Introduction

Planning a Collegewide event takes time. For months,  FSCJ’s  Library and Learning Commons planned for a National Poetry Month event to be held in April 2020. It would be the second annual Poetry Month event hosted by the Library and Learning Commons. We hoped for a good turnout.

The coronavirus pandemic changed everything.

When the College switched to virtual learning in March 2020, we knew that there was no hope of holding the event as planned. The College community was adapting to new learning and teaching modalities. We had much to do. Staging a successful event—even a virtual one—includes personal contact with staff, faculty, and students. One month was not enough time to figure out how to host the event virtually.

Still, the idea nagged at us. It seemed more important than ever to express our fears, frustrations, and hopes. We began to plan anew.

When students returned from Winter Break following the Fall 2020 term, we greeted them online with a new opportunity.

Hindsight 2020: Reflections on the Pandemic Year

You went through a lot last year! Tell us about it!

The Library and Learning Commons invites members of the FSCJ community to submit experiences, and insight from the pandemic year. Submissions may take the form of stories, poems, or essays and be a maximum of 500 words. Accepted pieces may be featured on our social media sites or included in a digital
anthology.

We offered an online form for submissions and a token prize raffle for participants. We posted the link wherever we thought we might reach students, staff, and faculty. We received responses from several students; staff and faculty were also represented in the entries.

This anthology is our result and we want to build on the start we made this winter. If you are a member of the FSCJ community and missed the opportunity to contribute your thoughts to our publication, please contact us at the Library and Learning Commons.