In Spring of 2021, the Central Office team of professional developers for the CUNY Adult Literacy Program invited students in all of its English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), Adult Basic Education (ABE)  and High School Equivalency (HSE) classes to submit writing in response to the prompt: “My Pandemic Year.”

Students at all levels responded with poems and short essays about their experiences.  Beginning ESL students wrote cinquains (short five-line poems) to capture their experiences.  Intermediate ESL students wrote short essays and HSE students often wrote longer ones.

The student writing here reflects the loneliness, stress, and loss so many of us felt during this extraordinary time.  People lost jobs, health, and companionship.  Some had to cope with crowded conditions and the tension of too many family members inhabiting a small space, while others suffered from isolation. Parents had to become teachers.  One student, a health care worker, saw the ravages of COVID-19 firsthand.  There was constant uncertainty, and lots of fear.

Each person coped with the challenges of the pandemic in their own way.  Some took the opportunity to focus more fully on their studies.  Others learned to bake vegan desserts, developed their spiritual lives, or took up pole dancing.  Many writers testified that the pandemic changed their approaches to life–now it was about focusing on themselves and what they really wanted in life.