“Clowning on Barstool works people,” Eryn Rhodes insists. “The Barstool article was my first big political piece and I came out swinging. I almost got this big flashy internship in DC with it. I didn't get it, obviously. But I was close.”
It might seem “obvious” to Eryn that she wouldn’t get the prestigious internship, but anyone familiar with her work knows she’s going places. If you need any proof, scroll through her Iris profile and pick a piece at random from the library of topical, clever, and impassioned political and culture critiques.
Eryn is a fourth-year Iris intern and WGS and History double major. We chatted about her post-grad plans, her personal evolution over the past four years, and her relationship with her writing. But first, we go back to her origins with Iris.
Eryn's bread and butter at Iris is putting a name to cultural phenomena and calling out putative political transgressors....so it was endearing to learn that reading Iris political pieces led her to make the leap to writing Iris political pieces.
“I originally applied to Iris because I had just taken a WGS class and my mind was blown. I was like, 'oh my god, all of the inequity I see has a name.'” Eryn's bread and butter at Iris is putting a name to cultural phenomena and calling out putative political transgressors like Abigail Shrier and Greg Abbott, so it was endearing to learn that reading Iris political pieces led her to make the leap to writing Iris political pieces.
However, Eryn is quick to remind me, her writing initially took a very different form. “Second year when I freelanced, I only did creative nonfiction and personal essays. Like, really personal essays. I was going through it,” she laughs. “It’s kind of funny. [During] third year, I figured out that I wanted to do policy research and law. I started writing more political stuff and figured out that I was actually pretty good at it. As I’ve grown in that realm, I’ve walked so far away from creative nonfiction that it’s actually really hard for me to do now.”
“I don’t know if what I’ve experienced is growth or shrinking. I got really good at talking about politics and sacrificed being able to talk about myself.”
Eryn confesses that she sometimes looks back on her second year pieces and wonders how she put writing that was so personal into the world.
“I don’t know if what I’ve experienced is growth or shrinking. I got really good at talking about politics and sacrificed being able to talk about myself.”
It’s clear that even though she’s a self-proclaimed political writer, Eryn gravitates towards the personal. When I ask her about her favorite Iris pieces, she gushes, bringing up anecdotes from pitch meetings.
“There was this one piece [Iris’s current editor] Jasmine wrote, 'The Root of My Mother,' that was so beautiful. There were a couple of words in there that made me well up because I’m a sap and I always cry at bittersweet things. I remember all of us reading that in the edit meeting and being like … Jasmine.”
Though she has a soft spot for pieces that are “deeply personal, but also very relatable,” Eryn takes the time to celebrate the talent, joy, and diversity present at Iris.
“Every [publishing] cycle there’s a piece where I’m like, oh my god, I love that, I admire you, I wish I could do that better.”
Despite her concerns about vulnerability, in Eryn’s writing, the political often is personal.
Despite her concerns about vulnerability, in Eryn’s writing, the political often is personal. Whether she's writing about the importance of voting blue in her home state of Texas despite the perceived futility, standing up against those who use freedom of speech as an excuse to cloak hate speech on grounds, or the misogyny that Barstool Sports’ fortune is built on, Eryn uses her voice to advocate for the communities she is a part of, show support and allyship for communities she is not a part of, and help readers navigate what it’s like to be a feminist in the modern era.
“I’m speaking truth to power,” she quips. “If I get cyanided after this that’s why. Greg Abbott’s gonna be my sleep paralysis demon. He reads Iris. He’s waiting.”
Eryn’s writing often boasts an addictive blend of wit, assertiveness, and passion that comes through delightfully in person. But she credits Iris for helping her find that strong voice as a writer.
“I initially applied to intern at the legal clinic and it was divine intervention that I got Iris instead. I figured out that I like writing political op-eds here. There’s so many more opportunities out there for me now because I learned how much I like writing.”
Eryn may feel like writing about the personal is harder than it used to be, but throughout our interview her candor and refreshing openness take center stage.
The process of finding her authorial voice also helped her find her footing in her personal life.
“Second year I was struggling with not knowing what I was doing. I thought that everybody was cooler or prettier or smarter or better than me at everything. Now, I feel a lot more confident. There is someone better than me at quite literally everything, but that’s fine. I know that there are things that I’m good at and I’ve gotten better about overthinking.”
Eryn may feel like writing about the personal is harder than it used to be, but throughout our interview her candor and refreshing openness take center stage. Though her writing has evolved from “fighting inner demons” to taking down the exterior ones abusing positions of power, weaponizing language, and running the state of Texas into the ground, it is clear that her voice has been and will continue to be one to watch out for.
Though Eryn may have graduation anxiety at the front of her mind, I can’t help but feel like I’m talking to a rising star.
“It’s sickening, graduation is in like two months,” Eryn jokes when I ask about her post-grad plans. “I’m really trying to get a political communications job right now, so we’ll see if that pans out. I just did an interview, but they said they’d get back to me soon and it’s already been like 12 hours,” she says, glancing at the time on her phone.
Though Eryn may have graduation anxiety at the front of her mind, I can’t help but feel like I’m talking to a rising star. I make a mental note to bookmark this interview for ease of bragging about knowing her before her rise to New Yorker columnist level fame.
Eryn checks her phone again.
“More like 20 hours!”
