DNC Day 2 - Podiums and Tailgates

Yesterday was a confusing and crazy day. Interviews were difficult to come by and when I was able to speak to politicians about Guam issues or Pacific Islander issues, their answers were generic or banal. Internet was also an issue, as I had trouble nearly all day finding reliable internet as I shuffled around from DNC event to DNC event all around downtown Denver.
Today looks to be alot better. I woke up this morning to find in my email inbox a wonderful email from one of the blogger media people, letting us know that we can request spots on "podium roundtalble interviews." As speakers at the convention step off the stage and into the sea of media and delegates they will have a blogger/press roundtable waiting for them where we can ask a question or two. You can only request three a day from the list of speakers. I'm sure most bloggers would go after a spot speaking to the bigger name folks from today's schedule. For me, I'm just trying to find people who can speak to issue relevant to Chamorros and Pacific Islanders. My "chosen" three from today's illustrious list of speakers are:

Eleanor Holmes Norton
Dennis Kucinich
Mike Honda

Another bit of good news is that today I'll be attending a blogger Tailgate 08 party hosted by Howard Dean and the Convention outside of the Pepsi Center. I haven't run into many bloggers lately since I've been here, I think they've all been hanging out at the Pepsi Center where the internet is better.

I'm hoping to run into Aaron Silverstein from the local Colorado blog Squarestate.net, who is the blogger who began the blog Guam Loves Jason Rosenberg last year, which led me to apply as the blogger from Guam. I painted him something while I've been here and want to give it to him as a gift.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Chamoru Love Sayings

Image
A student from my Zoom Chamoru classes recently asked me for some suggestions for some Chamoru sayings or words of wisdom that she could use for a speech she had to give for a friend's wedding.  I get this type of request pretty frequently and so over the years I have a number of lists of ways to say "I Love You" in Chamoru. For years that was one of the my most visited pages on this blog, a simple page that had more than a dozen different ways to say "Hu Guaiya Hao" ranging from the poetic and deep, to the silly and sexy.  When I looked at many of those lists, I realized that the majority of the ways love was expressed, was indeed written in Chamoru, but not necessarily rooted in Chamoru. What I mean by this, is that alot of the sayings were simply translated from English or variants of ways that love would be expressed in English.  For me, I am definitely in support of these sorts of things, I love having our language adapt and take on new forms, especially wh
Read more

Chamorro Public Service Post #15: Pues Adios, Esta Ki

A lot of people end up visiting this blog because they are searching around the internet for lyrics to Chamorro songs. Over the years I’ve pasted a couple here and there, but haven’t really kept up with it as much as I should. I complain all the time about there not being enough internet presence for the Chamorro language and for Chamorro thoughts and so I feel bad when I inadvertently contribute to that absence. På’go, gaige yu’ gi i gima’ iyo-ku grandfather. Desde i ma’pos’ña na mes, kumakatre gui’. Kana’ hineart attack gui’, ya sumaga’ gui’ gi i espitåt para tres meses. Mana’huyong gi i ma’pos na mes, ya sumåsaga’ gui’ gi i gima’, lao ti ha hulat tumohgue sin ayuda. Kada na puengge måtto yu’ gi i gima’-ña para i tetno-hu pumulan gui’. Gi este na tiempo, tåya’ internet, pues siña hu usa este para bai hu fanhasso. Manhasso yu’ put i lina’la’-hu pat i guinife-hu. Buente i chinathinasso-ku siha lokkue’. Tonight, I was trying to figure out what would be the best song to share the lyrics
Read more

Tuleti

Image
I was racking my brain recently to determine what was the first ever Chamorro song that was featured in a motion picture. Noon Sunday was the first every motion picture to be filmed primarily on Guam, prior to that some minor filming had been done on Guam for World War II and Godzilla films but nothing substantial. Noon Sunday was not set in Guam, but it was the first film to feature extensively the island of Guam. Guam was the locale for a fictional Pacific island that was being taken over by a menacing Asian power. Almost all the speaking roles went to people from off-island (from the US or the Philippines), and Chamorros ended up playing most of the "extra" roles. As a result the film didn't feature any Chamorro music. You do find documentaries and television programs, all locally produced that feature Chamorro songs of at least Chamorros singing songs. Guam's History Through Songs, made by the late Carmen Santos is a perfect example of this. For those of you u
Read more