Grammar Gazette - Issue 2, 2023

2023 MERLE WE A VER THE MERLE WEAVER PUBLIC SPEAKING COMPETITION HAS LONG BEEN A FORUM FOR JUNIOR AND SENIOR STUDENTS TO INSPIRE THEIR PEERS WITH WORDS OF WISDOM, HUMOUR, AND IMAGINATION. ONCE A YEAR, A GROUP OF BRAVE STUDENTS PUT UP THEIR HANDS TO DELIVER A SPEECH ON A CHOSEN TOPIC, WITH THE WINNERS CHOSEN BY STAFF.

This year, the Merle Weaver theme was: Origins. Origin: the beginning or cause of something; used to describe the particular way in which something started to exist or someone started their life. The Senior entrants enthralled a packed-out Gehrmann Theatre as our students put their best foot—or spoken word—forward. And in the Sports Centre, the Junior entrants covered topics from Barbie’s regeneration to the rise of artificial intelligence. View excerpts from the winning speeches below.

LOOKING BEYOND THE LINES: LEARNING TO SEPARATE DESCRIPTORS AND IDENTITY Emma Readdy (12L), Senior winner Main character energy. We all like to think we’ve got it. Whether your TikTok feed has been inundated with POV fantasies, or the ‘my life is a movie’ Spotify playlist is your go-to, there is no denying it. Our generation is obsessed with romanticising our lives, assigning value and cultural explanations to our identities, and creating shared categories to validate our personal experiences. And its origin is easily traceable. In an age of digital globalisation, where we are overwhelmed with fit checks and story-times from hundreds of millions of people, it's easy to feel unseen, anonymous, and isolated. It’s not surprising then, that amongst this loneliness and invisibility, our generation has fallen back on humanity's most trusted cure— community. But, when online communities are regulated and restricted by clip and character limits, we must ask ourselves what we are truly sacrificing in order to feel understood, seen, and validated by a mere 30-second TikTok.

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GAZETTE • ISSUE 2, 2023 ISSUE 2, 2023

BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL