This thesis is a collection of essays that convey what it is to be a college student during the COVID-19 pandemic: politics and potted plants, spikes and sports, deaths and deadlines. It covers primarily the Fall 2021 semester, when vaccines were available but cases continued to reach new highs domestically and abroad. Each essay covers a distinct but related topic, ranging from a literary magazine release party to theories of identity. Living through the pandemic means juggling these disparate concerns daily; the world doesn’t stop because one college student is stressed. The COVID Papers seeks to make sense of a profoundly senseless moment.
