Beginning on September 1, 2020, a group of fourteen of us at Rutgers University in Newark, New Jersey -- comprised of graduate students, undergraduate honors college students, and a history professor -- began to journal about our experiences of living through the COVID-19 pandemic. We will continue to journal into December 2020. Some of us are located in Newark during this period, but more of us are located elsewhere in New Jersey; a few are in other places in the United States and the world. We represent a wide range of backgrounds, ethnicities, and life experiences and range in age from late teens / early twenties into our forties. Each week, one student will curate excerpts from some of our journals, and we will share them publicly. Our goal is to offer a window into our subjective experiences of life during the pandemic in near real-time. We also aim to create a usable archive for future historians.

Because journaling is a personal activity, many of us elected to be identified by pseudonyms, initials, or first name. A few chose to use their full real name.

Archival versions of all linked material is available (or will be shortly) in the collection Pandemic Life: Fragments of Our Stories.

The Covid-19 pandemic and ensuing lockdowns and restrictions have taken a toll on everyone in the nation. It's been an especially trying time for young people. What are you supposed to do when you're in the prime of your life but unable to live the way you would like out of fear of contracting a deadly illness. This exhibit offers a look at how the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting lockdowns and restrictions have impacted the lives of young adults and how they have been able to start to cope with big life changes.