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Emerson College’s only independent, student-run newspaper since 1947

The Berkeley Beacon

Emerson College’s only independent, student-run newspaper since 1947

The Berkeley Beacon

Emerson College’s only independent, student-run newspaper since 1947

The Berkeley Beacon

Mer Hughes

Mer Hughes, Multimedia Managing Editor & Layout Editor

Mer Hughes is a senior journalism major with a minor in Women, Gender, & Sexuality Studies. Mer is the Multimedia Managing Editor for The Beacon, overseeing the socials and website. They have dabbled in every section of The Beacon over the past two years, serving as the Opinion Editor for Spring 2024 and Fall 2024, the Deputy Campus News Editor in Spring 2025, Multimedia ME & Layout Editor in Fall 2025, and Multimedia ME & Deputy Opinion Editor in Spring 2026. Outside of writing and editing for The Beacon, Mer enjoys the simpler things in life like poetry, exploring Massachusetts, and cooking Southern family recipes.

Latest from Mer Hughes
Graphic Ryan Yau

Amid chaos, joy is the greatest resistance

By Mer Hughes, Multimedia Managing Editor & Layout Editor / April 8, 2026

President Donald Trump reached new levels of Truth Social shit-posting in the early days of April. On Easter Sunday, he delivered an expletive-laden tirade...

Graphic Mer Hughes

It’s time to move away from Zoom

By Mer Hughes, Multimedia Managing Editor & Layout Editor / March 19, 2026

Zoom fatigue — the physical and mental exhaustion from increased video conference use — became an ongoing struggle for many during the pandemic.  When...

Graphic Charlie Desjardins

How I stopped scrolling and learned to unplug

By Mer Hughes, Multimedia Managing Editor & Layout Editor / January 21, 2026

When I returned back to Boston this semester, I started to notice that no one in the crammed Walker elevators on the way to class cared to start a conversation....

Demonstrators brought various homemade signs. (Nick Peace/ Beacon Staff)

Who gets remembered in white America?

By Mer Hughes, Multimedia Managing Editor & Layout Editor / January 15, 2026

You should be mad about Renee Good. But you also should’ve been mad before.  If you have somehow avoided the news for the past week, Good was a Minneapolis...

Illustration Rachel Choi

An ode to Emerson Friendsgiving

By Mer Hughes, Multimedia Managing Editor & Layout Editor / November 21, 2024
If this is your first fall at Emerson—whether you’re a freshman, transfer, or just weren’t here last November—you HAVE to go to the dining hall tonight from 4:30 to 9:00 p.m. for Emerson’s annual Friendsgiving.
Around 70 protesters standing on Tremont St outside of The Wang Theatre on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024.(Arthur Mansavage/ Beacon Staff)

Hillary Clinton’s book tour meets protesters in Boston

By Mer Hughes, Multimedia Managing Editor & Layout Editor / September 29, 2024
Hillary Clinton appeared live at the Wang Theater in Boston on Friday evening as part of a traveling tour discussing her new book, “Something Lost, Something Gained: Reflections on Life, Love, & Liberty.”
Photo Mer Hughes

Being a lesbian is easier in Boston

By Mer Hughes, Multimedia Managing Editor & Layout Editor / April 17, 2024

Opinion editors are not responsible for agreeing or disagreeing with their writers but rather elevate each individual’s specific voice.  I had a...

Why college students should buy plants

Why college students should buy plants

By Mer Hughes, Multimedia Managing Editor & Layout Editor / April 1, 2024
College can be a rough transition period for a lot of new freshmen—myself included—especially if you are a plane ride away from home.
Illustration Rachel Choi

New Year’s resolutions suck

By Mer Hughes, Multimedia Managing Editor & Layout Editor / January 24, 2024

Opinion editors are not responsible for agreeing or disagreeing with their writers but rather elevate each individual’s specific voice. It’s the...

Courtesy Mer Hughes

Christmas on a budget

By Mer Hughes, Multimedia Managing Editor & Layout Editor / December 13, 2023

Christmas and the holiday season can be one of the happiest times of the year. Well, Christmas Day can be.  The weeks between Black Friday and Dec....