A creative way to make fun of everyday things a St. Thomas student may do has popped up on a site named “What Should We Call Me St. Thomas,” and until now, the creator was anonymous.

“I’m a little nervous. We’re going to unmask the batman,” she said.

Senior Alexa Peloquin created the tumblr, a visual social media profile where users can grab animated video clips with sayings on them, as a St. Thomas spin-off of another tumblr account called “What Should We Call Me.” She said the page consists of animated clips with captions only a Tommie would fully understand.

“I love to blog, and I love the comedy of the truisms of St. Thomas and all of those posts are commonalities that St. Thomas students can relate to,” Peloquin said.

Social psychology professor Britain Scott said people are drawn to the site because it “reflects shared experience.”

“Many of the jokes are ‘inside jokes’ that are only relevant for St. Thomas students,” Scott said. “So looking at the site and getting the humor reinforces students’ sense of belonging.”

Freshman James Kolar said he enjoys watching the clips because the jokes poke fun at St. Thomas.

“I like the clip of the baby throwing money out the window,” Kolar said. “Whoever is doing it, tell her to keep it up because it’s some funny stuff.”

The posts were designed for laughs, not to be offensive, Peloquin said, and sometimes she even chuckles at her own posts.

“I like to browse through them when I’m in class and I start giggling,” Peloquin said. “I love sitting in class and seeing one person a couple rows ahead of me is on it.”

Peloquin said her blog has about 375 followers. Despite its humorous nature, Peloquin said she didn’t expect the account to become so popular.

“I posted on my roommate’s (Facebook) wall one of the clips, and she kept posting them around and here and there. I’d find them sporadically. I’d never thought it’d be this big,” Peloquin said.

Along with some of her own experiences, Peloquin also uses some with her friends ideas to come up with posts.

“A couple of them do (know they were the inspiration for a post),” Peloquin said. “Especially the ones about my roommates. There’s one where I tell my roommate I’m going to cook and it’s a video of a little girl that’s disgusted. Obviously, my roommates know that they created the inspiration for that certain post.”

Although Peloquin is the sole creator of the tumblr, her friends have helped promote it along the way.

“My friends have definitely helped promote it by posting it on Facebook, but other than that I’m riding solo,” Peloquin said.

Freshman Josh Van Aartsen said he has seen a few of the tumblr posts on Facebook.

“I’ve seen a couple on Facebook and it’s pretty funny,” Van Aartsen said.

Freshman Cassidy Barber said she can relate to some of the posts.

“It’s really funny, and it’s actually true. It makes me laugh because some of that stuff actually happens,” Barber said.

“I suspect that many Tommie students looking at the tumblr blog see themselves in it and so, for example, when the entry describes doing something embarrassing, they can think ‘I’ve done that too, and it’s OK because it’s not just me,’” Scott said.

Peloquin said she makes about five to six posts every day and plans to continue to make posts through finals week and over break.

“I definitely think it’ll make for a great procrastination tool during finals, and then during break,” Peloquin said. “I think a lot of us will be missing campus when we are back at home, so it’ll create for a lot of good posts.”

Peloquin said she’ll continue to make posts as long as it’s popular.

“Until I stop seeing them pop up on my newsfeed, I’ll keep doing them,” Peloquin said. “I can track how many followers I have and when people reblog them or like them. Until I stop getting feedback, I’ll keep doing it.”

Stephanie Dodd can be reached at dodd0474@stthomas.edu.