Produced and edited by: Abbey Raynes
In the second installment of interviewing popular WWU anonymous accounts, the next person is @WWUaffirmations! Amassing almost 4,000 followers on Instagram over the span of two years, they have created a sense of community through storytelling using memes and humorous photo templates. Not taking things too seriously, WWU affirmations bridges western students of all backgrounds together to show a collective identity that can be highlighted specifically at Western. Whether that be making fun of the inherent greasy beanie culture or niche jokes that only people who attend this university would get, WWU affirmations keeps us going one meme at a time.
Resonating with many of their posts, I thought they would be a great person to interview, and on top of that, in our first anonymous interview with @Newwwuvoice, they suggested we interview affirmations next. Taking inspiration from New York affirmations or the official “affirmations” Instagram account, WWU affirmations uses their graphic design skills to uplift and connect students together by effortlessly creating masterpieces that they post to the thousands of followers they have. Hearing their passion for their work was truly inspiring, as they touched upon why they created the account and the meaning behind it during the pandemic, as a way to bring the culture “back”.
Fostering a sense of identity has only been one out of the many things they’ve done, as they’ve sold stickers, planned prank days over the course of a couple years and even posting about important political topics. Just like the other accounts we’ve talked to, they use their platform as a way to not only get their voice out there, but also highlight the multitude of students across campus by giving relatable and heartfelt content through self deprecating and appreciative collages of art. Their platform has been an ode to their time at Western and the sense of belonging they’ve received from it, which makes it even more sad that they’re graduating at the end of Winter Quarter 2023.
As an ode to their legacy, join us as we met with the photoshop god themselves, WWU affirmations, to sit down and chat about their rise to fame and what inspired them to create their “meme” account. Check out this episode of Tripping on Bricks, and listen to our discussion as we have some laughs with some fabulous costumes that “hide” our faces, share some insight on Western’s community and talk about how important these accounts can be to creating a collective culture and human connection in a post-pandemic world as people navigate their college identity.