NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

Gi i mas homhom na patten i puengi I nana-ta yan I tata-ta siha, manmapuno' Man ma amot hit Sina un hungok i mililak i hagan-niha Gi guinaifin i manglo' Sina ta hungok i chalek-niha Gi i pineddong i ichan I mengmong i korason-niha Poddong taiguihi i estreyas ginnen i langhet I puengi yan i halom tano', sagan-niha pa'go Guihi gi i hale yan i hagon siha ni' muna'chochocho i anti-ta Ni' ma o'oppe I finaisen-ta siha put i tano' Kueston-ta put hayi hit? yan Ginnen manu hit magi? Si nana-ta yan tata-ta na gaige siha gi respuesta Siha umaladu i edda', ma tanom i trengko siha, mameska i tasi Siha muna'i hit ni' i haga' ni' malalgo kulang saddok siha gi halom i tahtaotao-ta siha Ginnen i mas homhom na patten i puenge yan i tano' Manonoghe siha, kesnuda yan manmana'atan gi entre i trengko siha Huyong giya Hita Manmannangga. Manmanhahasso. Sina un li'e i langun-niha gi i kinalamten i tasi I kinekuyong i tasi...

Despensa na apmam desde pumost yu' guini. Estaba gaige yu' giya Hawaii para Krismas, ya put i bumabakashon-hu, sigi' ha' maleffa yu' pumost. Lao esta matto yu' ta'lo giya San Diego, pues bei tutuhun ta'lo. Lao para pa'go, este ha' sa' tumunok yu' ginnen i batkon aire gof taftaf gi i egga'an, ya mampos yayas yu'.

I was just surfing the net, and I googled "michael moore" and "Guam," and the first thing that popped up was a anti-Michael Moore website message board, which have this link, describing the places outside of Vietnam where Agent Orange was used. http://www.vetshome.com/agent_orange_use_outside_of_viet.htm

Rapa Nui and the Marianas: Approaches to a Comparative Analysis. Steve Pagel, Martin Luther Universitaat Abstract Clarence Darrow once said that history repeats itself, and that this is just one of its failings. Taking up this hypothesis, this paper will contrast the current language contact on Rapa Nui with a simliar historical situation at the opposite end of the Pacific: the Marianas. In 1898 an era of spanish hegemony came to an end on these islands that had lastet nearly three centuries, a timespan in which the intensive contact with the colonial power left its profound marks on both the islands' culture and language. Rogers (1995), for instance, states a hybrid culture for the major island Guam at the end of the 19th century which had entirely absorbed the indigenous population, the Chamoru, and thus it may not seem surprising that the language of these "Neo-Chamoru" has long become an essential part of the language-contact debate (cf. Albalá Hernández/Rodrígu...

Miget: Hey, hafa lai. Mamaolek ha' todus giya Hamyo? Jose: Hunggan lai, maolek todu. Jesus: Hu'u nai. Miget: Hey, kao en egga' ayu na nuebu na mubi ginnen Si Shah Rukh Khan? Jose: Manu ayu? Jesus: Kao kumuekuentos hao put ayu yan Si Pretty Kinta? Hafa ma a'gang ayu? Jose: Veer Zaara lai. Jesus: Hunggan nai, kao ayu? Miget: Ahe' ahe'. Guaha ni' mas nuebu. Mafana'an gui' Swades. Jose: Hafa kumekeilek-na Swades? Miget: Gi fino' Chamorro, kumekeilek-na "Taotao." Jesus: Ke ya hafa? Esta un egga'? Kao ya-mu? Miget: Ahe' tribiha, agupa' para u mana'huyong giya San Diego, pues bei egga'. Jose: Pues sangani yu' hafa hinasso-mu put Guiya. Ya-hu Si Shah Rukh, gof fotte na petsona. Jesus: Ya bunitu lokkue. Hehehe. Fihu i famalao'an ma cheflayi gui', nai humalom gui' gi i screen. Miget: Magahet hamyo, lao para Guahu, esta o'sun yu' nu ayu na petsona ni' sigi...

For anyone who wants to bust out some Hindi on an unsuspecting someone... after describing how something sucks, but you've gotta do it, or it must be done, repeat the following phrase. Sab Ganda hai Par Sab Danda hai Here is an example of how its used in conversation: Jose: Lana prim, kao un hongge' i taimamahlao-na este na maga'lahi pa'go? Jesus: Ahe' lai, baba este. Batbarias todu. Jose: Lao hafa sina ta cho'gue? Taya'... sab ganda hai, par sab danda hai

There are two parts of our consciousness on Guam which must be gotten rid of. 1. That we are isolated. 2. That we are too small. While most people will state this things as if they are detatched unquestionable facts, the acceptance of these things feeds forcefully into the limiting ways we see ourselves on Guam. These two points come from centuries of colonization by at least three imperial powers, Spain, Japan and the United States. The by product of most colonial missions, is the indoctrination of the colonized with not just feelings of inferiority, but crucial needs and desires to depend on the colonizer. So on Guam, we see ourselves as being very very small, very very far away, therefore the only real way that we see ourselves connected with the rest of the world, is through the United States. But because this relationship, this connection isn't innocent, but instead part of our colonial and colonizing relationship, it helps us see this connectedness in very specifi...

I just had a moment of cultural clarity the other day. While trying on some new pants that my ex-girlfriend had bought me, I tucked my shirt in to see what it would look like. Normally unless someone demands that I tuck it in, I never tuck my shirt it. When I was modelling it, my ex remarked, "how whoa, nice pants. Now you look Chamorro." Guana? Hu hasso na'ya put i sinangan-na. Kao magahet este? Pues hu hasso put fihu i trihin i Chamorro lahi, ya hu realisa na magahet, hunggan! Sesso ma tuck in i franelan-niha. So, sporting my new "Chamorro" look I realized one of the many reasons why Chamorro girls never hit on me. I don't do tucked it, which means I'm hip hop, but then I don't dress hip hop and I don't act hip hop, so therefore, this combined with my painted clothes, that fact that I speak Chamorro and speak English weird means that I slip through all sorts of categories of attraction. Will this epiphany lead me to para mo'na t...

When Europeans created modernity, a centerpiece to its development was the doing away with the primitive and premodern idea that everything is and should be interrelated. The natural world and the human world must be isolated from each other, and only through their vigorous separate investigations can we find true "modern" knowledge. We can see the effects of this is an infinite number of ways in which our lives and our existences become dependent upon keeping certain parts of ourselves separate from other parts. Powerful interests are also at work in these demarcations. The development of the atomic bomb and other powerfully nasty and dangerous weapons depended on people only thinking that these things were being created for "scientific" purposes only, therefore not needing to question their human consequences. On Guam today we see ourselves connected to the rest of the world in very narrow and specific ways. The most obvious and dominating connection is o...

This was published last month in the Guam Federation of Teachers magazine. Just thought I'd share it. Water privatization is something everyone on this planet should know more about, as it means turning over the basic needs of life, to an institution whose desire is to make money. Just think about health care, and then think about privatizing water. Na'ma'a'nao no? Hunggan gof na'ma'a'nao... The goal of capitalism has always been to sustain profits, the purpose and goal of water has been to sustain life. If some of our political and business leaders have their way and privatize our island’s water utilities, the purpose of water on Guam will soon be to sustain profits. In 2002 the United Nations finally got around to formalizing what every indigenous culture has known since ever since, when it consecrated water and access to water as a sacred right, a human right. But while the nations of the world met to designate water as something which must be used...

Wondering how to take down Bush? (metaphorically) One important point to attack is the commonplace notion amongst those within the military and outside of it that Republicans support the troops more, or that Bush, because he is manly and talks like he was lobotomized by a broomstick, is the man who really loves our troops in a manly, ass pat, gang rape kind of way. This and using 9/11 are big parts of what gives Bush power. Note that he may not actually have any affection for the troops or they may have no real loyalty towards him, but the perception is more important than actually loyalty in this instance. This is why I am very excited to hear more and more about soldiers resisting indoctrination, and soldiers resisting being sent to war. CBS news recently reported that more than 5,000 troops have deserted since the war in Iraq began. Several months ago, a group from Mississippi, just flat out refused a mission because they weren't properly supplied and were certain that ...

I wrote this last year in Minagahet to commemorate the 62nd year since the United States started a world war and ended up killing hundreds of Chamorros because of it. The issues haven't really changed, so I thought I'd reprint it here. You can find the original here, http://www.geocities.com/minagahet/hacha.htm . Happy US Imperialism Day! Rethinking the Chamorro Place in the American Empire by Michael Lujan Bevacqua This December 8th will be the 62nd anniversary of the Japanese invasion of Guam, and coming next year in July, will be the 60th anniversary of the “liberation” of Guam. But before we unpack our American flags, or start practicing Uncle Sam won’t you please come back to Guam again, it is time for Chamorros to really rethink about what they are celebrating, which is far from a liberation, or reoccupation, or patriotism, but in actuality war, imperialism and militarism. But how could this not be expected, really? Considering that our, and therefore Guam...

Time to once again celebrate how important U.S. Imperialism is to us on Guam! While so many on Guam are celebrating the feast day of Santa Maria Kamalen, let's not forget that 63 years ago, the Chamorro people of Guam were abandoned by the United States military, left to fight against the Japanese, in a war the United States helped to start. Thinking back to that day, we should remember that we, as a people weren't of any value to the US military then, and we shouldn't feel that we are any more valuable now. This is what drives me nuts everyday. Why do Chamorros have so much love for the military? Liberation Day is the usual answer (as well as 'we can't survive without them!'), But my answer to that is, US Imperialism Day. When will we have a parade to celebrate our abandonment or our being treated as expendable? When will the ghosts of those tortured or killed during the war on Guam ever rest? Don't we see how we dance across their deaths keep...

This week the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School presented its fourth annual Global Environment Citizen Award to Bill Moyers. In presenting the award, Meryl Streep, a member of the Center board, said, "Through resourceful, intrepid reportage and perceptive voices from the forward edge of the debate, Moyers has examined an environment under siege with the aim of engaging citizens." Here is the text of his response to Ms. Streep's presentation of the award: I accept this award on behalf of all the people behind the camera whom you never see. And for all those scientists, advocates, activists, and just plain citizens whose stories we have covered in reporting on how environmental change affects our daily lives. We journalists are simply beachcombers on the shores of other people's knowledge, other people's experience, and other people's wisdom. We tell their stories. The journalist who truly deserves this award is my fr...

I'm sitting in the library at UCSD pouring through the entire run of Pacific History. Lana, ti hu hongge este na manapa'ka siha. The things they write about us! Did they think we would never learn how to read? Or never see it? But I should be careful though, and not make it seem like you can only find this stuff in dusty, cob webbed, graduate student filled libraries. You can find it on the pages of the PDN, or in press releases from the Department of Interior, or from just talking to a politicians in Washington D.C. about the future of Guam. If we don't start talking about ourselves, then we are gonna end up being ruled by the ways others see us. One can already see this happened in how decolonization is discussed or how the govermnet of Guam is discussed. Think about what we take to be common sense on Guam, chances are if we were to step back from it, we can see ourselves just parroting Joe Murphy.

Chatsaga' yu' gi i finakpo'n i quarter-hu pues mappot para bei post esta ki munhayan todu. Despensa yu'...lao mungga chathinasso, bulala' ha' na malago yu' sumangan...hehehehe.

Na'tufok i kannai-ta Faniente na sumiha Na'lahihot Na'lamafnot Na'dana i kannai-ta Na'unu i mengmong-ta Na'lahihot Na'lamafnot Mungga Mapula' Na'inos i kannai-ta Na'fitme na humita Taihinekok Guinaiya-ta Mungga Mapula'

The seperations in our lives have to be re-thought. I'm currently in a Ph.D. program, and nearly everyone in my group thinks and acts based on assumptions that our lives must be divided, most specifically whatever is learned in school or from books, must stay in that context and not seep into their "real" lives. For me personally, I don't see how anyone can really believe this. The ways our lives are divided up aren't natural, but rather constructed based on specific histories and elevation of certain ideas about how humans are supposed to live. This division between our "work" and our "play" is one clear example, and although to most people it might seem like a very "real" division, in what ways are we limited if we subscribe to this idea? First of all, it allows us to see how stuff created in universities, probably just stays there. This might be true in some ways, but it keeps us from seeing the powerful role universities...

A few ways the Democrats in the US can be saved, courtesy of Joe Trippi, Howard Dean's former campaign manager. Democrats can't keep ignoring their base. Running to the middle and then asking our base to make sure to vote isn't a plan. And to those who say talking to your base doesn't work -- Read the Rove 2004 playbook! Democrats must reconnect with the energy of our grass roots. One of the failures of the DLC was that its ideas never helped us build a grass-roots donor base. As a result, Democrats held a lead over Republicans in only one fundraising category before this election cycle: contributions over one million dollars. That shows how far the party had strayed from grassroots fundraising before the Dean campaign. We must build a base of at least seven million small donors by 2006. With the Internet it's possible. But it can't just be about the money, it also has to be about ideas. The one thing we learned in the Dean campaign was that the 30 pe...