colors – The Western Howl

February 5, 2025

Written by: Isabelle Jones | Lifestyle Editor

Making one’s own space is extremely important in college. This chapter in life is full of excitement, new friends and new experiences. Although it’s easy to settle for bare walls, only sticking with the provided furniture, decorating one’s room has a significant impact on their mental well-being, self-expression and overall college experience. Here are a few reasons why decorating is important.

The dorm room is one of the few places where students can fully express themselves. Personal touches like family and friend photos, favorite posters or other mementos to remind one of where one comes from can help anyone feeling homesick. At the end of a busy day, a student’s dorm room becomes a sanctuary for relaxation and recharging their social battery. Soft bedding, throw pillows and lighting work to create that relaxing environment. For students looking to choose a style, here is a list of popular themes: minimalism, boho chic, 70s style and much more. Personal expression and decoration don’t have to fit into a single label.

When making new friends, one will end up hanging out in their rooms. A decorated room can be a great conversation starter, or for when new roommates move in. Having a well-decorated space can feel more welcoming to guests.

Stress is a normal part of the college experience, but that doesn’t mean it should follow one into their room. Creating a personal and colorful space is a powerful influence to one’s mental health. According to Mental Health America, “Happy, bright colors can increase your mental activity and leave you feeling rejuvenated and energized.” An aesthetically pleasing environment improves one’s mental health and can even make one feel more productive.

Even though a dorm room is small, there is plenty of space to make it one’s own. It’s a fun and creative way to express oneself. So, grab those fairy lights, fluffy blankets and meaningful decor — the room is waiting.

Tips to decorate on a budget:

Bring in the greenery

Plants have several benefits that directly affect its owners. Plants are therapeutic, improving one’s mental health, helping one to recover from illness faster and contributing to a good flow within a feng shui lifestyle. Some popular bedroom plants are lucky bamboo, succulents, snake plants and Pothos.

Thrift shop

Thrift shopping has great options to find affordable decoration items that fit one’s style. Lamps, vases, frames and baskets are among the most unique decor that won’t break the bank.

Think multifunctional

Furniture that serves more than one purpose is extremely helpful for any student. One should look for under-bed storage with drawers and ottomans.

Understand what’s allowed in the dorm

As one gets creative with decorating, it’s important to understand what is allowed — and, more importantly, not allowed — within the dorms. Candles, halogen lamps, vacuums and toaster ovens are among the most popular items that are prohibited in the dorms. Any student needing a refresher should look at the “FIRE and LIFE SAFETY” and “The Guide to Residential Living 24-25” on Western’s housing page. Some safe alternatives for the most popular prohibited item — candles — are diffuser sticks, essential oil diffusers and Scentsy warmers.

Use peel-and-stick items

Students have likely heard this a million times already, but Command strips are our best friends when one wants to hang up any art and hooks without causing damage to walls.

Contact the author at howllifestyle@wou.edu

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Stephanie Juanillo exhibition

Written by: Hannah Field | Editor-in-Chief

Stephanie Juanillo’s art display, “Entre Colores: Un Homenaje a la Vida y la Muerte (Between Colors: An Homage to Life and Death),” will be displayed in the Cannon Gallery in Campbell Hall until the end of October.

Featuring various acrylic paintings on canvas as well as an ofrenda — an altar in homage to Juanillo’s abuelito Berna, with candles, marigold flowers and a beautiful painting — the display puts on an equally powerful and beautiful message, honoring family and loved ones who have passed.

According to the Western calendar page, “Stephanie Juanilo’s exhibition … is a personal, bold and colorful exploration of the coexistence of grief and joy and how they both permeate the topics most important to her, such as migration, community, family, loss, distance and intergenerational healing.”

Juanillo, being a first-generation immigrant, utilizes “bold colors, patterns and textures (inspired by) Mexican iconography, Latinx music, past memories, people and nostalgia. The act of creating — whether it be painting, printmaking, collage or installation — serves as a way for Stephanie to stay connected to her Mexican roots.”

Juanillo’s Instagram, @color.obsessed, explores Juanillo’s relationship with art and projects current and past. One post features a painting on display in Cannon Gallery, with Juanillo captioning it: “Flowers have a deep cultural and emotional meaning in the immigrant community, I wanted to honor that as much as possible. This is dedicated to the physical and spiritual connection that many of us experience through nature. What a special way to stay connected to our native homes, family and traditions.”

Another post, featuring a collage piece centering around Juanillo’s abuelito Berna, states, “I wanted to emphasize and capture his joy for life. When I was in Mexico visiting my family, I was always greeted by him with a smile that eventually turned into laughter and then a warm hug. He showed me his plants and took pride in his love. Leaving Michoacán was really hard, but I carry the image of his warm smile and loving spirit in my memory always.”

In the center of the room, facing Berna’s ofrenda and the accompanying installation, a plaque with a typed letter from Stephanie Janillo read:

“When my father left his home country, he kissed the earth and cried. Days turned into months, months into years, our new life in the U.S. began. Any and every object, song, smell, food that reminded my parents of home filled our house. Distance and borders, both physical and metaphorical, were met with an abundance of my mami’s cooking passed on from her mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, soothing our neverending nostalgic void. Our garden, so meticulously cared for by my dad, became a refuge, a beautiful love for flowers and plants. I don’t know when the grief stops, the grief of not watching your parents grow old, of missing out on family celebrations and milestones. The grief of a friend or family member you were not able to say goodbye to and hug for the very last time. I don’t think it ever really stops or goes away because it is an extension of the love we still hold for a person, place and moment in time. So as each November approaches and we get closer to (Dia de los Muertos), I take the time to sit with these feelings. Marigolds decorate our altars and homes, a guide to help the spirit of those who have passed find their way back home. The souls of our loved ones return in the form of a monarch butterfly. Photographs and favorite foods of the dead adorn the ofrendas. Stories are shared, (life that was lived and is yet to live is celebrated and cries and laughter synchronize. I’m reminded that) to love and to be loved is a gift and one of the greatest honors we get to experience as humans. I’m reminded of the value, power and resilience of keeping traditions alive.

So I ask you, if you had to leave your home today, if you had to leave your family, friends and everything you’ve ever known and loved, what would help you stay connected? What memories would you preserve? What pictures would you decorate your new home with? How would you (spend your last week with those you love? What would you leave unsaid? What would become a) physical representation of your grief and longing? How would your definition of home change?

May this show be a love letter to my family and all of the immigrants who are forced to leave their homeland. Their story and their sacrifice are always with me and woven into every piece I make. (May this show be an invitation for you to love more intentionally, to celebrate life and sit) with whatever grief you are currently experiencing.”

Contact the author at howleditorinchief@mail.wou.edu.

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Holocaust memorial

Written by: Hannah Field | News Editor

In commemoration of the lives lost in the Holocaust and violence tied to World War II, Western continued their annual tradition by placing thousands of flags along Monmouth Avenue from May 3 – 7.

Western’s description of the event on the school-wide calendar directly quoted the Holocaust Encyclopedia for a definition: “The Holocaust was the systematic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of six million European Jews by the Nazi German regime and its allies and collaborators. The Holocaust was an evolving process that took place throughout Europe between 1933 and 1945.”

“These flags are meant to be a large, powerful display representing the lives of millions lost,” said Western’s calendar description. “There are different colored flags that represent the lives lost of certain peoples. The yellow flags represent the biggest number of Jewish lives lost.”

Multiple other flag colors lined the streets during the event, such as blue, red, white, green, brown, orange, purple, pink, lime green and light blue. In order, the communities they represent are as follows: Soviet civilians, Soviet prisoners of war, Polish civilians, Serbian civilians, Romani people, people with disabilities, repeat criminal offenders, LGBTQ+ people, Jehovah’s Witnesses and Spanish republicans.

The flags, although disrupted by the construction along Monmouth Avenue, shined bright against the backdrop of Western’s spring campus and were eye-catching to passersby.

“Every year for Holocaust Remembrance Day, Yom HaShoah, we place thousands of flags along Monmouth Avenue to commemorate the lives lost,” said Western in an Instagram post. “This display provides an opportunity for reflection as a community… Thank you to the volunteers and (Western Student Engagement), who helped with the flags for this year’s remembrance.”

Contact the author at howlnews@mail.wou.edu

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Stephanie Juanillo exhibition

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