NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

English is my mother tongue, in the sense that it is the language that I grew up with and speak most comfortably. It is my first language. It is however not my favorite language, not the best language and certainly not i mas takhilo' para Guahu. I am a non-native speaker of the Chamoru language as I learned to speak it when I was 20 years old. It is natural for me in some ways, but still unnatural in others, primarily when talking about things that are difficult in general to express in a Chamoru lexicon. This is not only something that I struggle with, but as the Chamoru language has become more and more limited in how and where it is used, many people find themselves constantly switching to English since a potential part of their conversation is something few people have actually used the Chamoru language to convey. What makes speaking, thinking and writing easier is if the topic fits easily within some existing framework or lexicon for carrying meaning. If that framework...

 If anyone knows how I can contact Rodrigue Levesque, please let me know.  He researched, translated and published the History of Micronesia series, which is an amazing set of primary source documents dealing with Micronesia. It is a collection of information that has yet to be fully incorporated into how we tell the history of our islands.  The books, when they were published were gof guaguan, very expensive, at least $100 each. But they were massive. When I was a graduate student at UOG, spending time at the University of Guam Micronesian Area Research Center, I loved reading through the lepblon Levesque siha.  They featured completely different perspectives from the traditional or canonical history of the Marianas, but using not just the official histories or accounts of events, but also letters by priests, government officials, soldiers and sailors, that he was able to collect in his research.  A few years ago Levesque finished his History of Micronesia seri...