How are pandemics and epidemics never just about a single bacterium or virus? Students in the seminar Pandemics Past and Pending engaged this question as they pose their own questions in this collection of student-written essays: where (not when) does a pandemic start? When does protection against disease become cruel? Who should be in charge of public health? What role do images play in imagining, contesting, and controlling the movement of disease? What do you want to remember about the Covid-19 pandemic? All of the essays in this volume conclude with open-ended discussion questions for readers to consider with their peers. Together these essays should be understood as a conversation.