For my two-semester, freshman orientation class, we had to read Virginia Woolf’s feminist manifesto, A Room of One’s Own. One of the prime tenets of the work—that women were not given autonomy, time and financial support to become successful writers—is both literally and figuratively conveyed by the work’s title, A Room of One’s Own. The title speaks to the literal space writers need to work, but also the personal direction and ability to think for themselves that women were so long denied. 

Although Woolf’s message of free-thinking is certainly relevant to all freshman students, it was a bit ironic to assign a book called A Room of One’s Own to a bunch of eighteen-year-olds with roommates. We all lived in the freshman dorms, which consisted of a small room with two beds, two desks, two dressers, and, of course, two students. We did not have our own rooms.

I don’t want to be flippant with Woolf’s message, but she certainly did intend to convey the importance of having one’s own space for thinking, writing, organizing and—most importantly—peace and quiet. One cannot devote as much energy to simply thinking if there is even an iota of a doubt that a roommate might start blaring music or talking to her parents on the phone.

Perhaps we have a less literal idea of a room of one’s own these days. Judging from the hoards of coffee shop workers who claim an office consisting of a laptop, headphones and a bit of desk, it seems that way. Headphones are a flimsy physical barrier for privacy, but a visual certainty that that person wishes to be left alone. Is the laptop-and-headphone combo the 21^st-century version of a privacy?

For some writers, I suppose this may be the case. College library cubicles, coffee shop tables strewn with a working day’s refuse of muffin wrappers and lukewarm espresso or a spot at the kitchen table often is a workable space for writing.

No matter how many 21^st-century substitutions we might try and make, however, nothing really makes up for the real thing. Whether it’s a converted closet, a fully-functional home office or even a solitary apartment with a writing desk, these “rooms” still make the writing process go more smoothly and well. I will never doubt the value of a place to keep books and papers, set up a desktop computer and put myself into a space where I only work, and only work is done.