae Joo52ffbcbf10706d2e9b6569ce2e40d5085b2408ecWriting Your Own Deliverance3Through the musical genres of hip-hop, jazz, and R&B, Hamilton the Musical takes a unique modern twist on the historical tale of the life of America's first Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton.google_maps2016-07-20T08:27:19-07:00Sangita Shresthova497a02d289c277275bc5ece441097deedf8135e7
12016-07-20T00:02:30-07:00Emma Kehlbeckbcf61f0036041eb7d519b8bc29793858cac74878EMPOWERING THE MAASAI COMMUNITY TO BRING CHANGE FROM WITHIN2The Maasai Cricket Warriors began advocating for the rights of the girl child in Kenya soon after its formation.google_maps2016-07-20T02:32:21-07:00Sangita Shresthova497a02d289c277275bc5ece441097deedf8135e7
1data:image/jpeg;base64,/9j/4AAQSkZJRgABAQAAAQABAAD/2wCEAAkGBwgHBgkIBwgKCgkLDRYPDQwMDRsUFRAWIB0iIiAdHx8kKDQsJCYxJx8fLT0tMTU3Ojo6Iys/RD84QzQ5OjcBCgoKDQwNGg8PGjclHyU3Nzc3Nzc3Nzc3Nzc3Nzc3Nzc3Nzc3Nzc3Nzc3Nzc3Nzc3Nzc3Nzc3Nzc3Nzc3Nzc3N//AABEIAE4AdgMBIgACEQEDEQH/2016-07-19T08:13:19-07:00Gabriel Peters-Lazaro3bc3965831120bc593545fef6d0da73657e21ea0potentials lost2A story of self-made determined Syrian scientistgoogle_maps2016-07-20T08:02:18-07:00Sangita Shresthova497a02d289c277275bc5ece441097deedf8135e7
12016-07-19T23:56:44-07:00Emma Kehlbeckbcf61f0036041eb7d519b8bc29793858cac74878Hamilton: An American Musical2"Hamilton" is a Broadway musical about the life and legacy of Alexander Hamilton.google_maps2016-07-20T01:57:30-07:00Sangita Shresthova497a02d289c277275bc5ece441097deedf8135e7
1data:image/jpeg;base64,/9j/4AAQSkZJRgABAQAAAQABAAD/2wCEAAkGBxMTEhUTExMWFhUXFx0YGBcXGB8XGBgaFRUXFxoYFxgYHSggGxolHRcYITEiJSkrLi4uGB8zODMtNygtLisBCgoKDg0OGhAQGy8lICUvNS0tKy0tLS0tLS0vLS0tLS0tLS0tLS0tLS0tLS0tLS0tLS0tLS0vLS0tLS0tLS0tLf/AABEIAKgBLAMBIgACEQEDEQH/2016-07-19T23:27:00-07:00Emma Kehlbeckbcf61f0036041eb7d519b8bc29793858cac74878Katur Kati2Katur Kati is 19 years old.google_maps2016-07-20T05:57:27-07:00Sangita Shresthova497a02d289c277275bc5ece441097deedf8135e7
12016-07-19T23:45:04-07:00Inae Joo52ffbcbf10706d2e9b6569ce2e40d5085b2408ecStreet Art Movement in Miami2Wynwood, Miami at one time was known as one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in Miami. Drugs, crime, and a general sense of foreboding clung to the streets and warehouses.google_maps2016-07-20T23:21:46-07:00Sangita Shresthova497a02d289c277275bc5ece441097deedf8135e7
12016-07-19T10:40:38-07:00Inae Joo52ffbcbf10706d2e9b6569ce2e40d5085b2408ecThe Help2The story portrays the racism and discrimination aimed towards the domestic workers during that time and the abuse as well as the harassment they go through by their employers: “the perfect housewives”. In the age of the siege and the random arrests based on color, one woman was courageous enough to interview all the domestic workers of Jackson and write their stories into a book.google_maps2016-07-20T06:12:33-07:00Sangita Shresthova497a02d289c277275bc5ece441097deedf8135e7
12016-07-20T00:14:26-07:00Gabriel Peters-Lazaro3bc3965831120bc593545fef6d0da73657e21ea0Braveheart2Braveheart takes place in 13th Century Scotland, during which time the country is invaded and conquered by the English.google_maps2016-07-20T03:15:58-07:00Sangita Shresthova497a02d289c277275bc5ece441097deedf8135e7
12016-07-20T01:52:27-07:00Gabriel Peters-Lazaro3bc3965831120bc593545fef6d0da73657e21ea0Documenting an Ever-changing Humanity2This is the story of Sebastião Salgado, a Brazilian photojournalist of forty years.google_maps2016-07-20T08:16:24-07:00Sangita Shresthova497a02d289c277275bc5ece441097deedf8135e7
12016-07-19T10:46:00-07:00Inae Joo52ffbcbf10706d2e9b6569ce2e40d5085b2408ecHow I "Eat, Pray, and Love"2“Eat, Pray, Love” is a novel/memoir by Elizabeth Gilbert who talks about her own experience in life and how she went on a journey to find herself after she faced lots of disappointments, failures, and depression.google_maps2016-07-20T06:19:52-07:00Sangita Shresthova497a02d289c277275bc5ece441097deedf8135e7
12016-07-19T22:56:27-07:00Inae Joo52ffbcbf10706d2e9b6569ce2e40d5085b2408ecThe doctors' team of the Aegean sea2The story is about a team of volunteers and doctors, who cross the Aegean Sea in Greece, with their 11 inflatable boats and their one ambulance- boat, in order to reach border islands and help the people in any way the can, mostly by examining them medically.google_maps2016-07-20T08:22:32-07:00Sangita Shresthova497a02d289c277275bc5ece441097deedf8135e7
12016-07-19T23:44:54-07:00Emma Kehlbeckbcf61f0036041eb7d519b8bc29793858cac74878Watership Down2Based in Hampshire, England, Watership Down is a political allegory based on global socio-political models of the 20th centurygoogle_maps2016-07-21T00:13:21-07:00Sangita Shresthova497a02d289c277275bc5ece441097deedf8135e7
1data:image/jpeg;base64,/9j/4AAQSkZJRgABAQAAAQABAAD/2wCEAAkGBxMTEhUTExMWFhUXGR8XGBgXGR8aHxodHRgaHx0dHR8aICggHx4lHx0dITEhJikrLi4uHR8zODMtNygtLisBCgoKDg0OGhAQGy0lHyUtLS01LS4vLS0tLy0vLS0tLS0vLS0tLS0tLS8tLS0tLS0tLS0tLS0tLS0tLS0tLS0tLf/AABEIALgBEgMBIgACEQEDEQH/2016-07-20T00:12:24-07:00Emma Kehlbeckbcf61f0036041eb7d519b8bc29793858cac74878Story of courage and survival2The story is about my parents living during the civil war in Lebanon.google_maps2016-07-20T00:48:18-07:00Sangita Shresthova497a02d289c277275bc5ece441097deedf8135e7
12016-07-19T09:16:43-07:00Inae Joo52ffbcbf10706d2e9b6569ce2e40d5085b2408ecRemember the Titans2Remember the titans is based on a true story based in Virginia during 1971. It is about a High School that was becoming integrated and on top of that their football team was as well.google_maps2016-07-20T02:28:24-07:00Sangita Shresthova497a02d289c277275bc5ece441097deedf8135e7
12016-07-19T10:36:43-07:00Inae Joo52ffbcbf10706d2e9b6569ce2e40d5085b2408ecWe are all Martín Fierro2Martín Fierro is a gaucho who has to work at a border fort defending his land. He lives in very poor conditions and tries to return home, but discovers that everything he has known before is not there anymore: his house, his farm and his family.google_maps2016-07-20T02:48:16-07:00Sangita Shresthova497a02d289c277275bc5ece441097deedf8135e7
12016-07-19T08:41:32-07:00Inae Joo52ffbcbf10706d2e9b6569ce2e40d5085b2408ecMiracle2The story of Miracle is a true story about Herb Brooks and the USA Hockey team who were put up against the dominant Soviet Union hockey team during the 1980 Olympics in the middle of the Cold War.google_maps2016-07-20T06:38:53-07:00Sangita Shresthova497a02d289c277275bc5ece441097deedf8135e7
12016-07-20T06:17:58-07:00Gabriel Peters-Lazaro3bc3965831120bc593545fef6d0da73657e21ea0The Inner City Youth1I was 14 years old when I began to volunteer at the New York Public library with a group then known as The Teen Central.google_maps2016-07-20T06:17:58-07:00Gabriel Peters-Lazaro3bc3965831120bc593545fef6d0da73657e21ea0
