I have a room!!!!

 I haven't had a room of my very own since October of 2009, when I packed up all of my material culture and relocated to less-than-sunny NorCal. I did have a room of my own in SF and it was a haven when it needed to be, but since I had no money and most of my stuff languished in my parents' basement, it wasn't particularly cozy. 

By the time I came back from California, Emily had returned home from Tennessee and taken over my room. (I cried when I found out. I couldn't help it; I'd lived in that room since I'd stopped sleeping in a crib.) She had taken pains to turn her old room into a welcoming, family-themed guest room which morphed into my room when it became clear I wasn't going back to California.

And so I have lived in it these many months, grateful but stifled. There's no getting around that this room is closet-sized. (There's a reason Emily jumped at the opportunity to give it up; my dorm room at Brunel was bigger.) And to make matters worse, the closet itself was filled with other people's stuff. I NEED my room to be neat and orderly, and it seemed like no matter what I did, my room was a disaster area (by Ali standards anyway) every other day and consequently, my productivity was at an all-time low. 

I recently retook the eerily accurate Color Quiz at Anna Chlumsky's suggestion (yes, THAT Anna Chlumsky),  which listed my "actual problem" as:

"Needs to find a stable and peaceful environment which will free her of the worries that are preventing her from achieving the things she wants."

So I've spent the last week turning the guest room into MY room, that is, a stable and peaceful environment.  I've removed the extraneous furniture,  bought a bookcase and a new desk, and reclaimed the closet.

The finishing touch was to be a desk lamp for my new desk. (This was before I discovered my freshman year desk lamp still chilling in the basement; I was about 95% sure it had finally made its way to Goodwill. Supposing I can find a light bulb for it, I'm set.) Which is how I discovered that the major market for desk lamps would appear to be persons (college students?) who feel the need to channel their surplus of team and/or school spirit into home (dorm?) decor.

Which is how I then discovered these:

Very incandescent. This <insert school/team> Tiffany table lamp will brighten up any home or office. Featuring a team logo graphic for official appeal, this <insert school/team> Tiffany table lamp is the perfect beacon for every die-hard fan.

I don't pretend to understand team spirit and/or American middle class home decorating trends. I try not to judge, I really do. But somewhere (Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn, to be more precise), Louis Comfort Tiffany is rolling over in his grave.

Then again, recent scholarship has discovered that many of Tiffany's most famous lamps weren't designed by Tiffany himself but by Clara Driscoll, director of his Studios' Women's Glass Cutting Department.

I think Tiffany would have died if word had gotten out that Driscoll designed some of his most famous lamps, said Martin Eidelberg, professor emeritus of art history at Rutgers University.  ...Tiffany never disclosed the names of his designers, preferring to keep the public focus on his own considerable artistic and business talents.
("Out of Tiffany’s Shadow, a Woman of Light" by Jeffrey Kastner, New York Times, 25 February 2007)

Peacock lamp, probably designed by Clara Driscoll
pre-1906, 18½ in. diam.
New-York Historical Society,
Gift of Dr. Egon Neustadt.

So maybe I don't feel so bad about the heinous collegiate lamps bearing Tiffany's name after all. Karma's a bitch.

Wisteria lamp, designed by Clara Driscoll
c. 1901, 18 ½ in. diam.
New-York Historical Society,
Gift of Dr. Egon Neustadt.

Peony shade, designed by Clara Driscoll
c.1900-04, 22 in. diam.; base designed pre-1906.
New-York Historical Society,
Gift of Dr. Egon Neustadt.