P.S.
Art by Kirsten Hemrich
March 04, 2020
I have a tendency to think of change as something that happens to us rather than something we enact. And maybe that’s why I don’t like change—in fact, I fear it. For someone who grasps onto control with every last fiber of her anxiety-addled brain, the idea of embracing and, even worse, causing transformation does not come easily.
The fact is, we all carry the capacity to fit change into our identity. New beginnings, new journeys, new transitions—they’re all inherently a part of what
Art by Kirsten Hemrich
February 14, 2020
When I was younger, my best friend and I would beg my mom to play The Dixie Chicks’ Home album in the car, just to hear “Travelin’ Soldier”. We sat in the backseat, belting out the lyrics of a love story that traversed an entire litany of emotions in a mere 5 minutes and 43 seconds. The song felt like the embodiment of lyrical and storytelling genius. We were simply obsessed.
My obsession with a good
Art by Kirsten Hemrich
November 14, 2019
Whenever I’m in my childhood home, I’ll spend hours exploring the cabinets of old photo albums, as I indulge in a healthy serving of nostalgia. I let my fingers graze over the crinkly overlay, ruminating over who I was and what I cared about most in each portrait of my personal history. Even today, I keep meticulous track of all my pictures and their corresponding time in place, eager to hold on to moments as they exist in time. Sometimes I even get nostalgic over a time that is currently
Art by Kirsten Hemrich
October 24, 2019
I would love to say that I have my life together, that I am someone who moves through the world with a steady grasp on every obligation while also having a thriving social life and excellent time-management skills, but that would just be unequivocally false. My own life and I are simply not always on the same page, but sometimes I find that is something I have to accept rather than attempt to change. The weeks continue, papers are due, and deadlines approach—even if I would prefer to pause
Art by Kristen Hemrich
October 02, 2019
After a particularly hard day (or week, or month), I’ll buy myself something indulgent. “I deserve this,” I’ll say, as I sit down with a selection of Trader Joe’s frozen desserts or as I browse Sephora’s website. Such a transaction is easy—I feel like my actions warrant a reward. I made it through a midterm, I’m hightailing it to Juice Laundry. But I find it is much harder to conceptualize what I intrinsically deserve, just from existing and taking up space. Radical acceptance of the fact
Art by Kirsten Hemrich
September 19, 2019
Welcome back to another year of Iris! It’s almost fall, which means it’s finally the time of the year when I have things to look forward to, like celebrating all the best holidays (including my birthday) and being able to wear a jacket without accruing copious amounts of armpit sweat. The transition into autumn has always read like my favorite novel, like a slow and sweet descent into a happy ending, despite any brief plot twists thrown my way.
However, this semester I feel a
Art by Kirsten Hemrich
April 17, 2019
This is it, Iris’s last issue for the 2018-2019 school year, and we could not have been happier to have spent the last several months sharing our thoughts, ideas, and passions with the Iris readership. For many of us, the closing of this year means the closing of our chapters at both Iris and at UVA. On one hand, we all love a good transition. We love the opportunity to say goodbye to the old and welcome the new. On the other hand, I’m
Art by Kirsten Hemrich
March 20, 2019
I love Spring as much as the next person. I love when it gets warmer and the days get longer. I love retiring my parka for a few months and opting for a lighter jacket that’s not nearly as heavy. I love that my car isn’t buried in the snow, and that my seasonal affective disorder has taken a hiatus. I love showing off my very pale, very translucent legs in my favorite tennis skort that I wear 5-6 times before washing. Do I play tennis? No. Is this hands-down the
Art by Kirsten Hemrich
February 26, 2019
Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, echoed the sentiment of all of us when she said, “Personally, I love a good love story.” Ali McGraw melted our hearts when she told us, “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.” James Joyce had us utterly confused when he explained, “Love loves to love love.”
Regardless of the words, love is truly a universal
Art by Kirsten Hemrich
February 12, 2019
January has come and gone, February is upon us, and Iris is back with a new edition.
It’s truly a miracle we have already made it this far in 2019, and we’re only getting started. It’s time to reflect on what we’ve accomplished thus far. Some of us have held on to our resolutions, but most of us have already decided that 2020 will just have to be our year. And that’s really ok. Because being successful in absolutely every thing that we do is simply not possible on our journey