Today, I’m announcing a new editorial vertical and newsletter from Design Observer.

One thing has become clear in these strange and divided times: You can find your people if you know where to look.

This was the beautiful message from Chanda Prescod-Weinstein , the particle physicist and indefatigable justice advocate tapped for the Design Observer Twenty: The Redesigners list, which was published this fall to lift up remarkable people, projects, and big ideas solving an urgent social need.

?It was my first package as Design Observer’s brand-new editor-in-chief.

?We were discussing her quest to understand the mysteries of the cosmos when she mentioned that people were often surprised to know it was possible to see the Milky Way with the naked eye. I know I was.

“There are very few really dark places,” says the dark matter expert.

That we are robbing ourselves and each other of the night sky means that we are also robbing ourselves of the opportunity to look up and reflect on our place in the cosmos in the same way our ancestors did.

It’s something I’d never considered: a shared barrier to an existential legacy, populated with people who don’t realize they’re connected through exclusion. Families in brightly lit suburbs. Incarcerated people. City-dwellers. Third-shift workers. People who don’t have access to nature.

And, it really matters. “It’s a chance to think about: ‘What is this universe that I live in?’” she says. “Everyone has a right to know the universe.”

Next month, and by popular demand, Design Observer is launching a new editorial vertical called Equity Observer to expand our understanding of the people, projects, and ideas addressing the inequities that unite us, whether we know it or not.

Long-time readers of mine will recognize the vibe: we will focus on everything from the latest thinking on inclusive leadership and ongoing coverage of the legal challenges to inclusion in business and public life to the human side of creating better systems and a fairer world.

Expect a growing roster of expert voices, smart journalism, and a community that brings more light than heat.

Expect also: joy.

Sign up here (and for our other newsletter, too .) ?

Have a healthy and rewarding holiday — see you in January.

And keep looking up.

Ellen