Editor's Note: Choosing Optimism

This winter was hard. Let’s face it: All of 2025 was hard and 2026 couldn’t come soon enough. As I’m writing this, the Northeast is experiencing a run of winter snowstorms making a last big stand before spring takes over. . . . Still, there’s hope.

More hours of daylight and rising temps are enough to give us a taste of that unmistakable thrill of spring on campus. The first breaths of warm air and sunshine on Foss, the nervous energy of prospective students touring campus, the giddy anxiety of finals and senior theses, the unfettered joy and abandon of Spring Fling and Senior Week—spring always breaks through to lift our spirits and remind us that this too shall pass.

Part of my resolution for this new year was to shift my perspective and to focus more on optimism. That doesn’t mean turning a blind eye to injustice or to the problems that currently plague our country. It means taking a view that channels reflection and care into action and progress toward a more positive outcome: What are we learning from this? How can we do better next time?

Annie Coombs ’03 models this in her work with the Cheyenne River Reservation. Coombs drew on a decades-long relationship with the Lakota people of South Dakota to create an energy-efficient, culturally specific solution to the housing crisis. By listening to community members and meaningfully integrating their needs, traditions, and routines into her design, she is creating a blueprint for problem-solving that actively centers the experiences of the individuals being helped. 

Photographer Eli Durst ’11 and American Museum of Natural History Director of Science Visualization Vivian Trakinski ’87 likewise are opening up new perspectives on what it means to be in community and the hidden connections (social, biological, neurological, ecological) that bind us to each other. Durst uses his lens to both capture and reframe the mundane rituals of everyday life in a way that forces viewers to rethink assumptions. Trakinski elevates science visualization to an artform, creating incredible immersive exhibits that crack open hidden worlds and bridge the distance between scientific discovery and individual comprehension. 

Meanwhile Wesleyan’s Science and Technology Studies (formerly SISP—Science in Society Program) celebrates 50 years of helping us understand how science and society impact and shape each other. Through their research and thoughtful interrogation of technology and systems of power, we broaden the context in which we view and process the world around us. And in so doing, learn more about who we are, where we are headed, and the levers that affect how we get there and when.

There’s a lot to take in with this issue. A lot to absorb and reflect upon. I hope it offers food for thought and some inspiration for shifting your perspective, re-examining assumptions, and working toward positive change.