NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

Suette Yu’ Tumotohge gi me’nan i fanhalum’an i ante-ku Mames i linamlamlam i magagu-ña I pekkåt-ña siha muna’fakmåta yu’ Ya i gaige-ña muna’figan gi sanhalom-hu Un ti chaguayan na guafi Anai humålom gui’ Ya ha faloffåni yu’ Malingu i tano’ gi papa’-hu Sa’ ha guaiya yu’ Achokka’ ti må’gas yan matua yu’ Tåya’ lulok oru na potseras para i kannai-ña Ya i dibi-hu taihinekkok Ha atanñaihon yu’ gi hinanao-ña Ya ha chatgeñaihon yu’ Ya hu li’e’ i semnak uma’atok gi chinalek-ña

After the Cold War ended, conservative philosopher/political theorist Francis Fukuyama penned an argument about "the End of History." His basic thoughts boiled down to the idea that with the United States victorious in the Cold War, and with Communism and Marxist thought and governments disappearing, the dialectics of history were over. The United States would never have another worthy antagonist, who could challenge it, and that liberal democratic capitalistic ideas would become the norm and nothing viable could ever appear again beyond it. There are many ways that we can see some truth to this argument. Very few people would ever openly argue nowadays that democracy isn’t the best possible for of political government. Capitalism appears to be the happy norm, after all, who could openly argue against the making of money and spreading of wealth? Whereas technology seems to constantly shifting and changing, making previously unthinkable things feel very ...

Isa, the kids and I watched Ben-Hur over the weekend. Isa and I had watched parts of it before, but never sat down to experiences its 200+ minutes of epic drama. The kids found it boring for the most part, but the scenes in the slave ship and of course the chariot race, got them very interested and excited. Akli'e' found it particularly difficult to follow, as so many scenes would feature dramatic music in the background and characters looking pained off into space. The tension and emotional complexity was completely lost on the poor boy. Sumahi tends to enjoy movies based on a formula that boils down to "How many animals are in this movie?" and the hope that there be more animals visible than humans in this film. For both Isa and I, we were watching the film with a variety of things in mind. We've been trying to watch more "great" films and then work to analyze the camerawork, the acting, the effects, the writing and other logistics that create a fant...

“Trump and Consequences” by Michael Lujan Bevacqua The Guam Daily Post March 30, 2016 There’s a Chamorro saying, comes in different forms, but follows this basic logic, “ an esta masångan, mappot pumañot tåtte .” Once something has been said, it’s difficult to swallow back. This applies to what parents say to their children. What friends say to each other. What people post on their Facebook or Instagram. It is a simple reminder, that while it is easy to spit whatever nonsense comes into your mind at any given moment, the ease with which it is verbalized, is in direct contrast to how impossible it may be to rid the world of it. Nowhere is this more true than for politicians. There is an amazing process in which lifetimes of public service, legacies of accomplishment are reduced to gaffes, or mistakes or slips of the tongue. You must always be vigilante about what you say, because once it leaves your mouth, it belongs to the world, and it can be used to elevate you higher...

In the United States and its territories, it is common to look at other places, in particular Europe and lament the way racist and xenophobic political parties have emerged, which sometimes achieve a relatively significant amount of power and legitimacy. When viewing them from a distance, it is easy to critique them as being out of touch in a world with nice things such as tolerance, diversity, multiculturalism. But such positioning too often allows the exact same problems, the same contradictions, the same nasty hatred and evil to go unanalyzed or unexamined. In Chamorro there are a variety of ways of calling this out and challenging such simple forgetfulness. Cha'-mu tumoto'la hulo'. Saosao i mata-mu antes di un sangan put i inaplacha' i otro. Trump's presidential primary insurgency has kicked things that have been developing for decades into hyper-drive. The Republican party has been feeding off of white anger and loathing for quite a while now, Fox News , wi...

Ya-hu i titilu-ña este na tinige' gaseta. Put fabot, kao siña ma sotta i islan Pagan? Sen gefpå'go ayu na lugåt. Esta meggai na lugåt gi hilo' tåno' mandinestrosa ni' fina'militåt. Kontodu meggai na lugåt giya Guahan yan gi otro isla siha gi kadenå–ta. Atan i isla mafa'na'an FDM. Esta i meggaiña na Chamorro manmaleffa nu ayu na lugåt. I mañasaga guihi på'go i bomba yan i paluma siha. **************** “Leave Pagan Alone” by Cherri Anne E. Villahermosa Marianas Variety April 8. 2015 NORTHERN Islands Mayor Jerome Aldan’s message to the military is to “pack up and leave Pagan alone.”  Aldan was among the public officials who were in the House chamber yesterday to hear what the representatives of the Marine Corps Forces Pacific had to say during a meeting that lasted for more than three hours. Aldan in an interview said he has not changed his position and is still opposed to the proposed use of Paga...

This is a pretty good interview with Nicholas Kristof, discussing race, inequality, privilege and the inability to perceive that privilege among white people in the United States. Comedian Bill Maher recently made a joke, that the idea of white Christians being an oppressed group today, which is being attacked on all sides, is bewildering, because there are no articles and videos of white pastors and priests being brutally attacked and sometimes killed by cops with itchy trigger fingers. Privilege comes in so many forms, and part of its power and the reason it is so difficult to give up, is because as a regime of knowledge and power, it comes equipped with ways of projecting blame elsewhere, or doing everything possible to justify and mystify it, even to the point of taking ludicrous positions that in any other context, you would see as being shameful and embarrassing. It is easy to not realize the ways in which the color of your skin privileges and protects a person, at so many diff...