With new endings and new beginnings, the world never stops changing. That can be stressful and painful, but from it can spring forth so many good things. Whether, as in our evocative photo essays and trends pieces this issue, we step into that more generative space by crossing boundaries and blazing paths or, as in our special election reflections, by bringing our knowledge to bear on pressing social problems, we believe this first issue
of the year illuminates an irrevocable insight: agency, like the contexts in which we live our lives, matters—and it provides an inextinguishable spark of hope amid the sting of heartbreak.