Ray Tenorio Cuts the Strings of Life and Death

Un empe' finayi ginnen i kachido Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence:

"Life and Death are both marrionettes wandering the same table. Cut their strings and they are easily ignored."

Annai fine'nina humalom yu' gi iyo-ku Ph.D. program giya San Diego, hu kilili este guatu lokkue' gi i hinasso-ku. Sina na "estupido" este na sinangan, lao ti para Guahu. Este na sinangan yan otro na research na hu cho'gue, mana'dana' gi i hinasso-ku, ya chine'leghua iyo-ku idea siha put decolonization.

Meggai giya Guahan, yan meggai na Chamoru gi lagu, ti ya-niha kumuentos pat humungok put decolonization, ya fihu ma na'chechetton gi iyo-niha resistance, chatguinife put mina'a'nao, minatai yan i madestrosa-na Guahan. Gi este na hinasso, achapiligro decolonization yan pinino' maisa (suicide). I dipotsi na hiniyong este na kuentos, "mungga madecolonization, sa' siempre pon na'fattoigue hao ni' minatai yan dinestrosa para u toktok yan konne' hao."

Lao ti taiguihi i hinasso-ta, yanggen ti mismo finakpo' pat chi-ta siha "lina'la" yan "minatai." Yanggen ta hasso siha kulang "fanhallom'an" pat "potta" matulaika todu.

I'll have to switch to English here to continue. What this quote, combined with my research on decolonization helped me realize is that ideas such as "life" and "death" are as much locations or states of living and vibrant or desolute and empty being as they are "doors" or barriers which keep certain ideas at bay, or rather are invoked to contain the potential impact of something that is placed behind that door, or frighteningly put on the other side of it. Life and Death are not just states of being, but rather they are ideas which can be invoked to transforming the tempting of anything into a "pandora's box."

For instance, in that old parenting saying, that would you jump off a cliff just because all your friends were doing it? We see the invoking of death, or its spectre, but the point of the saying is not to keep you from dying, but instead to marry together your following of your friends, your giving into peer pressure with dying, all with the desired effect of making you respect your parents' authority.

It is for this reason that in my master's thesis in Ethnic Studies, I basically said, in defiance of this "parenting reflex" that "decolonization is suicide!" I've explained in different ways exactly what I mean by this on my blog many times. But the ultimate point is that, "In that it represents the breaking of a particular desire for the colonizer and thus a dependency upon him and his recognition for your identity, thus decolonization is in reality very much so a suicide. It is the killing of that subject who needs the colonizer and who although they may loathe him, need him to constitute who they are."

Since I've come back on Guam this quote from Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence has gained a new significance for me. Last week on this blog I gave out my 2008 Guam Political Sign Awards, to different mayoral, senatorial and congressional candidates on island. I gave current Guam Senator Ray Tenorio the "To Boldly Go Where No One Else Will Go Award" for being one of the few if any candidates who have a campaign sign up in Tumon. Here is a picture of his sign:

I wanted to give him another award, the Taifinakpo' yan Taihinekkok Award for another one of his signs, but didn't have an image of video of it yet to use.

Its common on Guam, especially in the late afternoon during rush-hour periods in the weeks leading up to an election to see candidates by the side of the road waving. Sometimes they are joined by big crowds, sometimes its just them.

These waving, shows of force are limited of course by schedule, time, resources, etc. Senator Ray Tenorio has found a way around these limits, he has literally found a way to cut the strings of life and death in terms of waving at intersections on Guam. At the ITC intersection in Tamuning, he has taken out ad time on the giant electronic billboard there, and it features the video below of a giant version of him waving at you, and then a plea to vote for him. What this means is that some days, if you are driving by ITC, you get transported into another dimension, one where two Ray Tenorios are out there waving to you, working hard for you.