The iron curtains ruining the Z-rooms of Washington Hall

Living in a Z-Room where you can’t stand your roommate but hate confrontation even more is a lot like fighting the Cold War.

Z-rooms, in theory, are great. You get a huge room divided into two parts. Think of the privacy! The separate decorations! The wall space for fabulous tapestries!

But to my dismay, my z-room is not all fabulous tapestries and unique decorations.

This room might seem okay but it is NOT FINE AT ALL

My z-room has been divided by the Iron Curtain.

What is an iron curtain, you ask?

For all of you who didn’t pay attention in high school, the actual Iron Curtain was the ideological barrier between the Soviet Union and the rest of the Western world during the Cold War.

The Iron Curtain on the third floor of Washington Hall, however, is a literal curtain that seals me off from the window.

Before: Open, airy, bright

After: Dark, dismal, depressing

I relinquished the window side (aka the better side) of our z-room to my roommate this year and moved into the smaller front of the room that holds the closets.

Her side of the room has the cable hookup, the MicroFridge, and is all around bigger and better. It was really nice of me to say “okay yeah sure I’ll take the front side, you go have a blast back there microwaving and working on your yoga poses in all that extra space.”

After a falling out last semester that occurred post-room selection for this fall, we no longer talk – or get along at all.

The first battle of our Cold War began with the window shade. I have trouble waking up in a dark room in the morning but my roommate prefers to sleep with the shade down.

Why do you hate the sun so much?

I could have said something about it but I decided to send pictures to my mom and complain instead. (In general Cold Wars are pretty passive aggressive.)

As if this wasn’t bad enough, the shade began to be pulled down over the windowsill so no light could get into the room at all.

I felt my seasonal depression setting in early. I literally stood in the common room for a few minutes after waking up to remind myself that it was 8am, not the middle of the night.

Once again, I took a few photos and stewed on my side of the room.

For a girl living in Southwest, inches matter

Last weekend, my roommate’s parents drove five hours to Amherst. When they were out of the room on Saturday morning, I noticed something new. There was a curtain folded on her trunk.

Oh no, it couldn’t be.

Further investigation led me to a tension rod beside her desk. I waited all day for her to say something about it, but she did not.

The curtain was still sitting there Sunday morning. We were in the room together all morning together but she waited until I left to text me.

I thought: “Oh its my fault? You couldn’t have just asked me to turn off the light?! We live in the same room!”

Then I remembered I had been complaining about the shade for three weeks and still haven’t said a word to her about it.

Some things are only okay when I do them.

The Iron Curtain went up.

What are you doing back there???

Waking up is impossible, my room is pitch black and stuffy, and I have no access to the refrigerator or the microwave without passing through the curtain.

This is my room at noontime with the shade down and the curtain drawn

The moral of the story, people of Southwest, is don’t start a Cold War in your dorm room.

Talk to your roommate before they hang up a dark curtain in the middle of your z-room that blocks all light and causes you to sleep through your 9am classes. Communication is key!

The Iron Curtain is ruining my life

Or do what I did and avoid confrontation by buying a timer for your lamp so it turns on when you need to wake up. Whatever works.