NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

Este i ettimon na post-hu para este na såkkan, pues mandisidi yu’ na este na post teneki tahdong yan dongkålu. As the last post of the year, I thought I’d make it big, deep and personal. The image above is from the manga Berserk . As you can guess just from this image alone it is a fairly violent manga, with plenty of blood, guts, gore, depravity, etc. But every once in a while, when the main character (featured above) Guts is particularly enraged and actually does go berserk, the artist Kentaro Miura will draw a simple but ghastly image. These images set the tone for the carnage that follows. It is for this reason that they are almost more violent then the actual depictions of creatures and people being sliced in half. The stark black and white image, has a way of not only powering up the images that follow, but the reader as well, preparing their gaze, communicating through what are sometimes the most simplistic of images, the pure, sublime emotion that is about to be released. Some...

The We Are Guahan Coalition is organizing a hike to Pagat Caves this Saturday, January 2nd. Pagat Caves is a beautiful location which was once an Ancient Chamorro village. Numerous artifacts and latte can still be found there in the pristine limestone jungle. It is considered by many today to be a sacred site. The proposed military buildup of Guam would block off public access to this location amongst others on the Eastern coast of Guam, in order to build a live-fire training range for Marines being transferred from Okinawa. For those interested in joining the hike, we'll be meeting first at Winchell's in Mangilao at 9 am. If you come bring lots of water, hiking shoes, mosquito repellent, sun screen and wear hiking or tennis shoes. I last went to Pagat a few years back, when I was in poor physical shape and the hike down was fun, but the hike back up felt like I was getting a badly done bone biopsy with every step. I'll be going on this hike, and don't look forward to i...

Annai hu taitai este na tinige' " Indian tribes buy back thousands of acres of land " gof sinilo' yu'. The article discusses a centuries old injustice and violence committed against hundreds, perhaps thousands of different Native American groups, and is a perfect case study in how injustice operates and is perpetuated and maintained over time. Native American tribes tired of waiting for the U.S. government to honor centuries-old treaties are buying back land where their ancestors lived and putting it in federal trust. Native Americans say the purchases will help protect their culture and way of life by preserving burial grounds and areas where sacred rituals are held. They also provide land for farming, timber and other efforts to make the tribes self-sustaining. The article begins with these sentences, describing how from 1998 - 2007, Native American tribes put close to a million acres in trust. These acres are all purchased in the hopes of rebuilding the land ba...

The website Para Guahan is a great source of information from people who are being critical about the planned military buildup. When I say critical, I mean there are people from all different points on the political spectrum posting there, commenting there and sharing there. There are those who want to stop the military buildup, those who want to stall it, those who want to mitigate its impacts and those who want to ensure that the buildup truly does benefit the people of Guam. For those of you out there who are looking for helping in navigating the Draft Environmental Impacts Statement about the military buildup, then head over there. For example, click here to read some notes on Volume 2 Chapter 16 of the massive tome. Also, if you do want to get involved, there's information there on how you can. Yesterday, an interesting post appeared there which I wanted to repost here. It was a list of 198 Ways to Resist the Guam/CNMI Military Buildup . The list comes from the Albert Einste...

One thing that I hate about the holidays is that it seems to take over the world, and not just any world or the world in general, but my world. For a couple of weeks there is this surreal feeling of things both rushing forward, as a deadline looms and zooms toward you, and yet also a feeling of timelessness, as everything around you remains in a "mode," in this case, the Christmas mode. The whole world unites in such a way to ensure that you are spending money, that you are buying gifts, that you are getting into the Christmas spirit. When I have other things on my mind, and other things I need to get done, its so dispiriting to constantly be surrounded by this world of Christmas. What irritates me the most is the songs! Once Thanksgiving is over, the Christmas songs start flooding into the airwaves, appearing everywhere you go. After a while it seems like there is a cabal out there of people who are making different versions of 12 days of Christmas just to torture me! But th...

I first wrote this article "Happy US Imperialism Day! Rethinking the Chamorro Place in the American Empire" in 2003 for the first issue of Minagahet Zine . I intended to post in on my blog each December to commemorate the anniversary of the Japanese invasion of Guam, which helped pull the United States into World War II, and sparked the beginning of I Tiempon Chapones. I last posted it in 2006, after forgetting to publish in in both 2007 and 2008. But with the proposed massive mampos na'ma'a'nao military buildup coming soon, and the island drowning in the thousands of pages of the buildup's Draft Environmental Impact Statement, I thought it would be appropriate to post this piece again. When I first wrote this piece, I wrote the following blurb to go with it: Militarism has been the lifeblood of Guam for so long in terms of the American presence and interest here, and it has become an integral part of Chamorro culture as well. And in "celebration" of...

Hafa Adai Taotao Tano’ Ti este mismo i mensåhin i Maga’låhi. Lao este un otro gof impottante na mensåhi ni’ debi di un taitai antes di un taitai i otro na mensåhi. Put fabot i Taotao Guahan. Po’lo påppa’ i lapes-miyu yan i pluman-miyu. Puno’ i telebishon-miyu. Na’fanmaigo’ i famagu’on-miyu yan godde’ i ga -miyu. Basta todu i buskabidan-miyu, put fabot fanngaha’ yan atan magi. Siempre ti mannina’desganao Hamyo ni’ este na mensåhi. Esta hu tungo’ na meggai giya Hamyo ni’ ti yan-miyu i Maga’låhin på’go’. Esta gi fino’ Ingles “keyao na nganga” gui’. Pau tunok ginnen i ofisinå-ña gi i otro sakkan, ya put este na esta ti apmam na tiempo-ña, guaha nai kulang taibali gui’. Guaha nai an un atan i atadok-ña siha, na kamten gui’, esta o’sun gui’ nu este na lina’la’, ya esta listo gui’ para u dingu i ofisinå-ña. Lao para på’go na momento, Guiguiya ha’ i ma’gås-ta, ya Guiya gumigiha gi este gof dongkulo na “military buildup.” Hu konfotme na guaha na biahi kalang binådu Si Camacho ni’ esta para u ti...

Gof ya-ña Si Sumåhi umegga’ Youtube. Sa’ maseha hafa malago-ña para u egga’, siempre guaha mubi giya Youtube. Although her love for Youtube can be debilitating at times, since when I’m working on my computer Sumåhi can suddenly appear at my side, requesting that I put her on my lap and that she be allowed to watch something on my laptop. I don’t know how many times, I’ll be responding to student emails, and Sumåhi will suddenly appear and ask that I show her “kaballo” or horses. But what I really do like about Youtube, is that the videos there have been a great way of helping me teach Sumåhi Chamorro and expand her vocabulary. As she watches a video, I constantly point out things on the screen and tell her what’s going on. This is particularly important with verbs and actions, so she can see what is entailed in the word I am using and therefore better associate it with what she sees around her. So what I’ve decided to do is pick one of Sumåhi favorite Youtube videos, and then paste it ...

I don’t have cable anymore, but I was able to watch live President Obama’s Nobel Prize acceptance lecture the other day. Like most things about Obama, my reactions were very mixed. There were parts I was impressed with, parts I agreed with and enjoyed, but also plenty which I disagreed with and thought was foolish. The speech was very long and so since its final’s week and I have plenty of grading to do, I can’t go in depth into my thoughts or critiques about it, but I can write about some major points from the speech. Fine’nina, gof ya-hu na put fin i Presidenten i Estådos Unidos, malate’. Esta mampos o’sun yu’ nu i chatlenguahin Si President George W. Bush. Guaha nai ti hu komprende taimanu tumaiguihi, na ayu na taihinasso na låhi, inilihi ni’ i taotao Amerikånu (Lao annai hu hasso put i hinasson i taotao Amerikånu, siña hu lakomprende). Having an intelligent US President is not something to dismiss, but something to (even if just a little bit) cherish. When George W. Bush was in pow...