Every time I see her, my heart skips a beat. Here she comes again. The six-foot-tall, gorgeous young Black woman with the dreadlocks and mesmerizing smile. Today she's wearing a blue sweatshirt with the words Carleton University Ravens scrawled all over it, along with bright red sweatpants and Black leather boots. The gal looks like she just left her dorm but she looks better than most of the young women walking around the campus library. On this cold November day in Ottawa, Ontario, I feel...warmth, just from looking at her. Her name is Janine Lansbury. She's in my criminology class, and we sit two rows apart on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. Of course, she doesn't know that I exist.
My name is Clarence Hawkins Jeunesse. I'll be your nerd for the day. I was born and raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Last year, I attended Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. This year I'm at Carleton University in Ottawa, the Capital of Canada. Spending a year studying abroad seemed like a good idea. Especially given how tough the situation in Detroit has been the past couple of years. Carleton University's criminology program is one of the best in North America. That's why my African-American ass ended up here. I want to attend Wayne State University's School of Law someday but it's kind of tough to get in. I thought they would be impressed by a year of studying abroad. I came to the province of Ontario with high expectations. I had been to Canada couple of times. My family is originally from the Republic of Haiti, though. My father, Edmond Jeunesse and his brother Armand left Haiti in the 1980s. my dad settled in Michigan, married my Haitian-born and naturalized U.S. citizen mother Jasmine Joseph, and had little old me and my brother Harold. As for my uncle, Armand Jeunesse, he left the U.S. for Canada. Uncle Armand moved to Ottawa, Ontario, where he married a Chinese national named Anne Ming Lee and sired my cousins Ashley and Henry.
I visited my uncle Armand and his family in Ottawa a few times growing up so I wasn't completely new to the City. I knew my way around the Canadian capital long before I enrolled at Carleton University. Life at school was quite dull, especially since I didn't know anybody. I'm six-foot-one, slightly chubby, and prematurely bald so I keep my head perpetually shaved. My brother Harold, whom I mentioned earlier, is also studying in Canada. He's at the University of Toronto, having a blast. We're both tall and big, but he's got all his hair. Oh, and he recently got engaged to Maeve O'Connor, an Irish chick he met in Ajax, near Toronto. Best of luck to them both. I'm still trying to make my way in the Confederation. Being an American hasn't made my life in Canada any easier. The Canadian government makes you wait for everything. I had to get a study permit and a work permit before I could make my way through the tricky world of work and higher education in Canada. I work at the Call Center of Bell Canada in downtown Ottawa. I'm fluent in French because my parents are both Haitian-American, and taught it to me while we lived in Grand Rapids. I never thought it would come in handy until I moved to Canada. I make decent money at the Call Center. Twenty dollars an hour isn't bad when you're a broke student at Carleton University who's stuck paying international rates because you weren't born and raised in Canada. Like I said, this country isn't exactly kind to ambitious foreigners, especially Americans.
You wouldn't pick up on this if you met my friends at Carleton University, though. My buddy Raphael Feinstein was born and raised in the City of Tel Aviv, in the State of Israel. He moved with his mother Anna James Feinstein to Ottawa, Ontario, three and a half years ago. He's still an Israeli national but he's a permanent resident of Canada. That means he's paying regular rates at school instead of national. Isn't life grand for the guy I affectionately refer to as "The Hebrew Rapper". Raphael is tall and thin, with bronze skin, curly Black hair and dark brown eyes. He's in the criminology program too and aspires to become a cop after obtaining Canadian citizenship. Somehow, he is friends with mostly young Black guys and has taken up rapping. I flat out told him that I was clueless about rap music, hip hop and sports the day we met. Growing up, I watched Law & Order a lot and aspired to work in law enforcement. On top of that, my father worked for the Michigan State Prison System as a Corrections Officer. That didn't win me any points with the other young African-Americans I knew in the City of Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Raphael sat next to me that fateful afternoon when Janine Lansbury, the gal of my dreams, came over and asked to borrow my criminology book. Apparently she thought she recognized me from class. Raphael snickered as I stared unblinkingly into Janine's beautiful face while handing over my book. Janine smiled, and introduced herself. Gently I squeezed her hand. I was barely able to make my name exit my mouth. However, it seemed sufficient because Janine got the ball rolling. She cocked an eyebrow and asked me where I came from. I proudly told her that I was born and raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Janine smiled, said something about loving Americans and wished me a good day. As I watched her heart-shaped, mesmerizing derriere walk away, Raphael laughed and punched me on the shoulder. He mercilessly teased me about my Urkel-style freezing around beautiful Black women. I gritted my teeth and told him to knock it off. I've always been shy around Black people, especially attractive Black women. African-Americans make up less than twenty percent of the population of Grand Rapids, Michigan, and I lived in a really white area my whole life. I attended Booker T. Washington Academy, a school named after the legendary nineteenth century African-American scholar and politician. There were eleven hundred students at my school when I went there, and ninety percent of them were white. Isn't it ironic that a school named after a Black hero has a mostly white student body? Yeah, welcome to my life.
I watched Janine as she went to her seat, in front of the twin computers which she shared with two young Black women. Lord how I wished I could just go over there and talk to her. Unfortunately, shyness has always been a big problem for me. I don't know where I get it from. My parents are both loud, argumentative and passionate people. My brother Harold is mad loud too, as they say in the States. He used to play football for Wayne State University until a scandal involving a blonde-haired cheerleader cost him his spot on the football team. Sometimes, I can't stand my bro because of his womanizing and drinking but there are times when I wish I were more like him. He wouldn't have any problem charming Janine and getting her phone number...if he were into Black chicks, which he's not. Sitting next to me, Raphael browsed his Facebook. He answered a message from Zainab Al-Abdel, a young woman he's been dating. She's originally from Saudi Arabia and dating an Israeli guy, if you can believe that. Apparently, Zainab goes to Algonquin College and works as a stripper on the side to make extra money. I did not know Arab women could be strippers, since the Muslim faith is so conservative and restrictive. Raphael told me that Zainab was an apostate, and considered herself an atheist these days. I found that fascinating. I had certainly never heard of a Saudi woman renouncing Islam but there's a first time for everything.
I silently cursed both my best friend Raphael and my brother Harold for having it so easy with women. Feeling thirsty, I went to The Page Break, this small restaurant located inside the Carleton University library. Guess who I ran into in line? It was none other than Janine Lansbury, and she was smiling at me. I smiled shyly and asked her how she was doing. Janine grinned, and told me life was pretty good. I nodded at that, thinking that life must be pretty good if you're a tall, gorgeous young woman who walks around as if the world belonged to her. Seriously, Janine carried herself like an African Queen. In a moment of uncharacteristic boldness, I told her that. Janine smiled, and thanked me. Then she told me she was Jamaican, not African. I smiled nonchalantly at that, but inside I was burning. She was talking to me! Janine asked me how long I'd been at Carleton...and I answered truthfully. We bantered for a few minutes ( it was a long line) until she picked up her order. As I waited for mine, she nudged me on the shoulder and asked me to join her. What do you think I said?