“Best of 2018” top ten lists are so last year already, and in any case banal. Instead, let’s consider the year that awaits. I think I have rarely approached a new year with such a mixture of terror and optimism, and I know I’m not alone.

The reasons for dread are so panic-inducingly obvious that we hardly need to enumerate them. Meanwhile, many on the Left are suspicious of “hope.” They feel there’s something false or propagandistic about pushing left-wing optimism in these times, given ongoing (and, likely, escalating) threats from climate change and the equally insistent rising tide of right-wing, racist authoritarianism. Some prefer words like “courage” or “resilience,” rather than “hope,” as these may seem like more attainable affective states for political activists in our time.

Of course, people feeling despair about the state of the world resent being told they have a political duty to be hopeful. I get that. You don’t have to feel hopeful. The last thing we need is more guilt-tripping.