NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

Hekkua' hafa bei post pa'go. Taya' gi hinasso-ku fuera di na gof mahalang yu' nu i tano'-hu. Ai adai, ti ya-hu i lina'la' guini. I kistumbre, ti ya-hu. Sa' debi di bai individual guini, ya ga'na'-ku an gi linahayan. Mankinenne' todu guini ni' inindividual, lao ti magahet yan ti anggokuyon. Gi este na lina'la' debi di ta na'chilong i sinienten ininu yan linahayan. Yanggen un aguguiyi unu ni' i etro, siempre pon na'basnak todu.

Un otro na tinige' Si Naomi Klein... Kerry and the Gift of Impunity by Naomi Klein Iconic images inspire love and hate, and so it is with the photograph of James Blake Miller, the 20-year-old Marine from Appalachia who has been christened "the face of Falluja" by prowar pundits and "The Marlboro Man" by pretty much everyone else. Reprinted in more than a hundred newspapers, the Los Angeles Times photograph shows Miller "after more than twelve hours of nearly nonstop deadly combat" in Falluja, his face coated in war paint, a bloody scratch on his nose, and a freshly lit cigarette hanging from his lips. Gazing lovingly at Miller, Dan Rather confessed that, "for me, this is personal.... This is a warrior with his eyes on the far horizon, scanning for danger. See it, study it, absorb it. Think about it. Then take a deep breath of pride. And if your eyes don't dampen, you're a better man or woman than I." A few days later, the LA...

Chamorro jokes and jokes from other islanders/peoples in the Pacific. Some of them are messed up, others of them are hysterical. http://pacifictimes.tripod.com/jokes.htm

from the Pacific Daily News Thursday, November 9, 2000 Status change lacks legs to stand on. by Charles Troutman I am not surprised that our political leadership is not leading the way toward status change. There is nothing to which they, or any other group, can lead us. No one seems to have a publicly accepted philosophy of government sufficient to support a status change and certainly none that is internal to Guam. The right to self-determination is generated by the United Nations Charter, to which the United States adheres when it is convenient. Our discussions over commonwealth status have made it abundantly clear that the United States, despite Guam's problems, finds it inconvenient to recognize anything but the status quo. No one has suggested, apart from commonwealth and statehood, just what our new government would look like. Compare that to the 13 colonies before and during the American Revolution. They possessed the three pillars -- or stool legs -- necess...

From http://www.commondreams.org Why is this assertion ridiculous? Why is it insane that we hold US troops and leaders to the legal standards which others such as Saddam Hussein, Milosovich, Agusto Pinochet are being held? If the United States is truly interested in spreading democracy and equality before the law and before humanity, then shouldn't it begin by signing international law treaties? Which would make all nations the same before the law? Ask someone who disagrees with this to explain why, and they won't have much to say except that its "ridiculous." Wednesday, November 17, 2004 - 12:30pm by Russell Mokhiber Mokhiber: Kofi Annan in September said that the Iraq war is an illegal war. If it is an illegal war, then the 100,000 who have died there – according to the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health – are victims of war crimes. Now, the President is going to Canada later this year. And the largest circulation newspaper in Canada (the Toronto Sta...

Ai gof fotte este na kachido', lao ti siguru' yu' na bai hu hulat umeksplika gui' gi fino' Chamorro. Egga' i kachido' "love me if you dare," (mismo gi fino' Frances). Pau fina'nu'i hao na gof tahdong yan gof kaduku guinaiya. Meggai i manera na sina humuyong, lao todu dipotsi tahdong. Impottante na ta espiha i tinahdong na siniente, enlugat di i inannok na sinangan. Mungga ma hongge ha' an guaha ni' sumangan "hu guaiya hao," atan para i kinalamten ni' sumangan "guinaiya" pat muna'siente hao i tinahdong-na nu Hagu. Impottante i tinahdong, sa' gof piligro guinaiya. An un bense hao na mangguaiya hao, debi di un baba hao todu, yan babayi gui' (nu i taotao ni' un guaiya) ni' Hinagu (todu ni' Hagu). Gof piligro este, sa' achokka' sina un siente na gof tahdong ni' inasinienten-miyu, taya' siniguru esta ki umatoktok hamyo yan umunu i hinasson-miyu.

Kao linemlem hamyo ni' i matulaika-na Guahan? Estaba mangof banidosu hit put i minangge' i kutturan Chamorro giya Guahan, sa' gof geftao, ya pues taya' ni' taiguma'. Lao sigun i PDN, matulaika todu, ya sigi ha' mamta i manaiguma' giya Guahan. Hayi ta sukne put este? Hita? Sa' ti ta dalalalaki yan o'osge i kistimbren i manaina-ta? Achokka' hunggan matulaika i Chamorro pa'go, sa' manggof geftaotao siha kalang i antes na tiempo, isaon i United States este. Desde ma na'dokko i sisteman gubetnamento yan lina'la' guini, manninahulo'guan todu este na problema siha. Achokka' dipotsi na manchilong (manequal) todu gi i sisteman US hun, ti magahet ayu. Mas maolek siempre nai i hinasson Chamorro i sisteman hinasso-ta. Lao desde ta aksepta i nina'in i US, manmatulaika hit taiguini, ya pa'go bula mannaiguma' yan manmasa'pet giya Guahan. Yanggen malago hit ta fa'maolek este, debi di ta na'la'l...

I just finished watching "The United States of Leland" a pretty good movie, but not in the conventional sense. Its not a feel good movie, if you are looking for pre-packaged morality. This film explores how the way we traditionally think about things being right/wrong, or what can be considered an acceptable or believable cause for something are so limiting, and can't really explain things, both large and small. When we search for a specific cause for something which has happened, how does that prevent us from understanding anything at all? When looking for something which will align itself with our existing beliefs and proofs, what do we miss? We can we not see in that blind spot that is ourselves? Anyways, here are the lyrics from a song from the film titled "Undone" by Imperial Teen. When you hear the song, and listen to the lyrics you can definitely feel as though the artists and the filmakers have stumbled across something they probably didn't mea...

For those of you interesting in the massive evidence that there was fraud in this election, there are several liberal sites out there which are dilligently keeping track of what the mainstream media has decided to ignore. These investigations might not change the election, but they might yield some damaging indictments or cases against certain Republicans, such as the Secretary of States in Florida or Ohio, who were obviously making partisan moves prior to the election. Sties which can tell you more are: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com http://www.democraticunderground.com http://www.boboharris.com http://www.commondreams.org http://www.alternet.org http://www.dailykos.com Also, we should all be grateful to the Green Party for forcing a recount of the votes in Ohio. It seems nowadays that only people like Ralph Nader, John Anderson, the Greens and others know what democracy is supposed to be about.

American dreams...that seems to the be most significant problem of consciousness and identity in our people right now. This emphasis on attaining the American dream, which of course ends up Americanizing their own dreams. "If you are caught in the dream of another, then you are lost." Our people have become obsessed with American dreams, and actively work to trap and tangle themselves in them. The problems with these dreams is that they dictate the ways in which we think and act, and believe about ourselves. I attended a presentation by a lady who has collected three volumes of interviews with Pacific Islanders, titled "Pacific Islanders Talk Story." It is all about the ways in which Pacific Islanders deal with being invisible or tiny in big bad America. She discussed how we as Pacific Islanders need to work harder to achieve the American dream. How we need to figure out what in our culture is holding us back, or what doesn't let us succeed in America. My que...

There is a Pacific Islander Education conference this weekend at CSU Long Beach, I'll presenting there about Pacific Islanders in higher education with i kayu-hu Si Mike Perez from CSU Fullerton and Soledad Santos from Evergreen College in San Jose. If you can make it, please try, its a great opprotunity to discuss issues and make plans for the future.

Ai adai, guaha na hu post guini, lao ma'pos nai hu "load" gui' gi halom i computer. Ya apmam na tiempo maloffan desde hu post este, pues esta maleffa yu' hafa mismo i pinest-hu! Despensa yu'...

I'm looking for any Chamorus or Chamorros out there with blogs who want to link to mine. As you can see down on the right, I have a section for blogs I feel people should check out. So far there's only one there from Guam, but I'd like to find more out there, especially from people who are as concerned about the future of the Chamorro people as I am.

For those needing a little pick me up/ cheer me up, here's 9 reasons why we Chamorros, as a colonized people should be happy that Bush won! (na'on fan iyo-mu sense of humor antes di un tutuhun tumaitai este, sa' gi minagahet mampos tinemba yan triniste yu' put i manggana-na Si Bush. Lao hinasso-ku na maolekna an hu hatme gui' ni' nina'chalek enlugat di fino' chatli'e. Gi este bai hu fa'nu'i i binaba yan i dimalas ni' mamaila ni' nina'chalek.) 1. Whenever Bush speaks about Chamorros or Guam, we'll have new lexical identifiers! Get ready! Liberation Day 2005, we'll be the Guamorro people! Liberation Day 2006, we'll be the Chaumerican people! And who knows what Bush's badly damaged brain has in store for us in 2007? Guaminese? Chamorrainian? MINAGOF SIEMPRE! 2. George Bush in 2000 said that he against status changes for any of the US colonies. Well that's good, because think of all the money we'll save by not ...

For those with some extra money on them, please notice the donation button to the right of this post. Feel free to donate any amount, and take comfort in knowing that your money will go to help this struggling, starving college student buy food, books or gas. Put fabot fan, na'i yu' fan ni' limosna. Ti gefsaga' yu' desde matto yu' gi lagu, yan todu manguaguan guini, sa' taya' familia-ku, pues Guahu ha' fumahani yu' ni' gas! Ai na'ma'ase todu, yanggen gefli'e hao na taotao, na'i ha', siempre magofna hao, sa' un ayuda un gof na'ma'ase na patgon.

An interesting quote from Simila's Sense of Snow... "The number system is like human life. First you have the natural numbers. The ones that are whole and positive. Like the numbers of a small child. But human consciousness expands. The child discovers longing. Do you know the mathematical expression for longing? The negative numbers. The formalization of the feeling that you’re missing something. Then the child discovers the in-between spaces, between stones, between people, between them and that produces fractions."

You know you're doing the right thing when you make the haolified or deeply colonized Chamorros uncomfortable. I happened to type "minagahet" into Google and came across a lovely message thread where someone was trashing my websites as "brown trash" calling those who write on it or post on our message boards as "racists." The fact that someone actually typed this down, and actually spelled the words properly means that I am having some sort of impact. Check out this exchange I came across. Some guy... I just wanted to say I surfed through the webring at the member sites and want to ask why you let members in that detract from the good spirit of the island? have you looked at the Kopbla Amerika page and their forum as well as minagahet zine? boy what a bunch of brown trash. So some other cool guy responds... What part of "anything and everything Chamorro" did you not understand? We are Chamorro's by birth and Americans by ...

Letter sent out November 13, 2004 about the Draft and Guam's Balate' Population Hafa Adai todus i manaina-hu yan mane'lu-hu siha, Si Yu'us Ma'ase Sinot Dabit Herrera para i gefli'e na fino'-mu put i tinige'-hu. Annok na ti manchilong hit yan i taotaogues giya Amerika, pues sa' hafa na sigi ha' i Chamorro manaonao setbisisu yan tekuni i banderan US, mas ki ma respetu i banderan Guahan? Debi di ta kulu (estudia) este na hinasso mas, sa' yanggen sina ta komprende i hinasson i "mampatriotik na Chamorro siha" sina ta komprende lokkue taimanu mannina'colonized i hinasso-ta siha ni' kosas Amerika yan lina'la Amerika. Yanggen ma fa'draft ta'lo guenao giya Guahan, debi di ta mumu ayu. Sa' yanggen maloffan ayu ta'lo, maloffan lokkue i atdet na mafa'ga'ga'n i Chamorro. Dimalas este, sa' yanggen i taotao-ta sigi ha' ma dimu pappa' gi me'nan i Amerikanu siha, kalang Si Yu'us, t...

From http://www.NoLogo.org "Rocket the Vote" by Naomi Klein > November 9 2004 P. Diddy announced on the weekend that his “Vote or Die” campaign will live on. The hip-hop mogul's voter-registration drive during the U.S. presidential elections was, he said, merely “phase one, step one for us to get people engaged.” Fantastic. I have a suggestion for phase two: P. Diddy, Ben Affleck, Leonardo DiCaprio and the rest of the self-described “Coalition of the Willing” should take their chartered jet and fly to Fallujah, where their efforts are desperately needed. But first they are going to need to flip the slogan from “Vote or Die!” to “Die, Then Vote!” Because that is what is happening there. Escape routes have been sealed off,homes are being demolished, and an emergency health clinic has been razed—all in the name of preparing the city for January elections. In a letter to United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, U.S.-appointed Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Alla...

Bright Spots By Evan Derkacz , AlterNet . Posted November 10, 2004 . Asking people to look on the bright side of Election 2004 is, to quote Kristina Wilfore of the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center, "a little like asking Mrs. Lincoln how the show was." Progressives are reeling and grasping for bearings after a confusing and upsetting loss on Nov. 2. And why shouldn't they be? For millions, it was the first time they'd dared to hope in a long, long time. But there are reasons to remain hopeful. Despite the high-profile electoral losses and the passage of 11 anti-gay measures, there were dozens of successes and encouraging trends for the progressive cause – most of which came at the local level. Poor Dr. King; he's always turned to when things look bleakest – and now is no different. The latest of his inspiring words making the rounds in post-election e-mails: "The arc of history is long, but it bends toward justice." This story is about focusing for a mom...

I was watching this Japanese terror flick called "Audition," which will scare the living hell out of you, if you really follow its psychology and thinking, which I unfortunately did. There is this one scene, where the main character (I can't say bad guy, since only distorted morality makes a cameo in this film), after meticulously giving her victim acupuncture, cuts off his foot with a butcher's garrote (and she is very excited after doing so). Ever since I saw that scene, there is this phantom, yet very real pain in my ankle. Ever since Bush won, I have this nasty phantom pain in my ass.

Anyone with some extra cash on their hands, please head over to http://www.antiwar.com , and donate whatever you can to keep them up and running. They are a very important website, in that they are critical of war from different sides, conservative, liberal, colonizer and colonized. Justin Raimondo is a regular contributor to the site and his weekly editorials are very insightful. I've actually been waiting for Bush to show up on another aircraft carrier, speaking with his crotch stuffed with manly vurility, in front of a sign saying "mission accomplished, election stolen!" Needless to say, the time for our voices of dissent, anger and resistance to be out there is most important than ever. Bush has been galvanized by his victory, and has his shown with his post-election party in Falujah, innocent lives? international law? Iraqi law? They don't mean a thing for a president with a mandate by 51% of the population (and 88% of all America's haole people). White...

Since I've been so machalapon emotionally lately, I've been working alot on songs, trying to capture some small shreds of my moods. Its not easy, lao its a good exercise in practicing my Chamorro while I'm stateside. There aren't many people out here that I can speak to, so writing songs and trying to be creative with it, is a good way to keep the mind fluid and fresh. Here's another song gi fino' Chamorro. Put i chinatkinemprenden guinaiya este, ya sesso ti un gof tungo' hafa maloloffan, ya hafa sina un ekspekta. BUENA Hafa nen hinangai-hu? Guini nai gi fi'on-mu? Un kombida ya un futot Un yettek ya un chu'ot Chibe' fanhallom'an-mu Ombre lai na'inos yu' Ti to'a yan taiketu Sangani yu' i Buena-mu Baba i mata'-mu Ya sahuma yu' Sa' Guahu iyo-mu Hagas esta gof klaru Iniga yu' ni' kannai-mu Gotpe un patmada' yu' Pon ko'ko' tinanom-mu Mohon na un ko'ko' yu' ...

From http://www.zmag.org November 6, 2004 THE OPTIMISM OF UNCERTAINTY by Howard Zinn In this awful world where the efforts of caring people often pale in comparison to what is done by those who have power, how do I manage to stay involved and seemingly happy? I am totally confident not that the world will get better, but that we should not give up the game before all the cards have been played. The metaphor is deliberate; life is a gamble. Not to play is to foreclose any chance of winning. To play, to act, is to create at least a possibility of changing the world. There is a tendency to think that what we see in the present moment will continue. We forget how often we have been astonished by the sudden crumbling of institutions, by extraordinary changes in people's thoughts, by unexpected eruptions of rebellion against tyrannies, by the quick collapse of systems of power that seemed invincible. What leaps out from the history of the past hundred years is its u...

I haven't written about Bush yet, because its just too confusing and too painful. Painful because the election of Bush this year reflects how narrow the conscioussness of people are in this annoying country. People voted based on narrow issues, and constantly voted against their own interests. Although both parties are the parties of the rich, one is more so (Republicans) while the other is less so (Democrats), with all the rest of us, picking up whatever crumbs we can force out of these politicians and corporations. The majority of people who's votes were counted have made it clear that they side with the party of the super rich, even though obviously these people do not comprise that party. Instead these people chose to pick a candidate based on his stance with relationship to "normality" and the "national culture." Rather than believing that all people are truly equal or have inalienable rights, these people have decided that issues of religion are mor...

Since I broke up with my girlfriend all the songs I write now feel like J.D. Crutch songs. Sa' todu put i tinai'gachong-hu. I find its a good way to try to make sense of what I'm feeling, about old loves, but more importantly about new loves, potential loves. Enjoy, it needs one more verse though, and the last two lines from the second verse I just kinda added, since I haven't really figured that section out yet. Un suhayi yu' Kalang todu I famalao'an ni' Guini gi gipot Gi i linahayan-ta Guahu ha' maisa I achaki-hu Ni' ti pon homlo' Sa' hafa ti Guahu? Ni' un li'e'e'? Sa' hafa ti Guahu? Ni' un chachagi? Sigi ha' hu chagi Sumakke atan-mu Lao sigi ha' Nai un laiseni Hu atalaki hao Lao ti un nanalao Yanggen matai yu' Kao pon ripara? Sa' hafa ti Guahu? Ni' un li'e'e? Sa' hafa ti Guahu? Ni' un chachagi? Sa' hafa ti Guahu? Ni' un atetende? Sa' ...

Some optomism for everyone, courtesy of TBogg 's blog... Four more years of American soldiers being used as cannon fodder. Four more years of scientific decisions being made by people who believe in a ghost in the clouds. Four more years of debt that our children and grandchildren will have to pay off. Four more years of racists and lunatics for judicial appointments Four more years of looting the treasury and squandering it on corporate cronies. Four more years of making enemies faster than we can kill them. Four more years of fear and darkness and racism and hatred and stupidity and guns and bad country music. I look at the big map and all of the red in flyover country and I feel like I've been locked in a room with the slow learners. We have become the country that pulls a dry cleaning bag over its head to play astronaut.

The changes in the flow of capital and the nature of technology has allowed networks of power to be formed which don’t rely on borders, and can supersede nation states. These networks are part of a new global hegemony which doesn’t situate itself within any nation, but only exists as part of a network above all nations. This new form of global control is what Michael Hardt and Tony Negri refer to as Empire, and it is important because of the way they articulate it, as being something and nothing at the same time, one thing and then apparently its opposite, is precisely the way in which Empire is able to elude people’s vision, to hide itself from people knowing its existence, or recognizing its fingerprints or scuff marks around their lives. Although we exist as hybrids, cyborgs, deeply divided subjects, the way modernity has structured our language, we aren’t readily equipped to recognize or discuss such divisions, we are equipped and groomed to see things in binary opposi...

Sad new everyone... Jofis didn't win...

Gof chathinasso yu', ti hu hulat pumost pa'go. Sina gi pupuengge, nai mas masuheta i hinasso-ku. BIBA JOFIS FOR OFIS!

Did you know that in the last election, Jofis running under the Malafunkshun party actually beat one of the listed candidates? For those of you who don't know, Jofis was a write in candidate, which means that you don't check his box, you have to write in his name at the bottom to vote for him. In the last election, Jofis actually got more votes than one of the candidates on the official list. Can you believe that?