Eryn Rhodes
(she/her/hers)
Eryn is a fourth year double majoring in History and Women, Gender, & Sexuality Studies. Passionate about exploring the gender politics behind our media, legal frameworks, and policy decisions, Eryn writes to challenge the conventional. She hopes to go into policy advocacy or political journalism following her graduation. Outside of IRIS, Eryn is an Executive Editor and Co-Founder of the Virginia Undergraduate Law Review, an avid reader, and an equestrian.
We’re an interesting pair: two people tired from the week, yet talking about writing on our night off. But for Jordan Coleman... writing is a passion—an art form and a creative muscle she likes to stretch in her free time. And so, on our night off, we talk about fantasy, poetry, and vulnerability.
Walking into a dimly lit room, bass vibrations rattling the windows, I look around—the women are in uniform. So am I. The year is 2023. I’m in a small “going out top” matched with straight leg jeans, and for personal flair, my black combat boots.
On a recent Saturday morning, I was bursting out of the dimly lit Paramount Theater in Downtown Charlottesville with furrowed brows and a long stride.
I am no stranger to opinion.
As someone who gravitates towards op-ed writing, I am used to disagreement. I enjoy reading political essays online, especially from news outlets that allow conservative voices to publish thinkpieces.
It is not lost on me, the irony of reading The Idiot as my clock reads midnight: I have work in 8 hours. But I am captivated.
Journalism: the “4th pillar” of government. The watchdogs of politics (and other social institutions), they expose the unethical decisions of those in power.
In today’s Third Wave feminist movement, there’s a growing idea that any “choice” a woman makes, with the intention of doing so to empower herself or the women around her, is inherently “feminist.” Such ideology is referred to as “choice feminism,” and isn’t it a relief?
She tells her friend she needs air, and on the patio of this popular college bar, her heart races. Her lungs feel on fire. Her hands can’t stop shaking.
The first Panic! At the Disco song I heard was, surprisingly, not “I Write Sins Not Tragedies.” I was sitting in my childhood bedroom
To the everyday people I encounter– my parents’ co-worker, the friend of a friend, that one politics department alumni, and a handful of people in my extended family, Stop asking me what I’m going to do with my Women, Gender & Sexuality Studies major.