NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

 Earlier this year, for the website I Sakman I Fino'-ta , I began writing a semi-weekly creative story in the Chamoru language. I've always wanted to try writing a romance story in Chamoru, and this was my first mixed attempt at doing so. I have enjoyed it, but I've found myself struggling with how I've read hundreds of romance stories in English, but none in Chamoru and this affects everything from the plot, to the metaphors, to the culture involved. It has been a struggle at times gi minagahet. I am up to part 11 at present. Head to the site itself to read them all as well as articles in Chamoru from a wide variety of speakers/writers. But for now, here is the first installment. ******************* HACHA   “Nobia kahulo’ Ya fa’gåsi i matå-mu Sa’ u fåtto i nobio-mu Ya lini’e’ ni churå-mu”   Ginen i mames na guinife-ña, si Maria ha hungok este na kånta gi bos nanå-ña.   Gi guinife-ña, umasodda’ siha yan i guinaiyå-ña gi halom un g...

  Last month, Tun Adriano Baza Pangelinan, a pioneering Chamoru artist and former professor at UOG passed away. I met Tun Adriano many times over the years, primarily when I was an art major at UOG. Tun Adriano was always an intimidating figure. My art professors such as the late Joe Babauta and Ric Castro, were both confident and outspoken, but became very circumspect and respectful when Tun Adriano was around. He wasn't the first Chamoru to paint or draw in a modern sense, but he was one of the first Chamoru artists to blend artistic styles from famous European movements like Fauvism and Impressionism with local culture and life. That blending and refusal to accept binary choices was pioneering. It wasn't too long ago that Chamorus felt that in order to achieve anything in life they need to give up their culture, their heritage, their island. This was part of how the United States entered into Guam, filling the island with demoralizing ideas in that wha...

My testimony give last week to the United Nations Committee of 24 Regional Seminar on Decolonization held in St. Lucia. ***************** A Growing Foundation, but still an Uncertain Future for Guam’s Quest for Decolonization Michael Lujan Bevacqua, Ph.D. Co-Chair, Independent Guåhan Curator, Guam Museum   Si Yu’os Ma’åse na makombibida yu’ mågi ta’lo para bai hu saonao gi este matua na dinanña’. Gi tinestigu-hu på’go, bai hu sangåni hamyo put i halacha na hiniyong gi islå-ku yan i kinalamten-måmi para in gi’ot i direchon-måmi komo taotao.    Your Excellency Chairwoman Keisha McGuire, distinguished delegates, representatives and experts from fellow Non-Self-Governing Territories, I am honored to be here again speaking before you on the topic of Guam and its continuing quest for decolonization. I also want to thank the government and people of Saint Lucia for hosting us on their beautiful island.    In my statements today, I want to provide updates on important w...

  From 2014-2015 I spent a year in Atåte in the village of Malesso’. Not in a physical sense mind you, but in an intellectual and scholarly sense. During that time I was a professor in the Chamorro Studies Program at the University of Guam, and I worked with the late Jose Måta Torres to publish his memoirs “Massacre at Atåte” through the University of Guam. I was so thankful that we were able to see his book to completion in 2015, as he would pass away later that year.   In addition to being the memoirs of a young man, coming of age in Japanese-occupied Guam, the book also provides a first-hand account of the uprising of the people from Malesso'. After the people of the village learned that the Japanese had attempted to massacre 60 of their friends and family at Tinta and Faha, most felt that it is only a matter of time before the rest were slaughtered. On the eve of the US invasion, a group of men led by Jose "Tonko" Reyes, surprised the Japanese, killing most of them an...

George Estaquio has written letters to the editor of the Pacific Daily News for quite a few years.  I don't always agree with what he writes, but I welcome his perspective. Estaquio is one of the last few of his generation of Chamoru leaders. He was born prior to World War II and came of age during he Japanese occupation of Guam. He attended college in the US and then returned to Guam to work with the local government.  He was part of that postwar generation that saw their island and people worthy of something more than just the handouts from Uncle Sam. They were patriotic to Uncle Sam and didn't want to step outside or beyond his borders, but this didn't stop them from asserting that Guam should be treated better.  If the conditions had been different, they might have imagined something more than being just a territory of the US, but we are all limited and constricted by the prevailing historical context of our time.  Estaquio went on to work as the Chief of Staff f...

I came across this protest sign in the archives of the Nieves Flores Guam Public Library in Hagåtña, while doing research on Guam's two previous Constitutional Conventions (1969-70 and 1977). Written in Chamoru, it translates to "I don't want the constitution."   A few months ago for Fanchu! I spoke to former Senator Hope Cristobal who was part of the campaign to defeat the draft constitution in 1979. The notable figures who organized against the constitution include Robert Underwood, Marilyn Manibusan, the late Tony Leon Guerrero, the late Tan Clotilde Gould, Rosa Palomo, and the late Dr. Benit Dungca. As Underwood writes in his wonderful article "Dies Mitt: The Origin and End of Chamrro Self-Determination," the constitutional opponents "coalesced around the billboard “Munga ma’apreba i konstetusion ya ta mantieni i derecho-ta komo taotao Guam. Bota NO!” In English, this read “do no approve the constitution and maintain our rights as the people of Guam...

One of the most fascinating figures from 20th century Guam History for me remains Francisco Baza Leon Guerrero or Kiko Zoilo. One day I hope to write something or create something that can show the breadth of his accomplishments and advocacy, at a time when most Chamorus did not feel comfort being critical about the US as their colonizer. He was a political figure before and after the war. One of the founders of the Young Mens League of Guam. The Father or the Organic Act and even a Speaker of the Guam Legislature.  For Independent Guåhan, I prepared some quotes from him and about him, that were used when we honored him as Maga'taotao for one of our General Assemblies. I wanted to share them here, for those looking for a place to start in understanding this important figure (that is largely unknown for most people today). ****************   “He was a great believed in the democratic way of life and freedom of action. He wouldn’t kowtow to anyone, no matter what ...

  In 2018, our island community was re-introduced to a place called Magua', located behind US military fences on what is today known as NCTAMS (Naval Computer and Telecommunications Station Guam). This re-introduction was bittersweet however, since it also was coupled with the news that the remnants of the area had been destroyed by construction for the US military buildup. Since that time however, more and more information has been unearthed about the CHamorus who once lived in Magua', from ancient settlements up until those displaced by the post-World War II US military land-takings. These revelations indicate that Magua' and its destruction may represent a failure on behalf of federal and local governments to protect Guam's cultural and historic sites. For the first HITA Talk of 2022, author, veteran and advocate for environmental and cultural preservation on Guam Dave Lotz will be presenting "Searching for the People of Magua'," on Thursday (2/24) from...

Since Maga'låhi Kepuha from Hagåtña is the most famous of all Chamorus from ancient times, I get asked about him more than any other figure from that time.  Here are the questions and some answers I gave to a Guam History student recently, who wanted to know more about his legacy as a leader.  ***********************  What made Chief Kepuha a great leader?   Given the time that he lived, you could argue that Kepuha was a great leader because he could better see into the future in terms of how the Spanish would become the new dominant power on Guam, and so being as close and as helpful to them as possible would ensure that his family would benefit the most despite some massive changes. Nearly all Chamorus wanted to trade with the Spanish, but this did not mean that they wanted them to stay in their houses. Or that they wanted them to stay on the island permanently. Kepuha’s claim to fame was that he, was more open to letting them stay personally, even taking responsib...

My time with Lulai Lumuhu is filled with dancing and singing. Desiree always said that she would pay attention to my voice while she was in the womb. When she heard others, like Sumåhi and Akli'e' she would kick and move. But when I was speaking to her she would stop and listen. Ti siguguro yu' esta på'go, kao este kumekeilekña na ya-ña i bos-hu pat ti ya-ña i bos-hu. Kao ha respepeta yu', pat kao inespåpanta? I try as much as possible to sing Chamoru songs to her, knowing that she'll hear English and other songs from just about everywhere else, she'll be hearing Chamoru from me. The song that soothes her the most is "I Puti'on." Akli'e' and I do a nice duet of the song for her to help calm her when she is cranky. Over the years I've collected several dozen Chamoru children's songs from before World War II, many of which are fragments. Songs then were different then the way we think about them now. People took tunes they liked a...

After finishing up an online  lecture  series last week for the Guam Museum and the cultural diasporic group Håle' Para Agupa', one of the attendees in zoom asked me where I get all this information from, is it in books, are there movies or documentaries. I responded that there are a fair amount of books out there and some documentaries, especially if you are looking for World War II history in Guam. There are many more books out there than in the past, and what is nice is that more of them are written by Chamorus or at least people who have ties to Guam, but who may not be ethnically Chamoru.  I do my best to read whatever I can out there that is connected to Guam, to the Marianas and to Chamoru issues in anyway, and this doesn't only mean things formally published. I enjoy going through documents, archives, newspaper and magazine articles, transcripts from interviews that others have conducted. But one great source of in...