NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

As part of my " detour of Hawai'i ," earlier today I had the chance to speak to a group of Waianae High School students who are participating in a summer environmental justice program sponsored by the American Friends Service Committee. As part of this program, they are traveling all around Oahu, looking at different sites of development, militarization and what sort of historical and contemporary problems that these sites have or are causing. They are also visiting sites where people whether through reclamation, reforestation, the propagation of native plant species or the practicing of sustainable agricultural programs, are also working towards solutions in making the island a more sustainable and more naturally balanced place. Even before meeting the students, I was already excited, because of what sorts of potential lessons I could learn from the program itself, and how something similar could be organized for Guam youth. I was asked to speak to them to discuss the en...

I'm on my way back to Guam right now, but I'll be stopping over in Hawai'i for a few days to visit family and also to work with the American Friends Service Committee there. They've lined up an interesting schedule of events for me, places to speak at, interviews, people to meet, and plenty of stories to listen to. I call this a "de-tour" because one part of my trip will be taking a "De-Tour" around Hawai'i, which is short for a "demilitarization tour." In it I'll drive around and see different sites of military poisoning or contamination, different sites of resistance, and meet with people at different levels of Hawai'is struggle for environmental justice and Native Hawaiian ( Kanaka'maoli) sovereignty. My presence on this tour is all about helping build solidarity networks between Chamorro activists on Guam and Hawaiian and Native Hawaiian activists. I'll be talking to people about Guam's situation, its legacy of ...

I finally got to watch both parts of the epic Chinese war movie Chi Bi the other night. For those of you who haven't heard of it, it is directed by John Woo, and was released a month before the start of the 2008 Olympics and was meant to be a show of China's movie-making force to the rest of the world. It is the most expensive Chinese film to date and now its highest grossing film as well. The title of the film Chi Bi translates to "red wall" or "red cliffs" in English, and is based on the battle of Chi Bi which took place almost two thousand years ago, and is infamously chronicled in the story Romance of the Three Kingdoms and the video game series Dynasty Warriors . To give a little bit of background on the event. This battle takes place prior to the Three Kingdoms era in Chinese history, and is actually a key reason why China had a three kingdoms era at all. During this period the Han dynasty is coming to a close, and different figures are vying for cont...

Ti apmam siempre bai hu fanuge' put "Star Trek," sa' gof ya-hu i nuebu na mubi. Lao esta ki ayu na tiempo, bai hu na'li'e hamyo este na tinige' put Si Presidente Barack Obama yan Si Spock (i mas ya-hu na petsona gi Star Trek). ***************************** Obama is Spock: It's quite logical Our president bears a striking resemblance to the rational "Star Trek" Vulcan whose mixed race made him cultural translator to the universe. By Jeff Greenwald May 7, 2009 "Star Trek" is a cultural comet. From its tiny, ancient core -- a mere 79 episodes, airing before we set foot on the moon -- a seemingly infinite tail has grown, its glow still bright after 43 years. The original series (featuring James T. Kirk, Mr. Spock and Dr. "Bones" McCoy) ran for just three seasons, from 1966 to 1968. All of the techno-bling we associate with the show -- communicators, transporters, warp drive, phasers and Tribbles -- was introduced during that f...

Gof ya-hu i website Crooks and Liars . Ayu nai sina hu sakke' i kachidon i Daily Show siha dibatde. Manmanggaogaogao salape pa'go para i mamaila na sakkan. Yanggen sina hao, lismona ha' didide', pi'ot anggen liberal hao. Olaha mohon na un diha sina manhatsa yu' website taiguini. ******************* C&L's Donation Drive '09: Please help save blogs before we're overrun by the corporate media DAY 1: We're reaching out to our readers and asking for your help so that the MSM and Corporate media do not overrun the blogosphere with Villagers. They are funneling in millions of dollars to compete with and ultimately drive away independent bloggers so that they can rule the Internet. And the kind of cash they are pouring in is staggering. It's hard to compete with that since the economy is way down, and I think what we've accomplished is in jeopardy if the Internet doesn't step up to help us all, including other blogs that you like. So ple...

Makpo’ esta (put fin!) iyo-ku defense para iyo-ku dissertation. Siña dumeskånsañaihon yu’ på’go achokka’ bubula’ ha’ na debi di bai hu cho’gue para u na’funhåyan este na tinige’-ku. Lao put i makpo’ na defense-hu, para bai hu hagong mas fa’set yan mas tahdong gi este na simåna, antes di bai hu saonao i likao i manmagraduduha gi i mamamaila na Sabålu. Ya-hu este na ti apmåm na tiempon humahaggan, pi’ot sa’ siña hu buskabida gi i internet. Hu sodda’ este na tinige’ Michael Moore gi iyo-ña website. Guaha na kalang ti hongge’on i binanidosu i taotao yan kometsiante Amerikånu siha. Todu i otro na manriku na nasion, dumiddidde dummiddidde ma na’latatakhilo i “fuel efficiency” para i karetan-ñiha. Lao atan i bidan i Amerikånu siha? Kulang tåya’. Ma diseha na i espiritun Amerikånu yan i brinede i Amerikånu na taotao para u ma’ok siha. Lao atan ha’, atan i hiniyong. Dos na mampos dongkålu na kompaña Amerikånu, pumoddong ya tumaisalåpe. Ti ma komprende i finayi este na sinangan, "planehayi ...

I'm working furiously on finishing up my dissertation, and other than the filling in of my 700 footnotes, one of the fun tasks left to finish is the choosing of epigrams from the start of each chapter. An epigram is a quote or passage that you place at the start of the chapter to help set the mood or the tone. It can be tragic, funny, serious, boring, whatever you'd like, but it provides a extra bit of spice, meaning or flavor to help give your chapter a sense of presence or meaning, even before the reader has actually read any of it. For my dissertation I'm torn between using jokes passages, or all passages meant to be silly or funny. So for instance, in one of my chapters on the United Nations, sovereignty and the way the claims of indigenous people for decolonization are reduced to domestic concerns or effects of the nations, I thought about using this quote from an Eddie Izzard show: “So the American government lied to the Native Americans for many, many years, and then...

If you are in San Diego with nothing to do, then you are cordially invited to my Yanggen manggaige hamyo giya San Diego, ya tåya' bidan-mimiyu, pues manmakombibida hamyo para iyo-ku DISSERTATION DEFENSE Ethnic Studies, UCSD June 8, 2009, 9:30 am University of California San Diego Social Sciences Building Room 103 "Chamorros, Ghosts and Non-Voting Delegates: GUAM! Where the Production of America's Sovereignty Begins." by Michael Lujan Bevacqua Taotao Chumalamlam Familian Kabesa yan Bittot If you have any questions please email: mlbasquiat@hotmail.com An guaha finaisen-miyu put fabot email ha' yu' gi: mlbasquiat@hotmail.com Maila yan Fanekungok yanggen siña hamyo!! Thank you! Si Yu'us Ma'åse! Yanggen malago un tungo’ mas put i tinige’-ku yemme’ este na link. ********************************* Below are five pictures of my dissertation

I've been a writer for the online Encyclopedia Guampedia for about four years now and have written more than a dozen entries for them. In fact I still owe them half a dozen dealing with Chamorro cultural symbols that I've put on hold until July because I need to finish up my dissertation. But in the meantime I thought I would share below an update on some new entries that have been added to the site. As I wrote last month on Guamology in my article " Guampedia - A Procrastinating Student's Dream Come True ," the importance that I see in Guampedia is how information which for the longest time was only available in the minds of scholars or certain elders can now be gotten so easily online: For me through the true gift of Guampedia is that there are so many things contained there in its entries, that I never would have imagined would be available online, that would be so easily accessible. It goes far beyond any other Guam or Chamorro based website in terms of provi...