NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

  My grandfather, the late Joaquin Flores Lujan or Tun Jack, dedicated half of his life to displaying, demonstrating and teaching about Chamoru blacksmithing. He taught more than a dozen apprentices and presented a hundreds of fairs and schools. He was recognized as a Master of Chamoru Culture for his dedication to the trade that he was taught by his father from the age of 9, and received many awards for his work in promoting it.   For years I would take grandpa to the Chamorro Village where he had a shop to display and sell his tools. He had on the walls photos, certificates, newspaper articles about himself. He also had tools from his father and examples of the tools a blacksmith uses and the stages different tools go through in their creation. He also had his many awards. On shelves and tables he had the several Governor's Art Awards, which later became the Maga'låhi Art Awards that he had received during the tenures of Governors Ada and Gutierrez.    For about 20...

I matai ha’ na taotao ti mangguiguife” or only a dead person does not dream. Not a common Chamoru wisdom saying, but one with profound meanings on two different levels. In the first, more practical way, everyone, from the richest, to the poorest, to the happiest, to the saddest, wants something more out of life. There may be dramatic differences, and what they want may be big or small. It may rip the fabric of social reality or do nothing more that create a minute ripple. Only those who have passed away are not capable of imagining themselves or the world differently. This saying is meant to nudge someone or remind them that the point of life is change, growth, evolution. That there will be plenty of time for the opposite in death. But the saying also holds extra, critical meaning for Chamorus people as a colonized people, where not just their lands, language and culture have been stolen or hijacked, but even their ability to dream for themselves or their people. Over centur...