NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

One of the most comprehensive pieces written about Chamorros and the complexity and everyday violence of their struggles today. Its long, but worth the read. ********************** War Stories and the Chamorus: journalism and militarization on the tip of the spear. By Beau Hodai Special to News From Indian Country July 2009 It was a typical day in the jungle, though more overcast than the constant island diet of endless blue skies and fluffy white clouds; humid-- drizzling rain that would materialize from the sticky mist in the air, a breeze stirring through breadfruit and banana leaves. I was at the family home of Navy Hospital Corpsman Second Class Anthony Carbullido, Jr., whom the Department of Defense had recently listed among the dead to be routed back from Afghanistan to Guam through Dover, Delaware-- the victim of an improvised explosive device. Family and friends of the corpsman were seated in rows of folding chairs under a glowing green fiberglass awning reciting the rosary, “...

With some of the stress of the writing and defending a dissertation over now, I can finally enjoy the breaths that I take and try to relax a little bit. As some might be familiar with on this blog, one of the ways that I relax is by writing songs or poems in Chamorro, or translating lyrics from songs into Chamorro. The past month while I’ve been furiously writing my dissertation was the longest period of time since 2000 that I went without opening up my Chamorro dictionary. As I’ve been shut away in my computer for so long, and without doing much talking, thinking or writing in Chamorro, I’ve actually felt at times the language fading from my head. That’s why it was exciting recently, after defending my dissertation, to finally open up the dictionary again and start work on translating another song. This post is the fourth installment of a feature that I call Sakigakke Chamorro! In this feature I take a song from a Japanese anime and translate it into Chamorro. The translation is neve...

Some pictures of the preparations for the May 23rd, Reclaim Guahan Rally which took place at Skinner's Plaza in Hagatna . Tomorrow I'll post some pictures of the rally itself, it was quite an event. Despensa na gof atrasao yu' gi este.

Ilek-ña Si David Letterman: “President Obama is in Russia, and we know this because Sarah Palin can see him from her house.” Ma anounsia gi i ma’pos na simåna, na para u tunok Si Palin ginnen i Ofisinan Gubetnon Alaska, achokka’ guaha noskuantos na sakkan tetehnan esta ki makpo’ iyo-ña term. Meggai mandiskukuti gi este na simåna “sa’ hafa?” Kao esta para u ma pongle gi kalabosu? Kao ha cho’cho’gue este para u riku? Kao esta ha na’lilisto maisa gui’ para u falågu para i Ofisinan Presidente gi 2012? Kao ha cho’cho’gue este para i familia-ña? Hekkua’, lao siguru yu’ na ti para u mafñas Si Palin. Teneki esta i tiguang-ta siha, ma planeneha na para u paseha gi todu i states gi lagu, kosåki siña matungo’ gui’ mas ya siña ha tungo’ mas put todu i rinkon Amerika. Gof na’chalek na taotao Si Palin, ya gof impottante i pachot-ña para diferentes na klasin taotao Amerika siha. Para i mangconservatives, ya-ñiha gui’ sa’ i kuentos-ña kalang le’yok pat fino’ tåtte (hekkua’ hafa otro na palabra gi fino...

I successfully defended my dissertation last month and even walked in my graduation ceremony a few weeks ago. But despite both of these dongkalu na gestures of closure to my life as a student, I still have at least one hurdle left before I can say that I've truly moved on and that hokkok umestudiante-ku. I've got some revisions to work on for my dissertation, they aren't alot, but I do have a few mental blocks that are keeping me from completing them. To sum up a much longer and more interesting story, my dissertation is, to put it kindly, unconventional, and so I have to go through a number of different steps in order to explain why this unconventional approach is both useful and necessary. So for instance, the usual way that you would talk about sovereignty, is to provide a history of the topic, and name a few famous theorists or scholars whose theories or versions of sovereignty you'll be using over the course of your dissertation. I don't do this, and I have my ...

Earlier this year a group of UOG students started a group called Apathy is Easy. They have a blog titled Do You Care and right now they are looking for submissions . Here's an excerpt the post seeking submissions: For those who have been keeping up with this blog and our budding group "Apathy Is Easy", let us all Thank you for the support and participation. Now, onto business. Our purpose is to provide a forum, a forum for those who have no voice, for those who cower in the shadows as their purpose and intent become blurred. We challenge you, all, the world to show these issues that there are people in the world that care enough about them to defend them. We give a place for these issues to be expressed, to be free of judgment and harsh criticism. So, what are you waiting for? Write, Recite, Draw, Paint, Sketch, Produce a video, Make music, anything that shows YOU out there, CARE. We are asking for submissions, submissions that demonstrate that you actually care about som...

The first comes from President Barack Obama. Teneki ilelek-ña bula put taimanu debi di ta fatta este na espiritun Amerikånu. Debi di ta silebra este na uniku na espiritu, ginnen i manaåpa'ka na manmofo'na Amerikånu. Siempre para fañångan put i manmumu na sindålu siha, ya debi di ta hassuyi siha yan i che’chon-ñiha. Este na katta, dipotsi put “manhahasso.” Si Obama ha sohsohyo’ hit na para ta gof hasso på’go put hafa impottånte, hafa gaibali. ********************** Michael -- This weekend, our family will join millions of others in celebrating America. We will enjoy the glow of fireworks, the taste of barbeque, and the company of good friends. As we all celebrate this weekend, let's also remember the remarkable story that led to this day. Two hundred and thirty-three years ago, our nation was born when a courageous group of patriots pledged their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor to the proposition that all of us were created equal. Our country began as a unique experiment ...

A very personal post today, so I hope you'll forgive me. I’m at the very end of a big phase of my life. I’m all but finished with my Ph.D. program, I graduated, I defended As I stand here though, where the future looks like a frightening bleak expanse, which I can only jump into, and the past is a welcoming mass of things all radiating nostalgia, both in good and bad sense. First as things which I no longer cherish, but wish I could and others which I have left behind and wish I didn’t. Whenever we come to a point such as this, we wish desperately that we could sift through that old life, like a family searching through an already burning house for the things that are most precious, and pack a suitcase to carry them with us. But you know that you can’t do that. Some if not most of that old life will be waiting for you at the bottom of the cliff. It will appear brand new at first, but then begin to signify the same familiarity. What scares us the most about this situation, this tran...

The first story deals with the Joint Guam Program Office (JGPO) which is the group in charge of organizing and publicizing the transfer of Marines from Okinawa to Guam over the next few years. This story came out several months ago, and dealt with JGPO allegedly cutting off all media access to the Marianas Variety (most prominently to the Guam Industry Forum III ) . The stated reasons was due to repeated inaccuracies in their reporting and taking press releases and other documents from JGPO and publishing them out of context. The Marianas Variety made a big deal (as they should) about being "banned" from access to the event and possibly to military information about Guam, although by the next day everything seemed to be in order again and the ban or censorship issue was quietly dropped by just about everyone. A JGPO or a military ban on the Marianas Variety is to be expected. Whereas the Variety's main competition on Guam The Pacific Daily News considers itself to be a ...