Bare Necessitites
Boom! Boom! Boom!
“Is that my alarm clock?” I asked myself at 6 in the morning. As I stare warily at the time, I discover the throbbing sound is actually my neighbor’s music piercing the footthick wall. Is this some sort of nightmare? No, it’s simply another part of college dorm life.
Now in my second year at Eastern, I find music blaring through my walls has become quite normal. It’s strange how people can cope with things that usually seem unadaptable. Take my room, for instance: a 17-by-12-foot living space that must hold two desks, two beds, two built-in closets and all the personal belongs of two people.
In short, it’s cramped.
Department stores have all sorts of suggestions for decorating dorm rooms, usually as a way of selling comforters, curtains and wallpaper that will never see the light of day in a real college dorm room. Instead, people bring their own special style to what amounts to a haphazard way of decorating.
As I was going through my room at home, taking down old awards and photos, I pondered about what the heck to bring for my dorm room. The most efficient things came with me, and the others were packed in marked boxes and thrown into the basement for eternity.
I said “no” to my blue lava lamp and “yes” to my computer. Everyone who decides to “dorm it” must make these crucial decisions. Take Eastern dorm resident Scott Lunzer, for example. Among his necessities were his expensive mountain bike, snow skis and CD collection. I guess he ran out of space when packing, because he has no silverware.
Maybe he can collaborate with Josh Dvorak. Josh’s dining set includes one whole measuring cup. That’s it. But they aren’t the only minimalists. When looking around the rooms, expensive “necessities” often take the place of things like soap, dishes and pans. That’s OK, though, for those with the guts and the need, the school cafeteria has an entire dining set to choose from.
Once I got here and began to get a feel for things, I found myself taking trips back home to pick up more items to jam into the $2,000 sardine can I call home. With my closet entirely stuffed, I humbly asked my roommate Melissa if I could put some of my clothes in her closet. Am I the only one who brought so much stuff? As I peered into other rooms, I did have some fellow over-packers to bond with. However, on the average it was the female residents whose closets were overstuffed.
Like Gina Lorella, a sophomore, who found space for two plants and a lamp.
On the other extreme, I could hear my voice echo in most of the males’ rooms I have been in. Their shelves are bare! Of course, my first reaction was, “Hey, can I put some of my stuff in here?”
Why do some people bring so little? “This is all of my stuff,” said Nathan Pugh as I continued to search his room for more. I found eight shirts hanging in his closet and 10 pairs of shoes under his bed. As I mentally question bringing all 40 pairs of shoes with me, I look into his mini-fridge. Juice, pop and week-old fruit. This is the typical empty refrigerator that most dorm residents have in their rooms.
That leads to decorating. Many people brought pictures and mementos from yesteryear to remind them of home and times of old. “It makes my room more like home,” said Carmin Gilbert as she hugged an over-loved white teddy bear.
Meanwhile, a few doors down, Craig Erickson lies on the rock-hard bed that was provided, next to a wall dressed with sports posters and pictures of cars. He’s concerned right now with decorating the uncarpeted cheap tile floor with a rug of some sort. Rugs are very popular.
“The floor is cold in the morning and it always has gunk on it,” he explained. What Craig fails to realized is that upon purchasing a rug, someone has to vacuum it. For that reason, many opt not for the rug but for the next best facsimile - clothes. That solves the chronically crowded closet problem, too.
Whether it’s old family photos, shoe box after shoe box after shoe box, or that old mismatched set of sheets that have been around since the Reagan years, everyone has something in their room they can call their own - and their own way of decorating.
When hustling to class, eating yet another meal in the school cafeteria or surviving late-night crams for midterms or finals, even a teddy bear can do the trick!
MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: CALLING ALL DECORATORS You’ve been spending the last few months perfecting dorm room chic; now it’s time to go public with your masterpiece. Our Generation is looking for pictures of the coolest, barest and messiest dorm rooms around Spokane. Send a picture to Our Generation, Dorm Room Deco, 999 W. Riverside, Spokane, WA 99210, by Nov. 24. We’ll run a few of the best ones.