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pink and yellow collage with a sparkling yellow hand above the yellow silhouette of a woman's torso, with the text of Audre Lorde's "Uses of the Erotic" on the background

It is ingrained in us that incessant work is essential and rest is a luxury. But where does this mindset come from? 
Bailey Middleton

the back of a the dark red figure of a woman hanging her head facing something bright in the distance

She looks in the mirror and every week seems to feel extra weight digging into her heels.
Simone Minor

a smiling ballerina in a white tutu dances, with other ballerina figures dancing in the background

Why were the only options to either go professional, be forced to not take my hobby seriously, or leave it all together?
Lindsey Smith

two orange and yellow figures in the glow of a warm orange sun, one a man sitting and the other a woman standing to his right

This is what watching the Before trilogy of movies feels like to me, and this is what it feels like to watch them with someone else. 
Grace Traxler

a drawing of the Peanuts character Snoopy (a white beagle with black ears and a round black nose) smiling with a small red heart floating above his head

Has your TikTok, Instagram Reels, or dare I say YouTube Shorts feed been taken over by a beagle? Mine too!
Carley Frajda

The Perfect Man in a black t shirt and a blue / purple background.

So now I just show up — pepper spray tucked into the bottom of my purse — and pray that I don’t end up on the next episode of Dateline.
Jackie Bond

a snail holding a letter in yellow grass.

Our writers venture deep into the unknown
Miriella Jiffar

a snail holding a letter in yellow grass.

Our writers venture deep into the unknown
Miriella Jiffar

The Perfect Man in a black t shirt and a blue / purple background.

So now I just show up — pepper spray tucked into the bottom of my purse — and pray that I don’t end up on the next episode of Dateline.
Jackie Bond

a drawing of the Peanuts character Snoopy (a white beagle with black ears and a round black nose) smiling with a small red heart floating above his head

Has your TikTok, Instagram Reels, or dare I say YouTube Shorts feed been taken over by a beagle? Mine too!
Carley Frajda

two orange and yellow figures in the glow of a warm orange sun, one a man sitting and the other a woman standing to his right

This is what watching the Before trilogy of movies feels like to me, and this is what it feels like to watch them with someone else. 
Grace Traxler

a smiling ballerina in a white tutu dances, with other ballerina figures dancing in the background

Why were the only options to either go professional, be forced to not take my hobby seriously, or leave it all together?
Lindsey Smith

the back of a the dark red figure of a woman hanging her head facing something bright in the distance

She looks in the mirror and every week seems to feel extra weight digging into her heels.
Simone Minor

pink and yellow collage with a sparkling yellow hand above the yellow silhouette of a woman's torso, with the text of Audre Lorde's "Uses of the Erotic" on the background

It is ingrained in us that incessant work is essential and rest is a luxury. But where does this mindset come from? 
Bailey Middleton

hand on an letter

This latest edition of Iris is urgently interested in all things "Body and Disembodied".
Miriella Jiffar

sharks on the bottom of a pool

where i come from, there are sharks in every lake
Vaidehi Bhardwaj

the heart and other organs

I must feed my body and soul
Simone Minor

two images of FKA twigs, a brown woman with intense smokey makeup and many piercings, one of which shows just FKA twigs's face and the other shows her crouching down

Out of all the creative minds I could have selected to illuminate the essence of love, I had to choose the metaphysical poet, John Donne, and conte

Two figures watch a TV on a couch in a drab living room. The TV shows, in bright and vibrant colors, Chappell Roan's Grammy performance in which she rides on a giant pink pony

I was not sure what to expect from a class called Pleasure Activism Across Time, but having taken a class with its professor, Lisa Speidel, before,
Jordan Coleman

the surface of a body of water with lines of red blood floating on the right

He didn’t want to play, but you pressured him.
Cassie Dallas

the sun shines brightly, two streetlights visible through rays of light

Last week, when I was walking to class, it was 60 degrees and sunny.
Lindsey Smith

on a blue-green background, pale hands squeeze juice from a bright orange into a cup

she’s ripe, holding her / pieces together / by tearable strings & / bruisable skin
Carley Frajda

an eyeball made up of pink, orange, and white worms on a dark blue background with waves and stars

Sometimes I think there are worms in my eyes.
Susannah Baker

stamps of flowers

Who are the creators behind Iris Magazine? What are their backstories, best eras, deepest dreams? 
Miriella Jiffar

A pair of orange hands doodles blue flowers on a notebook with the word Iris in the corner

Despite how crucial the art is to the storytelling that we do here at Iris, we rarely get to hear directly from our artists.
Susannah Baker

fairy peeking out of the pages of a book

All that appeared in front of me was a leather-bound book
Lindsey Smith

small cat

in Lindsey’s words
Grace Traxler

hand poised above a notebook, about to write

A roadmap through the challenges of university life
Ella Powell

pieces of paper floating with pink flowers

Cassie Dances in Silence
Simone Minor

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