Robert Lalah, Staff Reporter
The Gleaner's Editor-in-Chief Garfield Grandison presents the Silver Pen Award for March to Charmaine Morris at the offices of the Gleaner Company, North Street, Kingston yesterday. - WINSTON SILL/FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER
CHARMAINE MORRIS, The Gleaner's Silver Pen winner for March, can best be described as someone with a keen sense of patriotism in addition to having a serious love for writing.
Whether writing strongly worded letters to her Member of Parliament or not-so-pleasant notes to her banker, Ms. Morris - general manager of Peter King Associates on Waterloo Road, St. Andrew - uses writing as the medium to vent her frustrations.
This time around her frustrations drove her to create the letter aptly titled 'At the crossroads of outrage and fear', published in The Gleaner on March 27.
The letter, Ms. Morris noted, was the outcome of a series of events which had taken place in Jamaica, and which were very discomforting for her.
'FUN NO LONGER EXISTS'
These events included the outbreak of violence that occurred at the most recent staging of the Boys' and Girls' Championships at the National Stadium.
Her daughter, 15-year-old Jo-Ann, attended the event and this prodded Ms. Morris to write: "Nothing, it seems, is simply enjoyable anymore without some form of violence, sex or ridicule. The thing we knew as fun no longer exists and this is unfortunate."
This, however, is by no means the first letter to the editor that she has penned.
In fact, she won the prestigious Silver Pen Award in 2001 for another letter on the state of the society, for which her daughter also acted as her muse.
For now, Ms. Morris said she is proud of her award and plans to keep on writing.
