NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

Sen tinanae' yu' gi este na simana put i Inachaigen Fino' CHamoru. Esta singko anos manayuyuda yu' gi este na dinana', komo hues yan organizer. Noskuantos anos tatte mannge' yu' column gi Marianas Variety put i hinasso-ku siha gi este na impottante na fina'pos. Antes di gera i Amerikanu siha ma sangani i Chamorro na ti magahet i lenguahin-miyu, maolekna na en yite'. Despues di i gera, i meggaina na Chamorro ma kombensan maisa siha na maolekna ma yute' ha' i lenguahin-niha ya ma fa'na'gue i famagu'on-niha Fino' Ingles. Gi 1970s esta ilek-niniha i linguists na kumekematai i Fino' Chamorro. Gi pa'go na tiempo meggai na taotao ilek-niniha na esta matai i Fino' Chamorro. Pues kada Matso, anai mandana' i estudianten Guahan yan i CNMI gi UOG para i Inachaigen Fino' CHamoru, hafa na lenguahi ma u'usa? Fino' Haya' pat Fino' Taya'? Sina ta sangan na un milagro este na kompetasion, ...

This would be a great idea to have in the Pacific. A conference that focuses on the remaining official colonies and the near colonies. Amongst the last colonies in the world there is sometimes discussion about solidarity work, but there are so few venues for it to form. So few mechanisms for it to actually be forged and sustained. The United Nations was for a long time one such space. On the internet the Overseas Territories Review run by Carlyle Corbin (featured in the image below) provides a wealth of information on all the world's remaining colonies. Part of the problem, and this is very true for Guam, is that as a colony we are conditioned to see the world through the eyes, the media, the history, the political possibilities of our colonizer. So if the colonizer connects us in some way, we accept and privilege that, but any other way seems outlandish or difficult. For instance, the peoples of Guam and American Samoa are more likely to see each other as American minoritie...

The issue of Okinawa can provide us an important example in terms of the power of media. The coverage of Okinawa, Guam, Diego Garica, Hawai'i and so many other places where the US has bases within the United States plays a significant role in whether or not the network of bases the US has is accepted or challenged. The media is not objective and not neutral, but always proposes certain accepted frames of reference which make the news easier to digest and create. In most countries in the world there is not an accepted assumption that the nation should have bases in every corner of the globe, but in the US there is. The media's coverage of that base as an accepted fact and acceptable part of American reality legitimizes it and also helps prevent people from understanding the legitimate protest movements build around those bases. In the case of Okinawa, we also see how the media will take on certain angles in order to protect the alleged greater interests of the country. Cho...

Matai Si Leonard Nimoy gi i ma'pos na sakkan. Put un sen dangkolu na nerd yu', gof pinacha i korason-hu nu i tinague-na. Guiya dumirihi i mas takhilo' yan mas guaiyayon na mubin Hinanaon Estreyas para Guahu, i mina'kuatro, The Voyage Home.

Last week I penned a column for the Pacific Daily News on the connection between Ha'anen Fino' Chamoru Ha', a challenge for increasing the amount of Chamorro that you speak for one day at the start of this month and FESTPAC, the largest cultural event in the Pacific. Guam will be hosting FESTPAC in 2016 and representatives from 27 different island will be traveling here to share their own heritage and learn more about what Chamorros have to offer the Pacific.  Each week the PDN is publishing a column on FESTPAC titled Saonao yan Eyak, encouraging people to support FESTPAC and help prepare this island to become the cultural center of the Pacific. My column focused on the need to bring the Chamorro language to a healthy state in order to help represent ourselves in a deeper way. The theme of the festival focuses on uniting our different voices of the Pacific. What kind of message do we send to the rest of the Pacific if the voice we use is English...

George Takei says Leonard Nimoy was 'the most human person I've ever met' by Stephan Lee Entertainment Weekly (Exclusive) Posted March 2 2015 — 2:17 PM EST George Takei worked closely with Leonard Nimoy as Sulu in the Star Trek series. EW  talked with the actor about his favorite memories of Nimoy and the brilliant actor - and friend - he remembers him to be. EW : What were your initial thoughts upon hearing about Leonard’s death? GEORGE TAKEI : He was a great man. I learned of his passing in a sad irony. We were in Boston just coming in from JFK now, but I learned at Logan Airport of Leonard’s passing—at his birthplace. It was almost a kind of a bookend. The place where he was born and to learn of his passing there.  I know that it’s a very difficult time for his wife Susan and his children, Adam particularly, who himself is a director now. A chip off the old block. I send my heartfelt condolences to them. What part did Leonard play in ...

Maolek na mensahi para pa'go na ha'ani.

Ha’anen Fino’ Chamoru Ha’ is just a few days away. I wrote about this in my column last week, but thought I would revisit it again for those who would like to learn more and hopefully participate.  Ha’anen Fino’ Chamoru Ha’ boils down to this: On March 1 st , those who accept this challenge are to spend the entire day only speaking Chamorro or if they are unable to, at least try to use as much Chamorro as possible, as much as they know or can. This challenge means that no matter who you are talking to or where you go on that day, Chamorro is the language that you will be using. If you are ordering food at Kings, do your best to order in Chamorro. If you are using your Whatsapp on that day, Whatsapp your circle of friends in Chamorro.  After we first announced this challenge, one excited participant, Charmaine West, who currently lives in Idaho created a Facebook page, on which 74 people have already signed up to try their best on Sunday....

At first I was going to put "revisionist history news" as the title for this post, but the more I thought about it, Japan and Germany, those villains of World War II, are cited the most frequently as being the most forgetful and the nations most likely to erase or whitewash their histories. This is a very seductive discursive proposition, because by focusing on the way other nations wish to hide their shameful violent and inhuman past, it can easily make you righteously oblivious to your own nation's terrifying past. The United States certainly shouldn't treat Japan as some terrible white-washer of history, especially when the United States itself is built on genocide and has several national holidays that perpetuate pathetic myths about the origin of the US, rather than acknowledging that genocidal genesis. ********************   Japanese crown prince says country must not rewrite history of WW2 Naruhito makes rare statement on importance of ‘correctly...

For the past year I have been assisting one of the men who fought the Japanese at Atate, Jose Mata Torres with the publication of his memoirs, “The Massacre at Atate.” Torres was a young man at the time who and wasn’t a main organizer for the attack but he said that he had never felt more inspired or exciting in his life, than to see the men from his village rise up and in order to defend their families and their lives, face off against their violent occupiers. On February 24th at 6:30 in the CLASS Lecture Hall at UOG, the book “Massacre at Atate” is being released. There will be a reading by Jose Torres and then a panel discussion afterwards. Please come and join us for this important step for Chamorro Studies, but also just the remembering of Chamorro history and in turn Chamorro possibility. As I come near to the end of this project it reminds me of something I posted earlier, last year titled "Three Massacres." It was originally posted on this blo...

Ilek-na na Si Rudy Giuliani na ti ha guaiya Si Obama Amerika. Ai adai. Mas put patida este na sinangan kinu minagahet. Parerehu Si Obama yan todu i otro siha na presidenten Amerikanu. Manhongge gi put Amerika na uniku gui', na mas takhilo' gui' kinu todu i otro nasion siha. Lao Presidente Obama mas ti sesso ha puni i isaon Amerika pat i West, lao manhohongge ha' put i uniku-na i US. Gi fino' Ingles ma fa'na'an este "exceptionalism." Gi este na isao i bida-na i US sasahnge yan i bidan-niha todu i otro na nasion siha. Anggen manhatme i US otro tano', sahnge este yan otro na hinatme ginen otro na nasion. Si Rudy Giuliani ha sen hongge este. Anggen i US chumo'gue maolek ha', lao i otro ahe', cha'-niha. Si Obama ha hongge este lokkue', lao i sinangan-na mas mesklao, mas lebok. Ha admite na ti perfekto i US, ti taiisao, lao ha sapopote ha' sinembatgo ayu na hinasso na sina ha cho'gue maseha hafa malago'-na. *******...

BOOK LAUNCH AND BOOK SIGNING “The Massacre at Atate” by Jose M. Torres This memoir tells the story of the courageous people of the village of Malesso’, who under Japanese occupation, fought and killed their captors, and liberated themselves. Published by the Micronesia Area Research Center Thursday February 26, 2015 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm UOG CLASS Lecture Hall The evening will feature a reading by the author, a panel discussion about the events in Malesso’ during World War II and a chance to meet the author and buy copies of the book. Refreshments will be provided. For more information contact Professor Michael Lujan Bevacqua At 735-2800 or mlbasquiat@hotmail.com

I've had a Youtube account for many years now, I think 8 or 9, lao ti siguru yu'. I didn't post many videos for a while, and I'm not sure why, perhaps because I got a better camera a few years ago and with the not that great internet in the various apartments I've lived in, it takes several hours to post videos nowadays. I recently started publishing videos again, after starting a number of video projects and being inspired to engage in this media form. My Youtube videos are frequently shaking and suffer from very bad audio and never edited in anyway. But still they can provide an interesting view into certain events on island and elsewhere. Every once in a while I get a message from someone who couldn't be at an event or who was looking for information on something that has happened in Guam and they thank me for my shaky almost avant garde looking movie. Here are some recent videos that I've posted. A video from the 2011 Inachaigen Fino' CHamor...

Ha'anen Fino' Chamoru Ha' by Michael Lujan Bevacqua Marianas Variety 2/18/15 A constant question in my life, something that I am always considering and pondering and people around me always bring to me seeking answers is, “How can we save the Chamorro language?” Students ask me in class. Elders ask me in line at the grocery store. Random people come up to me at the mall and ask me. Last week someone started talking to me about it while we were at urinals next to each other. People are always seeking big ideas or fantastic innovations. They want to hear about plans involving Rosetta stone or language apps or TECH talks or fancy new curriculum created by people with shiny degrees or ancient words that reveal the true nature of Chamorro cosmology. These are all cool ideas but saving the language can be so much easier and simpler than all that. All we need to do to save Chamorro is that those who know the language use it with those who don’t and those who don’t know how t...