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Showing posts from March, 2016

Tinaitai gi Fino' Chamorro

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Ti katoliko yu'. SDA i rilihon-hu anai dumadangkolu yu'. Gi entre todu i gima'yu'us siha giya Guahan, i gima'yu'us Katoliko i mas Chamorro. Hunggan, matanom i simiyas para i hineggen Protestante mas ki un siento anos tatte, lao ma'establesi ayu na guma'yu'us gi duranten i Tiempon Fina'amerikanu, ya humuyongna ti gof Chamorro i pengga' Protestante giya Guahan. I rilihon SDA, humålom giya Guahan despues di i Tiempon Chapones, ya put enao manhålom i Chamorro siha gi duranten un mas didok na Tiempon Fina'amerikanu. Anai estaba humålom yu' gi Gima'yu'us Katoliko, meggai Fino' Chamorro hu hungok, gi kanta siha, tinaitai siha yan pinagat lokkue'. Lao gi gima'yu'us-mami, taya'. Achokka' ti hu aksepta i doktrina komo iyo-ku, hu agradesi i che'cho'-na i Gima'yu'us Katoliko gi halacha na tiempo. Sa' siha mas umu'usa i Fino' Chamorro. Estague un hemplo: *****************

Natural Guard Assemble!

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This editorial is written from Maine, by longtime peace and demilitarization activist Bruce Gagnon. I first met Bruce in 2010 during a solidarity tour to South Korea. I learned so much from him, as he is so much more involved in international peace and demilitarization work than I am. The stories he shared of his struggles, his travels, the victories that movements he's participated in have garnered were both so educational and inspiring to me. In this editorial he poses something which Guam, as the Tip of America's Spear, as Fortress Guam, as a strategically important base to the US should consider, but rarely does. What if the massive amount of money that the US invests in bases and weapons, was used for something else? Something that didn't destroy, attack or defend, but provided stability in a more direct sense? In Guam we have become so accustomed to the variety of militarism that exists in the US, we constantly forget to ask questions about its nature, and whether t

Pacific Languages in Diaspora

Call for Papers Amerasia Journal's latest call for papers PACIFIC LANGUAGES IN DIASPORA Guest Editors: Professor Serge Tcherkezoff (Anthropology, French Institute of Advanced Studies in Social Sciences) Professor Luafata Simanu-Klutz (Samoan Language and Literature, University of Hawai‘i, Mānoa) Dr. Akiemi Glenn (Te Taki Tokelau Community Training and Development) Publication Date: Issue planned for Spring 2017 publication. Due Date: Paper submissions (up to 5,000 words) due June 1, 2016 Change is native to the world of Epeli Hau‘ofa’s “sea of islands,” where the ocean has historically connected people and served as a thoroughfare for the flow of resources, culture, and ideas. The Pacific is home to the richest linguistic diversity on our planet and yet many of the native languages of the region are under threat and many more have been lost. As the currents of colonization, globalization, and climate change carry Pacific people far beyond their homel

Babes for Trump

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I am eagerly awaiting the "Babes for Bernie" and "Hotties for Hillary" instagrams after seeing the "Babes for Trump" version. **************** "Dudes Launch 'Babes for Trump Instagram' to Elevate Women's Voices Jessica Samakow 3/29/16 Huffington Post http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/babes-for-trump-instagram_us_56f9c245e4b014d3fe23f8b8?cps=gravity_5059_-5927310011328744881 Women have strong political convictions; women have the right to vote. More importantly, though, women have boobs and butts. At first glance, you might gather that’s the message behind a growing Instagram account, “Babes For Trump” which proclaims to be, “Making America Great Again One Babe At A Time.” The account, that is run by men, houses dozens of images of conventionally-attractive women baring it all in the name of supporting Trump. The photos range from women covering their nipples with Trump stickers, to others where support for Trump

Tinanña Fina'tinas Chamorro

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Best of Okinawan Posts

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I have returned from yet another trip to Okinawa. This was my sixth trip there in five years. I have been there for conferences, symposiums, research trips and consultations. Although I have mainly spent time on the main island of Okinawa, in its southern densely populated area, last year I was fortunate enough to attend a conference in Ishigaki Island to the south. I have amassed quite a few posts about each trip, talking about the things I have witnesses and the things I have been told about. I even used interviews from some of my trips to create episodes for the Guam-based public radio program Beyond the Fence.  I am considering, re-posting some of my favorite posts from my trips. We'll see if I actually sit down to do this, or if it just remains a thought in my head. 

Merrick Garland

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Watching Republicans move into their latest form of obstructionism, over the refusal to have hearings for any nominee Obama offers to the US Supreme Court, has been frustrating. Watching them try to justify not considering Obama's nominee, who Republicans in the past have praised as being highly qualified, has been frustrating in a very satisfying way. It is a very strange dance, with so many movements and partners, who court each other one moment and then pretend not to know each other the next. Senate Republicans who are facing re-election appear to be more willing to compromise, whereas those not maintain the judicial nomination blockade. Obama picked someone which forces the hand of the GOP, and also heightens their worries about who might win the election in November. Both Trump and Clinton mean that any nominees offered next year, might be either more liberal, or more unreasonably and irrationally conservative. It will be interesting to see how this develops and what Republ

5 Bad Ass Japanese American Women

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5 Bad Ass Japanese American Women Activists You Probably Didn't Learn About in History Class Densho Blog by Nina Wallace March 15, 2016 Since history tends to sideline the central role so many women played in the major social movements of the 20th century, here’s a little herstory lesson about five women warriors whose incarceration during World War II inspired them to fight back–some more widely known than others, all supremely talented and fierce activists who nuh care if them hurt hurt hurting your stereotypes about quiet, submissive Asian women. 1. Aiko Herzig-Yoshinaga The redress movement owes a lot to Aiko Herzig-Yoshinaga. A hardworking single mom, after the war she resettled in New York, where she became assistant director of a public health organization providing, as she put it, “education about venereal diseases.” (They had to call it “social health” though, cuz, you know, think of the children!) In the 1960s, she joined

Rape in Okinawa

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I was in Okinawa last week, during which time a US Navy sailor was arrested and charged with the raping of a Japanese woman in a hotel in Naha, the capital city of the island. As violence against women has been one of the most significant rallying cries for opposition to the US bases in the island, I expected this issue to dominate most of my discussions as I met with dozens of demilitarization and decolonization activists. My previous trip to Okinawa (gi ma'pos na sakkan) coincided with the anniversary of the most famous rape case in recent Okinawan history, where in 1995 a 12 year old girl was brutalized three US servicemen. That incident spurned on an island-wide protest movement, where close to 100,000 gathered on one occasion. But this most recent case didn't penetrate the conversations I was in, as much as I had anticipated. It was broached, it was invoked, but few expressed rich outrage at it. Few made the broader connections, that I often witnessed in the past. I wond

Diagnosis Guinaiya

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Diagnosis Guinaiya by Michael Lujan Bevacqua I flip through the untouched yellowed pages of a phonebook where photographs of smirking physicians remind me that there is no cure for what I feel. Symptom 1, the itching, restless dancing of fingers hovering above a keyboard, agonizing over an email to you. When I glance away, they audaciously type, “tåya’ åmot para guinaiya.” I spend sleep-starved nights tabbing page after virtual page from malware infected medical sites, each of which is sponsored by the fact that there is no cure for what I am feeling right now. Symptom 2, my poor eye, crooked and scratched, sprained in its socket from straining to watch you from afar. As my eyes fail in frustration, the normally invisible detritus of the world’s afterglow mimes the plot of the most recent installment of my life, “Tåya’ åmot para guinaiya” I Whatsapp friends and foes photos of my symptom-sick form, hoping for some positive prognosis, but each

A Real Foreign Policy

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What is "foreign policy?" Does it simply refer to the relationships between nations? The policy frameworks through which some are treated as allies and others as enemies? Does it deal with the level of respect or trust that other nations are afforded? Foreign Policy is one of those elements that the media and the educated classes act like is critically important in terms of electing leaders. It is something that those more serious segments of society use to argue for the electability of certain candidates, such as Sarah Palin, Donald Trump or even George W. Bush. The sectors feel compelled to remind the American people as a whole about the seriousness of picking someone who does not only look within to serving the nation, but can also be relied upon to engage with the rest of the world. After all, no matter how large your country thinks it it, even if it is massive in terms of economy, population or land mass, the rest of the world remains. A country's for

Inacha'igen Fino' Chamoru News

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Makpo' un otro na Inacha'igen Fino' CHamoru. Desde 2013 hu ayuyuda umotganisa este na dinanna'. Lao gi este na såkkan, ti manayuda ha'. Hu ayuda gumiha i dinanna' yan un otro na ma'estron Chamoru, si Sinot Joey Franquez. Magof hu na munhayan, sa' gof makkat yan na'yayas este na cho'cho'. Lao gaibali lokkue'. Meggai umeyak gi este na biahi. Ya bai hu kililili mo'na i leksion-hu siha gi otro sakkan para i otro na Inacha'igen. *************** Hundreds Gather at UOG for Charter Day Activities by Roselle Romanes 3/10/16 Pacific News Center Charter Day is the largest public event at the University with nearly 5,000 people visiting the campus throughout the day.    Guam - The University of Guam celebrated their 48th Charter Day today with the theme of "Triton Spirit: One University, Many Voices". True to its name, from the many voices of the University, we learned a lot from Charter