NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

Put fin, tumunok Si Alberto Gonzalez. Kada na hu egga' TV put iyo-ña bolabola, nina’hasso yu’ ni este na kånta, kåntan Johnny Sablan. Kuanto na piniti, kuanto na dinagi… Para i meggaiña na taotao, esta munhåyan este na yinaoyao. Este i suetten i mampulitikåt, no? Yanggen manisao hao, tumunok ha’ ya tåya’ mutta, ti para un mapongle. Olaha mohon an manggai este lokkue hami ni’ ti mampulitikåt. Mungga maduda na ti umisao Si Alberto, meggai na lai Amerikånu yan tinaotao ha yamak. Put iyo-ña corruption, yanggen Chamorro gui’, ya sumasaga’ gui’ giya Guahan, siempre i PDN yan todu otro pau fanessalao “ñukot yan kana’ gui’!” Lao sa’ ti Chamorro gui’ ya macho’cho’cho’ giya i Mås Mutong na Sisonyan Corruption (Washington D.C.), ti pau mapacha, yap au eskapåyi siempre. Lao hu diseseha ha’ sinembåtgo. Hu diseseha ha na i Democrats para u mausuni mo’ña ya aligao mas. Hu diseseha lokkue’ na i Democrats para u mana’apåsi Si Alberto ni’ i dibi-ña. Siempre bai hu guife put i magågun mapresu na para...

Print these articles out and carry them with you to use for any discussions with Chamorros and people from Guam who believe that the United States military has the interests of Guam and its people first. These are some of the clearest and most direct examples I've seen in mainstream print so far, of what the relationship between the US military and Guam is. Not one based on love, loyalty or even the boundaries of citizenship. Its one based on military strategy and geographic location. These are excellent articles and I'm glad that they were covered in the Variety, because if they had been in the PDN , no doubt whoever was writing about it would probably try to use this memo to show how much things have changed, instead of tracing for readers, how very little has changed other than rhetoric. It is crucial that those interested in truth and justice on Guam, support an opening up and a grassroots growing of the media in Guam, and contesting the control that the PDN has over public...

Bunita yan taiparehu i tano’-hu, Guahan, ko’lo’lo’ña annai siña hu siesiente na para Guahu ha’ na mafa’tinas. Kada na biåhi na nina’falingu i inatan-hu ni’ i mikilot i langhet, este i sinieñte-ku. Bunita yan fotte i kinalamten i hinasso-ku siha, pi’ot annai manhuhuyong siha gi i pinentå-ku siha. Kao guaha un chagi kumolat i finette un påkyo’? Kada na mamenta yu’, este hu chachagi. Taiachaigua i kinute-ña i hagå-hu, kada na inatan yu’ as Guiya, hinasso-ku, hafa chine’gue-ku, para bei miresi este na milagro gi lina’la’-hu?

Mo’ña ki un taitai este na tinige’ ni’ hu past mågi, hasso este na pidasun finayi. “Anggen manggera i riku, mismo i mamopble ni’ manmatai.” Ya kontodu an esta munhåyan hao tumaitaitai este, hassuyi este na sinangan. Hasso gui’ kada na un taitai pat hungok put i manmamatai (Iraqi yan Amerikånu) giya Iraq. Hasso gui’ kada un taitai pat hungok put i tinilaika siha, ni’ pau fattogui Guahan put i mamta’ i militat. Hasso gui’ kada un li’e i dinestrosun i tano’-ta ya masilelebra gi i na’ån salåpe. Gi todu este, guaha noskuanus na taotao, ya guaha noskuantos na compañia, ni’ manmanma’titinas salåpe. Ya i tano’ yan i meggaiña na taotao, mannina’lalamen. Bula na botsa manmachuchuda’ put i geran Iraq. Ya guini giya Guahan, bula na kapeta pau fanpangpang put i finatton i mineggai na militat. Este na pidasun finayi impottånte sa’ u na’hasso hit put i pinilgro i humohokka’ salåpe yan riniku. Mungga ma hongge i dinagin i mamriku, ma fa’tinas i riniku-ñiha put i masahalom-ñiha ha’, ya ni’ hayi dumaño’...

A few years back, I have a section on my blog called Fun With Footnotes, where I would share some of the footnotes from some of my recent papers. The reason for this (for those who have never read one of my thesises or papers), is due to the fact that I often times have a tendency to choke a paper with footnotes, huge sprawling out of control ones. The reason I most often give for this frustrating habit, is that I come from an "American footnote." The idea of a footnote is an apt one for thinking about Guam's relationship to the United States. As a footnote, we are tiny, riding the margins, basically unimportant for the most part, but once in a while, we hold the key, or carry a secret of something. When I flood the text with footnotes, which can sometimes end up colonizing half of a page, I am doing so to upset the prevailing order of things, which says that the text is the center, the footnotes are the periphery. This is of course the same logis which governs Guam and ...

Gof yayas yu' på'go ya triste yu' didide', sa' ti åpmam bai hu dingu Guahan, ya bai hu dingu lokkue' i haggå-hu Si Sumåhi. Yanggen un atan i mata-ña yan i yommok na fasu-ña siha, siempre nina’triste hao lokkue, sa’ kulang taiachaigua kinute-ña.

I always feel very strange and honored to be one of those kids who come back home to Guam, and amongst all the errands and tasks that they are required to do for family members ( manyayabao, mañuñule’ åmot, manyeyettek, manhuhungok estoria siha put i tiempon åntes), I am also asked to write press releases. For those of you who don't know, my Grandfather, Tun Joaquin Flores Lujan (familian Bittot/Katson) is a bit of a celebrity on Guam, as he is the last traditional Chamorro blacksmith. I will post later I'm sure more details on what exactly this means, what tools he makes and what his many accomplishments are. For the moment however, Grandpa is finishing off year long grant with Guam Council on the Arts and Humanities Agency (CAHA) to train two students, one of whom is i che'lu-hu Si Kuri. In compiling his final report for CAHA Grandpa, wants to include some news coverage of his teaching and passing on this trade, and so he enlisted me in getting some news coverage for him...

Mampos yayas yu’ på’go, pues ti bei fanngge’ nuebu. Instead bai hu na’daña’ ya post, dos na tinige’-hu ginnen i ma’pos na summer. I na’an-ñiha este na dos, “ Why is the grass greener and the fences better painted on the military side of the fence ” yan “ From Invasion of Guam to Liberation of Guam .” An dumaña’, este na dos ma sasångan bula na impottånte na kosas put i asunton linibre yan Ha’ånin Linibre. Despensa put i yinayas-hu på’go, siempre bai hu fama’tinas nuebu na post agupa’. ********************************* Several years ago when I first began what I refer to as my "information activism" there was a Chamorro living in the states who would often email me and respond to the things I would in my zine, Minagahet. One of his statements which stayed with me and profoundly influenced the thesis in Micronesian Studies that I was writing at the time, dealt with the patriotism of our elders. In one piece I wrote about the colonial nature of the American rule of Guam prior to...

There's a possibility next year, that my master's thesis which I did in Micronesian Studies at the University of Guam a few years ago will be published into a book. With this in mind I've been reading over parts of it throughout the summer and both marvelling at how much work I did to complete that thesis, but also how stupid and lazy I could be at times. I think that the thesis will be an important contribution to the general community, even if the theoretical parts people have trouble understanding. The title itself however might intrigue, confuse and upset people, These May or May Not Be Americans: The Patriotic Myth and the Hijacking of Chamorro History in Guam. The basic question which my thesis was written around is, how did Chamorros who were for the most part indifferent to being Americans prior to World War II, become after World War II the super-patriots that we all know today? Through an analysis of pre-war education systems and a description about how the ways i...

Published on Thursday, August 16, 2007 by Democracy Now! Lost Worlds: Is Another World Possible? by Naomi Klein AMY GOODMAN from Democracy Now!: The State Department is coming under criticism this week for refusing to allow a prominent South African social scientist to enter the country. Adam Habib was scheduled to speak at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association in New York this past weekend, but the government refused to give him a visa. Ironically, the theme of this year’s sociology conference was “Is Another World Possible?” At the conference, the ASA planned a series of sessions to assess the potential for progressive social change both in the US and in the world and to invite a serious discussion of “economic globalization” and its consequences. One of the most highly anticipated sessions was to feature Jeffrey Sachs, an internationally known economist and a former special advisor to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, versus Naomi Klein, the Canadian journalist ...