Melissa was born on the homestead of 18th c. Mohegan writer, Rev. Samson Occom, the first bestselling Native American author. Melissa also grew up giving tours of her family's tantaquidgeon Museum, the oldest native-run museum in the USA.
Quotes
"It's hard to hate someone you know a lot about."
---Mohegan Medicine Woman Gladys Tantaquidgeon
"When others talk about our culture, they are skating on thin ice. When you talk about it, you are on thick ice. Stand tall and firm on the thick ice."
---Chief Harold Tantaquidgeon
I am an enrolled member of the Mohegan Tribe of Indians of Connecticut, and I write for stage, film, TV. I also serve as my tribal nation's Historian.