For #NativeAmericanHeritageMonth, we spent time talking to some of our Native American members of the Rutgers community about their heritage. Meet Todd Caissie, PhD candidate in Art History and Cultural Heritage and Preservation Studies (CHAPS). "Growing up as Native American had its challenges and I am embarrassed to admit that as a child I was not always proud of my heritage. I grew up in a community rife with negative Native American stereotypes and prejudices, and I sometimes feared being ostracized by my peers. I was subject to hurtful nicknames and taunts from my peers, and at times I responded by hiding or marginalizing my Native Americanness. It was not until college that I reconnected with my Osage heritage, which is now a very large part of my identity and empowers me with a sense of pride and past. My research, which was inspired partially by personal experience, grapples with issues of cultural heritage. This research has, in turn, tethered me more firmly to my cultural ...