Melissa Myers

Writer's Biography

Melissa Myers is a full-time adventurer, foodie, and special education teacher. This trifecta inspires almost all of her writing, as she sees a viable connection between saying "yes" to eating skewered bugs and saying "yes" to teaching dyslexics how to read--equally challenging and rewarding ventures, indeed. She has roots in Pittsburgh, PA but now calls San Francisco her home. She is currently working on her first novel, Special Education--a suspiciously autobiographical tale of a young teacher who learns one of life's greatest lessons from a few very unlikely sources. She looks forward to traveling for a month in Italy next summer where she will be getting married to the best travel buddy in the world.

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Featured Travel Stories in Oriental Tales Magazine

Tana Toraja, Indonesia: A Baby Grave in the Living Tree
- Story by Melissa Myers
- 10th Online Issue

Deep in the jungles of Tana Toraja, Indonesia, a Banyan tree serves as a grave for babies who died before they reached six months of age. The passieeiran, literally “baby grave in the living tree” was part of a circle starting with a comfort for grieving parents and ending with a transition from death into new life. This is a fictionalized account of the first baby to become one with the living tree.

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