NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

A series of storms are currently surrounding Guam. When I was younger, I would pray for typhoons, since it would mean no school (although no power and cable too). As a professor at the University of Guam, I pray for typhoons since, there would be no classes to teach, no power (internet, video games) to distract me and then I can finally catch up on my grading. I dreamed all day of coming home and finding that classes at UOG were cancelled tomorrow, but after logging on to the UOG website this evening, I found that there were indeed classes tomorrow. Lana, I just went back to the website to see if anything had changed in the past hour, but it hadn't. I guess that means I'll need to stay up a few more hours finishing my prep for my four classes tomorrow. Nina'hasso yu' ni' i mubin Equilibrium. Gi ayu na mubi, un petsona ilek-ña este: Manmahafye i guinife-hu gi sanpappa’ i patås-mu. Adahi månu un pokkat, sa’ hu gagacha i guinife-hu siha. Dalai UOG. Sa' hafa ti un ...

The media on Guam seems obsessed with the conflict of interest represented by Matt Rector being both a Senator in the Legislature and the President of the Guam Federation of Teachers . I don't see anything inherently wrong with this inquiry, it is something which can be questioned and should be looked at, but I think its almost hysterical how narrow or selective the idea of "conflict of interest" is in this case, (and the way it is usually conceived of). In any community, the ideological glue that holds it together will always mark the interests of some as being a conflict or something which will taint the governance of said community, whereas a myriad of other equally or more dangerous interests will go unnoticed, or worse yet, be seen as essential or positive. So in this case, the idea that a Senator is the President of a labor union on Guam becomes the ultimate sin, whereas the fact that various businessmen on island have repeatedly obstructed legislation or passed le...

Fihu gof hosguan yu’ nu Si Stephen Colbert. Guahan iyo-ña programman telebishon, ya kontat ki na’chalek i fina’tinas-ña, Guiya la’mon hafa pau na’fanhuyong. Maseha hafa na gof "silly" na hinasso, siña ma na'magåhet gi i show. Gof suette este na klasin taotao, sa' este na inebra i guinife todu. Desde ha tutuhun i show-ña, meggai na’chalek na bidå-ña. Gi i ma’pos na sakkan, ha kesaonao i botashon Amerikånu pare Presidente. Matakpånge un patten i Space Station para Guiya. Ya gaige un to’lai giya Hungary, ya dipotsi matakpange para Guiya lokkue’. I mas na’chalek na patten i show-ña, annai mama’mumumu Si Colbert yan un otro sesso “random” na taotao. Mama’mumu Si Colbert yan Si Sean Penn, Si Barry Manilow, Si Kongresa Eleanor Holmes-Norton (ginnen Washington D.C.) yan Si Willy Nelson. Gi este na ti mismo na yinaoyao, Si Colbert ha chanda i otro taotao, ha fa’enimigu gui’, ya sångan meggai båba put Guiya gi i show-ña. Ya pues ma kombida ayu na ti magåhet na kontrariu halom g...

I have to really apologize. I haven't put together an issue of Minagahet Zine in close to a year, nine months actually. Its not because nothing has been happening on Guam or to Chamorros around the world. Its quite the opposite really. Over the past nine months there have been too many things happening, and so I tried to get someone to guest edit an issue of Minagahet. One of my friends agreed and started putting it together but never finished. I was so busy with finishing my dissertation, and now working at the University of Guam that I couldn't work on it either, even after it was obvious that my friend wasn't going to finish it. So I just wanted to put out a quick note saying that the next issue is on its way. I'm trying to find some time this weekend to organize and upload it. So many things have been happening lately, and a few things that were supposed to happen, haven't yet. The Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the bulk of the construction for the mi...

Ti bai hu bailanaihon ni' fino'-hu pa'go: President Obama's health care reform is weak. I don't know if he's shrinking the public option down to a footnote in order to get the thing passed or not, but even at the level of his rhetoric it seems more and more like he's becoming less of a leader or a reformer, and just another political hack who wants to give a little bit the many (who don't have much) and a whole lot more to the few (who of course have the most). Just because the leaders of the Democratic party are less in bed with the Health Care lobby and industry does not sadly translate into any real reform. It just means that Democrats (not all, but the one's who make the key party decisions) will find more liberal convoluted ways of giving large corporations means of making massive profits. What I hear coming out of the White House lately is so weak, i hagga'-hu Sumahi could probably come up with a better health care reform plan. I'm sure...

My answer to the question that is this blog's title, is a hopeful "hunggan" or "yes." I've been following this film for a while, although I admit, that he kept a lid on this one up until recently, unlike Sicko . I guess the lack of knowing and the relative dark that I've been kept in, has just increased my desire to see it. Moore's movies always have a sort of radical Americanist edge to them. They are absolutely patriotic and America-loving, but in a critical sense, always in the hopes of using such rhetoric in order to push the United States to recognize hypocrisy, to change itself, to change the direction its heading. When I watch Moore's film, I'm less conflicted or mixed then I am with other liberal or progressive critiques. Despite the fantasies of conservatives or Republicans, liberal rhetoric is just as exceptionalist, just as forgetful as that of conservative Republicans and can therefore be just as violent and colonial as the worst ...

At the student center at the University of Guam last week, there was an exhibit commemorating the 9/11 attacks eight years ago. Well, actually, I'm not sure if either exhibit or commemorating are the right words. It was an overwhelming spectacle that's for sure. There was a looping video of the attacks in New York City that day. A list of all the people who died in the 9/11 attacks (although not the people who hijacked the planes). A list of all the soldiers with ties to Micronesia that have died in the War on Terror since 9/11, and pictures of current UOG students who are right now deployed. Finally, in a strange touch, there was in the middle of the circular student center rotunda, a poor replica of the Twin Towers, reaching almost to the ceiling, bathed in the glow of multiple spotlights. This sort of exhibit made clear to me why memorial such as these are so dangerous and can be so disgusting. These sorts of memorials become overpowering lessons in amnesia in the apparent g...

Activists explore post-military economy Friday, 18 September 2009 Marianas Variety PEOPLE will have to work together if they want to sustain an economy after the military. This was emphasized during the fourth day of the 7th Meeting of the International Network of Women Against Militarism at the University of Guam in Mangilao. The morning a panel focused on the topic “Beyond the Military Economy: Exploring Alternatives for Sustainability.” Participating were Alma Bulawan of the Buklod Center Philippines, Dr. Hannah Middleton of the Australian Anti-Base Campaign, Dr. Miyume Tanji of Curtin University of Technology in Australia, and Isabella Sumang of Palau. Each panelist gave a perspective of the impact the military has had on their respective regions. Bulawan had indicated that when there were bases in the Philippines, businesses were set up to cater to the military as well as prostitution. It appears now that with those bases closed, businesses and the prostitution still remain. She r...