Waiting to Exhale: Students, Faculty, and Staff Reflect a Year After the COVID Shutdown Megan Henriquez, Rod Hurley, Tracy Dennis-Tiwary, and Shawna Townsend It has been a year since COVID altered life at CUNY, and life in general. Once we gathered in classrooms, hallways, and cafeterias. Now we gather largely on Zoom. Too many of us have lost loved ones and treasured colleagues or faced financial hardship and uncertainty, or both. More of us have had to change the ways we work, teach, learn, and spend time with families and friends. To take stock of this year and what lies ahead, we invited Graduate Center students, faculty, and staff to share their experiences. A nursing Ph.D. student described how the 7 p.m. cheer made her feel. Our chief librarian helped kids find solace in cats. A student canceled her dissertation research trip and reconfigured her project.