October is an important month for Sheena Brown. It marks the one-year anniversary since she moved from Jamaica to Yorkton.
âA lot of people assume that youâre going to Toronto when you say youâre going to Canada,â she joked.
Now, October is a little extra special for her. Brown is the winner of the Story Slam 2017 event.
âFor me, âwonderfulâ would be a word [to describe it],â she said. âI was pleasantly surprised.â
The Story Slam was held on Oct. 18 at the Yorkton Public Library. Writers presented their original and unpublished stories to an audience. They had five minutes to read their tales aloud.
Brownâs winning story was called âFrom JA to SK.â It detailed her experience of adjusting to life in Canada.
âWhat led to the story was a mixture of trying to balance...looking forward to new opportunities [and] dealing with some daily realities,â she said. âIâm trying to adjust to all of that excitement.â
Brown wrote the story back in February and shared it with the Parkland Writers Alliance. Their encouragement inspired Brown to submit her work to the competition. Between February and October, she completed five different drafts of the piece.
âThe hardest part was not to fall too much in love with what [I wrote] that [I] didnât want to edit,â she said. âGet to the key point and just bring it down to the essence.
âI had to be a brutal editor.â
Brown plans to write more stories about her experiences her new home country.
âSomewhere in the back of my mind is a story about trying moose meat for the first time,â she said.
From JA to SK by Sheena Brown
âPickney! Child!â âGet up offa di ground, are you mad!, What are you doing rolling around in the snow and let people see you!â
I shouted inside my head as my 10 year old gleefully crawled, dived and tunneled her way through the snow on the playground. My Jamaican mother sensibilities wanted to scream that this was âout of orderâ behavior. Children should have manners and not embarrass their parents.
My daughter, Amara, flipped over on her back and began working a pattern into the snow with her arms. I took one determined step forward ready to end her fun but then she exclaimed.
âIâm making a snow angel! My first snowfall ever! Best Ever!â
Best Ever. Best Ever.
Never did I expect this odd combination of emotions. My daughterâs obvious joy at experiencing snow and my... distress? disappointment? dissonance? Yes, my dissonance from this euphoric childhood moment. It was my first snowfall too but I was suspicious of this cold, plenty ânuffâ white stuff that kept in getting my mouth, my nose, my hair and running down my glasses.
âMom, Mom!â Amara jumped up, âThere is sooo much snow, I wish we could pack it, like in a bag or suitcase and take some back to Jamaica.â Â
We left Jamaica with 4 suitcases. It was 20 years of working experience, 12 years of marriage, 3 university degrees and 1 dream of better opportunities packed into those 4 bags. Now we were waiting to be cleared for travel to Canada by Jamaican immigration officials in Kingston, JA (Jamaica). Â
âGood afternoon, so where are you and your family travelling today?â the immigration officer asked.
âSaskatchewan, Canadaâ I stated.
The officer blinked, looked at me, looked at the plane ticket and then back at me.
âWhere is that?â she sounded as if she want proof.
âIn Canada. One of the provincesâ I replied.
âEh heh, hmm...â she was not convinced. She held my gaze. Not blinking. Waiting. Our plane tickets firmly in her hand
âIs this Sas-Saschuwan place near Toronto?â she quizzed.
What the immigration officer wanted to know was, how could I be heading to a place called Saskatchewan which is not Toronto. So I attempted to answer.
âWell, Saskatchewan is very far from Toronto. Almost 3 hours by plane. Outside of Toronto, more heading west towards Alberta.â
It didnât work. I gave her too much information. The extra geography seemed to confuse her.
âJust a minuteâ. She stood up and motioned to a senior officer.
I did not mean to eavesdrop. I just happened to hear the conversation that would basically decide our fate.
âThat lady and her family travelling to Canada but she say dat, she and her family going to one place name Sas..Sasuchwan inna Canada?â she inquired
âYeah manâ, the senior officer said âYou remember Janetâs husband cousin?â
âYeah, her husband cousin migrate to Canada. Didnât he go to Toronto?â she asked.
âNo man, is the same Saskatchewan place him get his immigration papers for farm workâ the senior office replied.
âSo him really live there?â she asked
âHeh! Heh!â Senior officer laughed âHe stay there for a little while but him say it was too damn cold and he left. Think him live in Toronto nowâ.
I sighed as she returned her attention to me.
âThank you for your timeâ She stamped all four passports. âEnjoy your trip.â
âThank YOU very much.â I was happily surprised and then quietly whispered âThank you Janetâs husbandâs cousin.â
My thoughts now landed back onto the snowy playground in Yorkton, SK.
âHey Momâ Amara called âDad is here with Ayanna.â
I looked up to see Ayanna, my 2 year old, bursting into a full flying hug towards her sister. Mark smiled and sat down beside me.
âHey good news, I got the job starting Monday.â
Snowflakes could not compete with the happy tears misting up my glasses.
âAwesomeâ I hugged him tightly âWe are going to do this.â
Mark called out âGirls, are you ready, letâs go out and celebrate!â
âHey wait!â I quickly got up, pulled my toque over my ears, zipped up my jacket and jumped into a fresh pile of snow. I rolled over smiling.
âLetâs make snow angels together. Best Ever!â
