NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

It looks like pretty soon the general election will be beginning soon, and so as an official Democratic National Convention State Corps blogger this year, I have an obligation to start tearing apart the Republican nominee, John McCain. Well, gi minagahet, it might be a few more days until the race is officially over, and even though it looks like the end is coming soon for Hillary Clinton, the race is still open and still up for grabs, depending on her mood. Tomorrow the Rules and Bylaws committee for the Democrats will be meeting, and if Hillary Clinton is interested in party unity and improving the chances of her party winning in November, in ways other than her being the most electable candidate, she will take whatever compromise is decided upon. If she's not interested in such trivial matters, then this fight could go all the way to the convention, and if so, I'll have front row seats for it. Just a little Guam delegate and superdelegate update: Guam's delegation to t...

I just started a youtube page for Famoksaiyan. Here's the first video, which is the testimony that Julian Aguon recently gave before the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. Julian's intervention at the UNPFII has yielded some very hopeful results . This youtube presence for Famoksaiyan, joins the handful of other places where you can find plenty of info on the group. Don't forget, you can also find Famoksaiyan on Facebook , Myspace , Blogger and Rise-up . For those worried about all the sort of "half-sites" where you can find info on Famoksaiyan, and are just dying for a central virtual location for the group, mungga chathinasso. At the Guma'famoksaiyan gathering which took place over the weekend the group discussed that need, and we are working on it as I type. *************************************** Although the Famoksaiyan youtube page is new, I've had my own page for quite while. I've already uploaded more than 30 movies, lao pi...

Ti manuge’ yu’ gi i ma’pos na simåna put I Ha’anin Mannana. Despues yu’ put este, sa’ achokka’ siña ta sångan na “puru ha’ ginnen i minalago i mangkometsiånte este na ha’ani” i espiritu ni’ ha kekeonra sen maolek sinembatgo. Gi i todu i kettura siha, ma o’onra i mannana yan i famalao’an, lao pi’ot gi i kutrran “matriarchal” siha, nai ma gof respepeta i bida yan i pusishon i famalao’an. Achokka’ i Españot yan i Amerikånu, annai manhalom siha giya Guahån, ma kefunas este na espiritu gi i ketturan Chamoru, ti kabåles i minalago-ñiha. Olaha mohon yan si yu’us ma’åse na ti ma hulat muna’kabåles este na binaba. Lao put i esta atrasao-hu, ti bei post på’go put Si nana-hu ha’. Achokka’ nahong i mångge na bidå-ña para bai hu na’bula un miyon na posts put Guiya. Instead, bai hu post put i fuetsan todu i famalao’an Chamoru, i mampå’go yan i manmo’na. Eståba yu’ gi i weekend gi halom i mina’tres na dinaña’ Famoksaiyan, Guma’Famoksaiyan: Gathering Strength for the Journey Ahead . Gi este na inetnon...

Published on Monday, May 26, 2008 by CommonDreams.org War Immemorial Day – No Peace for Militarized U.S. by Bill Quigley Memorial Day is not actually a day to pray for U.S. troops who died in action but rather a day set aside by Congress to pray for peace. The 1950 Joint Resolution of Congress which created Memorial Day says: “Requesting the President to issue a proclamation designating May 30, Memorial Day, as a day for a Nation-wide prayer for peace.” (64 Stat.158). Peace today is a nearly impossible challenge for the United States. The U.S. is far and away the most militarized country in the world and the most aggressive. Unless the U.S. dramatically reduces its emphasis on global military action, there will be many, many more families grieving on future Memorial days. The U.S. spends over $600 billion annually on our military, more than the rest of the world combined. China, our nearest competitor, spends about one-tenth of what we spend. The U.S. also sells more weapons to other c...

I gave a lecture recently at University of California, Riverside, on Chamorro soldiers, and the relationship between colonization and militarization in Guam. I gave it just a few days after I had returned to San Diego from a brief visit in Guam for Sumahi's first birthday. While I was at the airport waiting for my plane to board, I saw this homage, downstairs from the security screening area. It is an homage to all the soldiers that have died from Micronesia in Iraq, Afghanistan and Africa, in this always growing and expanding War on Terror. Ni' ngai'an na bei maleffa i sinangan as Borat, annai ilek-na "War of Terror." When I gave my presentation at UC Riverside, I made clear to the students there, that if they want to find what political community or entity of the United States has the highest rate of members killed in US wars since 9/11, you don't look at any particular state or territory, but you have to look at what has long been called America's Insul...

Sorry I won't be posting much for the next few days. This weekend is the 2008 Famoksaiyan gathering, Guma'Famoksaiyan: Gathering Strength for the Journey Ahead , and so I've got plenty of things to do to prepare for it. I'm actually writing up right now the roles and rules for an activity were going to try out, called "Decolonization Roleplaying." I'll have more to say about it later. But I figured I had to post something today, because I've gotten a rush of new traffic over the past week. Last week I was chosen to be one of the 55 state (and territorial/colonial) bloggers to be represented at the Democratic National Convention in Denver in August. A link to my blog has been floating around the internet, on all kinds of Democratic, liberal, progressive and yes sometimes conservative sites, which has been driving a lot of new readers here. So I now have, for at least the new few months, a new audience for this blog, and new obligations in terms of wri...

Minagahet Zine Volume 6 Issue 2 - March 24, 2008 http://www.geocities.com/minagahet Hafa Adai, yan welcome to i mina'trenta sais na Minagahet. It is that time of year again, almost time for another dinaña' Famoksaiyan or Famoksaiyan gathering. This year's gathering is titled " Guma'Famoksaiyan: Gathering Strength for the Journey Ahead ," and is scheduled for May 23-25, 2008 in San Diego, California. This year's gathering is being co-sponsored by Chamorro Hands in Education Links Unity (CHELU) Inc. For more info or to find regular updates, please head to the Guma'Famoksaiyan blog. This issue of Minagahet will be, for those who don't know much about Famoksaiyan, an introduction to hayi ham? and ginnen manu ham? And for those who already do know about Famoksaiyan it will be a retrospective of sorts, a collection of different events and projects that we've completed over the past three years. Ti bai hu kedagi hamyo, it has been surreal putting t...

For those who have read my blog over the years, they may have noticed a new sort of political trend in the posts that I've written over the past few months. I've been writing alot lately about the 2008 Presidential Campaign, and in particular a lot about Barack Obama . There are a number of reasons for this. First, I am in the states now and so the Presidential campaign has become a large part of my life. Me and i nobia-hu Rashne, are sort of MSNBC junkies when it comes to the latest political news (no CNN for us, because Lou Dobb's head is huge and stuffed full of race baiting). Second, from an Ethnic Studies perspective, there are so many interesting things taking place in this election, because of the ways the media and other people are being forced to talk about race and gender, or doing their damndest to make sure that race and gender were never mentioned in any meaningful way . I've found the dynamics of the campaigns, at the level of race, gender and class, to be...

Published on Monday, May 12, 2008 by The Huffington Post Hillary’s Gift to Women by Barbara Ehrenreich In Friday’s New York Times, Susan Faludi rejoiced over Hillary Clinton’s destruction of the myth of female prissiness and innate moral superiority, hailing Clinton’s “no-holds-barred pugnacity” and her media reputation as “nasty” and “ruthless.” Future female presidential candidates will owe a lot to the race of 2008, Faludi wrote, “when Hillary Clinton broke through the glass floor and got down with the boys.” I share Faludi’s glee — up to a point. Surely no one will ever dare argue that women lack the temperament for political combat. But by running a racially-tinged campaign, lying about her foreign policy experience, and repeatedly seeming to favor McCain over her Democratic opponent, Clinton didn’t just break through the “glass floor,” she set a new low for floors in general, and would, if she could have got within arm’s reach, have rubbed the broken glass into Obama’s face. A me...

Haven't posted one of my Chamorro translations or Chamorro songs lately. I've been so busy writing other things, I just haven't gotten around to much. I wrote this one recently though while I was flying to Guam for Sumahi's first birthday. I first heard the song "Wave of Mutilation" by the Pixies from the game Rock (Star) Band . The way the song is sung, with several words being dragged or drawn out when sung, made it a little interesting trying to find Chamorro words which would sound good along with that style. I like what I came up with, although for Chamorro it is a bit abstract or "dreamy," with phrases like "I've kissed stars." If you don't know the song, then you might be wondering why I chose it in the first place. Well, I've been intrigued by the song ever since I first listened closely to the lyrics, and heard the line "find my way to Mariana(s)." And realized that the singer could actually be talking about t...