For the first eight years of his life, Jeremy Dennis knew his grandmother Loretta Silva — Princess Silva Arrow of the Shinnecock Nation — only as “Ma.”
And, even from a young age, he realized that she carried the lifeblood of the family.
Ma welcomed generation after generation into her home on the Shinnecock Territory, ensuring every child in her family grew up surrounded by love and warmth, discipline and support, including Mr. Dennis. Before he was born, she would throw mini-powwows on the front lawn, drawing crowds from all over — even from abroad — to visit the house and see native crafts and beadwork, eat traditional corn cooked in the earth layered under seaweed, and watch tribe members dance and sing, dressed in their finest regalia.
It was a place for family and tradition. And when Ma died in 1998, a part of that was lost, pushed aside, as was the upkeep of the house.
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