Mercer students were treated with a new source of entertainment this summer. Mercer Affirmations, an Instagram page that features memes relating to life as a student at Mercer, was started in July and has been going strong ever since.
The Cluster had the opportunity to sit down with the curator of the page, who we’ll call “Affie,” as she has requested to remain anonymous. She is a junior at the university.
Affie began the page this summer during an internship in social media and marketing.
“It was a really awesome opportunity,” she said. “But in between creating posts for the internship, it was really boring. I'm not gonna lie, it was very boring. I was sitting at a desk 24-7.”
One source of entertainment for Affie? Checking out affirmation comedy pages.
“They’re so funny,” she said. “They crack me up.”
Affirmations are a form of meditation in which a person states or focuses on a statement they would like to come true. For instance, an affirmation regarding grades could be, “I will achieve a 4.0 GPA this semester.” Comedy pages take a lighthearted approach to the format and poke fun at the universal experiences or thoughts of their followings.
When Affie first created her page, it started out as a joke between her and her friends. Then, it started to gain a strong following.
What she realized was that the experiences around campus that she and her friends were laughing about were experiences that many across campus resonated with.
“There have been so many instances on campus where we've had just Mercer things,” she said. “Just like, things that we've bonded over.”
One recent example of this campus-wide “bonding” was a tornado warning issued early Tuesday morning. When Mercer Police contacted students via email with a warning, Affie got to work.
“It was like 5 a.m., and I woke up,” she said. “I was like, ‘You know what? I should document this.’ So I made a post about the tornado."
The tornado post was a hit, gathering over 500 likes and becoming the most liked post on her page.
In addition to comedy affirmations, Affie frequently opens up questions on her Instagram story where followers can submit responses.
She has used her platform to give advice to incoming freshmen, posting user-submitted responses ranging from academic advice (“Don’t wait until you’re failing a class to realize you need to change your study game plan”) to financial advice (“CASH EQUAL MEANS MEAL SWIPE !! DONT USE ALL OF UR DINING DOLLARS”) to social advice (“If you don’t wanna drink, have a red cup full of water”).
Some of the page’s story submissions allow people to share weird experiences during their time at Mercer, and while she is able to post some comical responses, she noted that she’s walked away with some awkward situations. One respondent, who Affie knows “extremely well in real life,” submitted personal information about a previous relationship.
“I still haven't told her that I know that it's her,” she said. “One of the things that I do kind of struggle with is knowing that information because whenever I go into friendships or just relationships in general, I try to just have a clean slate.”
Even so, Affie intends to stay completely anonymous, at least for the time being.
“I don't know if I'll reveal who I am until I'm like a senior, just so that people don't know me as ‘the girl who runs the meme page,’” she said. “But I definitely do want to keep it going. It's actually been really fun to do.”
To check out Mercer Affirmations’ posts, head to @mercer.affirmations on Instagram.
Mary Helene Hall ‘23 is a journalism and women’s and gender studies student who has worked for The Cluster throughout her time at Mercer. She has held internships at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and AL.com, where she covered a variety of topics including politics, crime and culture.
