Zobel holds multiple academic degrees, including a B.S.F.S. in History and Diplomacy from Georgetown University, and M.A. in History from the University of Connecticut—the school from which both her mother and great-aunt received degrees. Initially, Zobel was preparing to attend Harvard University as a history major. However, in meeting with the department chair, she was told that a Native American focus in History was not allowed, as it was considered "ethnohistory," and that she could major in anthropology. She chose UConn instead. In 2012, she also earned an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Fairfield University; and in 2013, she began a Ph.D. in Adult Learning and Teaching of Native American Studies at Lesley University.
In the Mohegan tribal nation, Zobel is both Medicine Woman and Tribal Historian. She also serves as executive director of the tribe’s cultural and community programs department. In her capacity as tribal storyteller, Zobel has traveled all throughout New England. Her goal has always been to provide a greater understanding of Native American history. In a recent interview, Zobel stated, “We are the keepers of the original ancient stories of New England.”
Zobel has long written history for her tribe, but she was motivated to get serious about her writing in 1991, when she was panned by critics at a Connecticut Humanities Council Conference. In 1992, her manuscript, The Lasting of the Mohegans, won the first annual Non-Fiction Award from the prestigious Native Writers’ Circle of the Americas.
Zobel’s non-fiction publications provide in-depth information and an unparalleled understanding of Mohegan culture, granting readers a glimpse at traditional practices. In Medicine Trail: The Life and Lessons of Gladys Tantaquidgeon, for instance, she writes that “certain feathers, such as those of the eagle, were reserved for ceremonies and high honors. Owl feathers were forbidden except in rare instances, for the owl’s cry is an omen of death” (41).
Additionally, Zobel writes speculative fiction, sometimes incorporating cherished cultural figures like Granny Squannit into her novels as a way of keeping them alive. In the summer of 2013 she is expected to release her newest novel, Great Bear Blues, set in New Hampshire.
Zobel won a top national award for “The Accomac Business Model.” The contest, called “Native Insight: Thoughts on Recession, Recovery & Opportunity,” was sponsored by the Alaska Federation of Natives, in partnership with the National Congress of American Indians and the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement.
In this story, Zobel illustrates the challenges of maintaining Native traditions in a rapidly changing, capitalist economy, suggesting that tribal people's cohesive nature might lend itself to cleaning up the current individualistic corporate structure. “The Accomac Business Model” provides the answers to Native longevity: there have always been Native fishermen and hunters, and yet while those same professions still exist today, there are also Native lawyers, doctors, and businesspeople. In both her fiction and her non-fiction, Zobel promotes Native Americans' continuing survival by refusing to let them slip from public memory. Native people have remarkably kept pace with an ever-changing society, while holding firm to the traditions of their ancestors. Zobel calls for the coalescence of progression and tradition in leading Native people to a bold new future.
Some of Zobel's earlier publications appear under her maiden name, Melissa Jayne Fawcett. Her Mohegan name was originally “Morning Star”, though Gladys Tantaquidgeon renamed her “Osowano,” meaning “the flower on the corn plant,” corn being a sacred food in Mohegan culture. Zobel has three children whose names embody their tribal heritage. Rachel Beth was named after Rachel Hoscott Fielding, the great-grandmother of Gladys Tantaquidgeon. Madeline Fielding gets her middle name from Mohegan culture keeper Fidelia Fielding. David Uncas was born in 1991, just after Zobel had a vision of her late uncle, Harold Tantaquidgeon, passing the baby to her along the Beautiful White Path. David’s middle name came thus comes from Harold’s hero, the Sachem Uncas.
*This article began as a longer profile for Wikipedia. Thanks to Melissa Tantaquidgeon Zobel for her assistance and feedback on both that article and this one.
Fawcett, Melissa Jayne. The Lasting of the Mohegans: Part I, the Story of the Wolf People. The Mohegan Tribe, 1995. Print.
Fawcett, Melissa Jayne. Medicine Trail: The Life and Lessons of Gladys Tantaquidgeon. University of Arizona Press, 2000. Print.
Fawcett, Melissa Jayne, and Joseph Bruchac. Makiawisug: The Gift of the Little People. Little People Pubns, 1997. Print.
Zobel, Melissa Tantaquidgeon. Fire Hollow. Raven’s Wing Books, 2010. Print.
Zobel, Melissa Tantaquidgeon. Oracles: A Novel. UNM Press, 2004. Print.
Spencer, Tricia et al. The Road to Elsewhere: Anthology of Award-Winning Short Stories. Scribes Valley Publishing Company, 2009. Print.
Zobel, Melissa Tantaquidgeon. "The Accomac business model." Alaska Dispatch. 4 November 2009. Alaska Dispatch. 16 April 2013. Accomac Business Model
Jacobson, Erica. "Tantaquidgeon relative named Mohegan tribal medicine woman." Norwich Bulletin.com. 21 May 2008. Norwich Bulletin. 4 April 2013. Norwich Bulletin
Official Mohegan Tribe website.
Arizona Board of Regents. "Great Tribal Leaders of Our Time: Jayne Fawcett." Indigenous Governance Database. 2013. University of Arizona. 5 April 2013. Jayne Fawcett
Zobel, Melissa Tantaquidgeon. "Melissa Tantaquidgeon Zobel." Academia.edu. 2013. Academia. 11 April 2013. Curriculum Vitae
Sayet, Rachel. "From the Mohegan Tribal Museum to Harvard to NMAI: An Intern's Journey (So Far) ." The National Museum of the American Indian. 20 May 2011. NMAI. 4 April 2013. The National Museum of the American Indian
Toensing, Gale Courey. "Mohegan Medicine Woman Wins $10,000 Essay Contest." Indian Country. 27 November 2009. Indian Country Today Media Network, LLC. 4 April 2013. $10,000 Essay]]>
Fielding’s children’s story, Uyasunôqak Cits: Leading Bird, incorporates the values of the Mohegan people. In the story, Fielding emphasizes a core value of the Mohegan people that is rooted in the backbone of their language: sharing. Delving into the world of linguistics, one can better understand how a language overlaps with its speakers’ perception of human connections. Fielding discovered an overlap between the virtue of sharing and the structure of the Mohegan language. In English, for instance, we say “I love you” or “I want you to do well." In the Mohegan language, however, the "you" always comes first. Fielding says, "In Mohegan when 'you and I' are both in the equation, 'you' always come first, whether 'you' is the subject or the direct object. Can you imagine what kind of society it would be like if everyone always put 'you' before 'me'?" The make-up of the Mohegan language thus exemplifies a value of the Mohegan people- to always think and care about others before worrying over oneself- with which Fielding concludes her children’s story:
Everyone’s tears watered his grave that day and for many days to come. Then one day in the spring chipmunk saw a little plant growing from that very place where they had laid him to rest. The animals kept watch over the plant carefully, knowing that this was Uyasunôqak’s remembrance for them. It was a low growing plant with dark green leaves. No one had ever seen anything like it before. Later it sprouted little white blossoms with yellow centers and later those blossoms turned into little red hearts. We call them wutah-berries, but most others call them strawberries. No one had to say it, but all the animals knew that this was Uyasunôqak’s heart being born again and again with the blooming of each strawberry. And when they tasted the berries, and they knew they should, they could tell the sweetness of Uyasunôqak would be with them still. Now this would be a good way to end the story, but there is one thing more. Because chipmunk was the first to taste a berry, and because there were so few in the beginning, he left part of it on a stone nearby for the next animal to taste. It is said that chipmunks, all the way until today, still do this. They are remembering Uyasunôqak’s lesson of sharing when they do.
Fielding is a follower of the Baha’i faith, which is a faith centered on the oneness of humanity. While separate from the Mohegan culture, the Baha’i faith’s core beliefs - equality of men and women, the elimination of prejudice, and a spiritual solution to economic problems- closely parallel the core beliefs of the Mohegan culture. Fielding writes about her religion in her fiction piece The Seven Cities. The epigraph of the story is from a Baha’i sacred writing, The Seven Valleys. Fielding’s The Seven Cities is analogous to this sacred writing; her story is divided into seven parts, all of which mirror the seven sections of the sacred writing. The “seven valleys” in the sacred writing include the valley of search, of love, of knowledge, of unity, of contentment, of wonderment, and of true poverty. Fielding’s story offers a contemporary look into the meanings of these valleys.
The spiritual journey of Baha’is is centered on learning the importance of unity and the wrongness of discrimination. The religion Fielding chose to follow could not be more fitting for one who belongs to a people who faced such significant prejudice. Fielding has devoted a large portion of her life to the re-unification of her people. Through her work in reviving the Mohegan language, Fielding is reviving a part of her heritage that was stripped away. She is reuniting her people- her people that were made foreigners in their own land when they lost their language.
“Stephanie Fielding Interview.” Telephone Interview. 19 April 2013.
Fielding, Stephanie Mugford. The Phonology of Mohegan-Pequot. N.p.: n.p., 2005. Print.
Fielding, Stephanie Mugford. A Modern Mohegan Dictionary. Uncasville, CT: Mohegan Tribe, 2006. Print.
Speck, Frank G. Native Tribes and Dialects of Connecticut: A Mohegan-Pequot Diary. Washington: G.P.O., 1928. Print.
Ni Ya Yo: Mohegan Newsletter
Writing of Indigenous New England: An Article on The Mohegan-Pequot Diary
Canku Ota: A Newsletter Celebrating Native Americans
]]>Bachofner co-founded and edits the online literary journal, Pulse in 1997. She is dedicated to unveiling new poetic voices and art. She has published her own poems in countless literary journals since 1995. Becoming a runner-up in the 2006 Main Street Rag Poetry Chapbook Award Contest, encouraged Bachofner to publish her poems in collections as well as in a broader array of literary journals including Prairie Schooner Journal, Main Street Rag, The Comstock Review, and Naugatuck River Review, among many others.
She has been nominated for several literary awards and honors, including Editor of the Year by the Wordcraft Circle of Writers & Storytellers in 1999 and Writer of the Year for her poetry by that same group in 2000. In 2007, Bachofner was a featured speaker at the Winter Wheat Conference at Bowling Green University, and in 2009, she was invited to be a presenter of poetry by indigenous writers at the Maine Literary Festival in Camden, Maine. She was also named in the 2009-10 publication of MarquisWho’s Who and made the short list (runner up) for individual works of poetry by the Maine Literary Festival in 2011. Carol’s poem Super-Hero won the First Place Portia Steele Memorial Award for Poetry in June 2007. In 2009, she was named “A Poet of Merit” by the Florence Poets Society.
In April of 2012, the City of Rockland, Maine named her Rockland, ME Poet Laureate. She launched her latest collection, Native Moons, Native Days (2012) at the Three Poets Book Launch, hosted by the Camden Public Library. Bachofner’s poem, We Speak the White Man’s Language, will appear in the anthology, Unraveling the Spreading Cloth of Time, edited by MariJo Moore and Trace A. DeMeyer. Her poems will also be appearing in the anthology Dawnland Voices, edited by Siobhan Senier, associate professor of English at the University of New Hampshire.
Bachofner frequently writes themed collections. Her collection titled I Write in the Greenhouse includes poems about Maine and its people, including Edna St. Vincent Millay and Andrew Wyath. Her other poems often describe the traditions within Native American culture. When asked in an interview by Fringe magazine what her favorite milestone in her poetry career has been, Bachofner gave a very thoughtful yet direct reply. She said, “Getting published in Prairie Schooner. I was in my MFA program and had written a kind of quirky poem for me. My advisor told me to throw it away, but I started sending it out and Prairie Schooner took it. That was a turning point for me. I realized it wasn’t about somebody else’s point of view, it was about the writing and how I encountered language. Carol often writes with a strong sense of place as narrative, and enjoys writing in both traditional and free verse.
Works Cited
Rector, Leta. “Genocide of the mind.” News From Indian Country (Feb. 12, 2004).
Ernest, Dagney. “Laureates Galore." The Camden Herald (March 27, 2013).
Three Poets Book Launch, Camden Library. June 22, 2011. YouTube.
Carol Bachofner, personal interview.
Azure was long unclear about her familial roots, and did not know to which tribe she belonged. After searching for 35 years, she wrote a memoir, Along Came a Spider, about her life and the struggles she went through to discover her ancestry. The title of this memoir comes from Azure’s discovery of her spiritual guide, Grandmother Spider. Azure speaks with Grandmother Spider throughout her memoir, who provides inspiration and tranquility.
After years of research, a visit to Canada, and alliances with Metis groups in Nova Scotia, Azure was finally able to discover many of her old ancestors, dating as far back as the 17th century. She can officially say that she is of Mi’kmaq Metis descent, and her roots are in the Kespu'kwitk District of Nova Scotia. Azure has also been granted recognition of aboriginal status as an Acadian descendant in Nova Scotia by the Association des Acadiens Metis-Sourquois (salt water people), who are located in Saulnierville, Digby County, Nova Scotia.
Azure has been married twice. She met her first husband, Tom Liljegren, at North Park College, where Azure attended as an undergrad. Though they did not have a lot in common, they were still able to fall in love, and were married in 1960. They had three children, Kathryn, Michael, and Patti. After twenty years of marriage, their busy schedules caused too much stress and indifference, which led to their divorce. Azure met her second husband, Alec Azure, many years before they married. They had been merely friends, visiting each other every so often. Over time, their relationship grew more serious, and they married in July of 1990. Unfortunately, Alec passed away after only two and a half years of marriage. Through her grief, Alice devoted more of her time to writing.
Before she began writing, Azure worked in the United Way movement, starting as a volunteer in 1975, then as a professional in 1979. Except for a four-year period from mid-1990 to 1994, she remained a community planner in various local United Ways until her retirement in January 2005. She currently lives in Maryville, Illinois near her three grandchildren, where she is a member of the Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers and the St. Louis Poetry Center.
Azure now focuses strongly on her poetry and writing. She now has her own website where she keeps up with her blog. Aside from Along Came a Spider, she has published two other books, In Mik’maq Country: selected poems and stories, and Games of Transformation, (which won the 2012 Poetry award from the Worldcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers).
Azure’s poetry consistently delves into her past, and typically voices her wonders about the mysteries of her ancestry. This allows for the reader to engage with Azure, and understand the hardships and confusions that she has gone through. Yet in all of her poetry, there is never a strong sense of anger or resentment. It's always a reflection that is told through delicate descriptions, which makes her poetry very enjoyable to read.
One of Azure's strongest poems is Trenching (featured below). This poem is stunning on so many different levels. It is so hard hitting with it's unexpected ending that is incorporated perfectly. For Azure to drop the reader off like that she forces them to feel very much how she felt when she was left at an orphanage – to go from enjoying an ordinary, beautiful life, to taking a dramatic turn for a reason that is very hard to grasp.
Azure’s best attribute in her writing is her attention to detail. In Trenching specifically, her descriptions of the small, delicate flowers are so vivid, which draws the reader’s attention, pulling them into a comfortable space that then gets yanked away. Azure’s attention to these small details is very similar to the description of her hands in Along Came a Spider, “I couldn’t help but notice how aged my hands and skin looked. All my life, it seems, I’ve had grandmotherly looking hands—brown, vieny, big and boney. An artist would have quite a time drawing my hands, catching the play of light on the branched, protruding veins, the prominent bones. The skin of my lower arms is so textured and leathery-looking, too, a busy network of lines all connected to pores—like the geodesic domes designed by R. Buckminister Fuller.” (83)
Lastly, Azure’s emphasis on the flower’s future colors is very interesting, since she pays great attention to the “bright, bright whites.” Why are the whites brighter than the other colors? Perhaps this is an inclination to white Americans who repress Native Indians and feel as though they should grow up like a white person. Many Indian children were taken from their homes and placed into orphanages and boarding schools in order to be raised as a white child, in the hopes that this would eradicate the Native Indian population. This arouses the question; did Azure feel as if she was one of these children in the Cromwell Home? She has not directly addressed this, but she does not look at her time in the Children’s Home as a negative experience, and she is very proud of her native ancestry.
"35.1." The Florida Review. Retrieved 10 April 2013.
Adams, Faye. "Interview: Alice M. Azure". STLbooks. Retrieved 4/2/13.
Along Came A Spider. Bowman Books, Mayville, IL, 2011.
Azure, Alice (2007). In Mi'kmaq County: selected poems & stories. Chicago, IL: Albatross Press. p. inside cover.
"Contributors." Past and Current Contributors. Native Literatures. Retrieved 10 April 2013.
Francis, Lee (January 1994). Word Trails: Wordcraft Circle Quarterly Journal 1 (1): 6.
"Honors and Awards 2012." Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers. Retrieved 17 April 2013.
Micmac Maliseet Nations News: 18, 22, 23, 25,. August - November 1995.
Moore, MariJo (2006). Eating Fire, Tasting Blood: An Anthology of the American Indian Holocaust.
Pegasus 1960: The North Park Literature and Arts Review 31: 10. 1960.
Rankovic, Catherine. "Talking With:Alice Azure, Native American Author". Interview with Alice Azure. Book Eval. Retrieved 10 April 2013.
Smith, R.T. (January 2004). Shenandoah: The Washington and Lee University Review 54 (3).
Straus, Terry; E. Donald Two Rivers (1994). Skins: Drumbeats from City: 12–13.
Straus, Terry; Grant P. Amdt (1998). The Native Chicago.
Zoominfo. "Alice. M. Azure". Web references. zoominfo.com. Retrieved 5 April 2013.
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