Quarantine Corners: Mikayla Yurman Inside the bedroom of a BHSEC student

 Lula Konner, ‘22

The pandemic has forced all of us to become much more familiar with our rooms, whether we like it or not. Quarantine Corners is a new column that glimpses into the bedrooms of various BHSEC students and explores the way in which quarantine has affected all of our relationships to these personal spaces. Email lk826m@bhsec.bard.edu if you are interested in participating in the next issue!

You may know Mikayla Yurman, a Year 1, because you’ve witnessed her cheerful and energetic leadership of the Best Buddies and Ultimaidens clubs. Or perhaps you recognize her from her impressive and creative artwork (also showcased in this issue)! Most importantly, though, Mikayla is a genuinely friendly and open person, and these qualities are undoubtedly reflected in her room -- rock collection and all.

What do you think your room reflects about you?

I think my room is really personal just because I’ve put effort into trying to make it my own. I figure that since I’ve spent so much time in here it should show that, but I really only started to feel as though my room really represented me recently.

What is unique about your room? What do you like about it?

I started to paint my walls around three years ago and what started with me and one friend doodling, has turned into a huge (multi-walled) mural of autographs, random pictures, and phrases or sentiments from nearly every person who has ever been inside. I also take a lot of pride in my various shelves because I have so many random objects and tchotchkes that it took quite a while to find the best way to organize the evidence of me being a slight hoarder. I have lots of rocks as well. I really can’t say where that obsession started because I’ve truly had multiple bags of rocks in my possession for as long as I can remember. However, it has morphed into a really good zoom conversation starter as well as the random paintings in the background of every. single. call. There’s literally nowhere I can go in my room without displaying a random wall with color vomit on it.

How has the pandemic and quarantine affected your relationship with your room?

I think quarantine has definitely changed the way I see my room... I have more motivation to have it look a certain way. It’s hard to see my room as a simple escape from the rest of the world when for 6 months straight my room was my world. Since quarantine, I’ve definitely had issues focusing in my room because it’s no longer a place where I go to sit down and do work, it’s just where I exist most of the time.