Skyler

Artist on VibrantCast

Ronald (Skyler) Haigh was born in a small, remote town on Hudson Bay. Churchill thawed to life as a port in the early 1930s and grew a little more lively—or deadly—as a rocket range for the Canadian military in the 1950s. In 1962, I added to the tiny human population that just outnumbered the polar bears, maybe 1,200 humans to 800 huge, hungry, white things. My mom was the big shaping force in my life. She had only a Grade 8 education, but was a dreamer with a great sense of fashion and adventure. She was one of Canada's best dressed welfare Moms (unverified) who hoped I would become a pilot, since my given middle name, Skyler, means "lover of the sky." For the record, I am afraid of heights. I lived in New Brunswick and in the Eastern Townships of Quebec. When I was eight, my father ran away from home—I previously thought that was what high-spirited kids did—leaving my mom, my two brothers, and me hard-pressed to get by.