Karishma Muthukumar, a third-year undergraduate at UC Irvine studying cognitive science, talks about her project, Patience and Pandemic

Four months into the stay-at-home orders and campus-wide shift to remote learning, we invited university students to reflect: How do you interpret patience in a pandemic? What is it like to live in suspense? How has staying at home changed your sense of space? Of time? From memories of a different yesterday to plans that were indefinitely postponed, students at the University of California, Irvine share the real experiences of young adulthood during a pandemic. Up-and-coming creatives express their perspectives on a theme that holds space while challenging the reader to urge onwards: to find strength in patience.

Karishma Muthukumar is a third-year undergraduate at UC Irvine studying cognitive science. As the 2019-20 Dalai Lama Scholar, she founded the Patient Project at UC Irvine. Karishma is drawn to the art of stories and the ways in which conversations can heal.

Patience and Pandemic features student reflections on time and space in the context of suspense. Students from all corners of campus respond to the theme. Caitlin Yee, Meenakshi Chandrasekaran, Dinelli Jinadasa, Anganette Cisneros, Jazmin Viayra, and Victoria Sweeny compose the editorial board.

The project was supported by the XIV Dalai Lama Endowed Scholarship Fund and Strauss Foundation.

website: www.patientproject.org/journal
instagram: www.instagram.com/patientprojectuci