Dearest Reader,
What a fickle force change is! It sweeps you up in its waves, and before you know you’re moving, the sands shift, your feet lightly landing on different shores.
Every September, I’ve found myself caught in this liminal middle of moments. The night before the first day of first grade and every grade following, I’ve always had a hard time falling asleep. The starlight would come through the curtains and puncture the dark where I sat up in my twin bed, insatiably yearning for the liberty in what comes next, yet shrinking into a comfortable familiar of dreams and fears left unresolved. I would look at the constellations dotting the night sky like sapphires, wondering if they knew what destiny was in store for me for first grade and every year after, innocently hoping the answers would reveal themselves the next morning.
The stars didn’t answer back, of course. There was no life plan magically placed on my desk where my backpack lay ready for school. But through the years, my choices have pushed and pulled me in different directions, until I’ve landed to where I am right now, at this moment, in my final year of university contemplating the nature of change once again.
For our first issue of the semester, our writers tackle these ideas of change, direction and movement. To begin, Faith Leslie explores the nuances and intimacies of friendship, in her poem, "Lessons on Friendship", a beautiful piece that puts into perspective how the people we hold close can truly have an impact on our lives and sense of self.
Grace Traxler brings her unique spin on movement, taking us on an exhilarating journey of how she, an out-of-state student, ended up at UVA in her piece, "Run With Me Through College". Grace literally and figuratively traces the steps she took from transferring from NYU, with a log of her runs in Glencoe, New York City, and Charlottesville, three cities she’s come to call home. Simone Minor turns inward, poetically braiding the strands of her identity in a multi-stanza poem, "7 Ways of Looking at a Black Woman", where she interrogates the ways they come together, intersect, collide – and the explosive force that remains in being unapologetically yourself.
Cassie Dallas projects her questions about direction on a larger stage, reflecting on how we as members of the university community can understand our fraught history, while also moving towards a better future, in her essay "Walking Through Privilege". Similarly, Ella Powell is interested in how students can navigate the nuances of activism during their university years, so she interviewed the new director of the Women’s Center to gain her perspective, in her article "Navigating the Gray with Chanel Craft Tanner".
Jordan Coleman takes a humorous approach with her list, "Nine Sapphic Books I Read This Summer", providing mini-book reviews and recommendations for the books that have provided the Sapphic representation she’s always looked for and finally found. Jordan’s smart, witty commentary is interlaced by the very real desire for the stories we tell and consume to resonate with the innate essence of ourselves. In "Ten Ways to Make Your Life Your Canvas", Carley Frajda also writes a listicle for this issue, encouraging her readers to see change not as something to be afraid of, but rather as something that can empower you, if you let it.
Jackie Bond tenderly paints a portrait of her grandfather, her Opah, in her essay, "Finding Adventures Up Above", taking on the mantle of storyteller, which he has left behind, and letting us know that adventure is never far behind, if we only know where to look. To close out our first issue, Lindsey Smith’s essay "Jewels", intimately expresses the loss of her beloved cat, Ruby, and the sweet serendipitous surprise of the kitten, Soot, whom Lindsey found and nursed back to health.
Maybe the world might know what we need before we can properly articulate it ourselves.
I want to thank our immensely talented writers for going on this journey with me on this first issue, and there is so much more to come in the months ahead! I can’t say enough good things about our creative, fantastic artists, Seble Alemu, Judy Zhao, Daphenie Joseph, who capture the words of our writers in ways I could never have imagined. To our amazing Social Media and Communications team, spearheaded by Leigh Ann Carver and Annie Gibson, I appreciate your thoughtfulness as you help us publicize the work we do at Iris.
Iris couldn’t run without my rockstars of an editorial team, Mary Esselman and Susannah Baker, I’m indebted to you both always.
Finally, to all our readers, thank you for supporting Iris Magazine! Happy Reading!
Miriella Jiffar
Editor, Iris Magazine 2024-2025
