NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

Today, the word Pagat, is primarily associated with the area known as Pagat in Northeastern Guam, where you can find cliffs for jumping off of, a freshwater cave to swim in, and plenty of ancient artifacts. But Pagat is a Chamorro word, which has plenty of meanings, although it is not a commonly known or used word in Chamorro today. For some younger generations of Chamorros, who may not speak the language, but have been around it enough to understand, Pagat might be a negative term. It is a word meant to criticize or attack someone verbally. For the Guam Preservation Trust, in their recently started Save Pagat Village campaign, they define it as "to give advice." Pagat is a word sometimes associated with counseling someone, even lecturing them. For me however, I know of the word Pagat from its use as pinagat, which means a lecture, speech or sermon. One way in which you could consider the meaning of Pagat, would be the same as to "testify" in a gospel-style church...

I recently hit 300 videos on Youtube. My videos are literally nothing special. Most of them are just random snippets of my life, whether in California or Guam. You'll see my kids, events I attend, my classes, things that I pass by which are interested. They aren't edited, they aren't flashy and for many of them, the camera is so shaky, kulang manunukot gui'. My hope for these videos is that 1,000 years from now, when humanity has been wiped from the face of the earth, as in the movie A.i ., and an advanced alien race visits the planet to try and discover what used to be here, someone, for some insane reason, one of my videos will be the only remanants of human life. And so those alien researchers, archeologists really, will have to conclude that the rules of this world was a cute little girl named Sumahi and that everyone spoke Chamorro with a cute valley girl accent. Anyways, enough silliness. I'm past belowing some of the more interesting picks from the last 100 ...

My art show at I.P. Coffee is still up for those who are interested in seeing my latest pieces. Email me at mlbasquiat@hotmail.com if you have any questions. The week before last I typed up an artist statement basically explaining to those who were interested, where the notion for the show and its title "Before the Storm, After the Fire" came from. In explaining myself, I ended up using the old Quantum Physics paradox/experiment famously known as "Schrodinger's Cat." Except my version, as you'll read in the first paragraph, is localized to become "Schrodinger's Karabao." I would have given this a completely different name, like "Tun Sakati's Karabao," but since most people already have no idea what this means, I decided not to make it even more obscure. ******************************* BEFORE THE STORM, AFTER THE FIRE Michael Lujan Bevacqua - Artist’s Statement Put fabot, imahina na guaha un kuåto, ya gaige gi este na kuåto, un p...

Whenever I read about some new development in Arizona, it constantly reminds me why Ethnic Studies is important as an academic discipline. Since graduating from Ethnic Studies UCSD, I've been trying to get a job at the University of Guam. I haven't been successful yet, and sadly I don't have much hope for the future either, lao sinembatgo bai hu konsigi. One of the reasons why I don't have alot of hope, is because while you could say that all academic departments or schools have their conservative or archaic elements, UOG, as a mixture of a colonial and a "isolated" institution is tough to beat. Most of the faculty, in all departments at UOG have never heard of Ethnic Studies (or many other similar critical disciplines which have come into being over the past 40 years), and have no clue as to what it could be. I'm used to non-academics not knowing and assuming that the degree has something to do with anthropology or "mere" culture, but its strang...

If anyone has any good links or info on how to boycott Arizona let me know. **************************** Sign the Petition Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders Against SB1070 We the undersigned oppose SB 1070, the bill signed into law by Governor Jan Brewer on April 23, 2010. SB 1070 will create second-class citizens of those who are perceived to be foreign and undocumented. We ask that Governor Brewer and the Arizona state legislature repeal SB 1070. The Asian American and Pacific Islander communities particularly understand the unequal burdens of this law because of the racially and economically motivated restrictions on Chinese immigration in 1875 and 1882, Alien Land laws in western states, and the unlawful imprisonment of Japanese Americans based on their ethnic heritage during WWII. Various politicians have noted that the bill is not meant to apply only to Latinos but also to Chinese and Middle Eastern individuals as well. We believe this bill is unconstitutional. Individuals st...

During the DEIS comment period I was involved in alot of different activities or collaborations meant to respond to the document. Family issues and my work schedule didn't allow me to participate as much as I might have wanted to, but I still found some important ways of helping out. In December of 2009 I attended a meeting with half a dozen or so other UOG faculty members, to discuss how, we as UOG professors might respond to the DEIS. A lot of different things were discussed, such as public meetings, presentations, reports or letters. It was exciting to attend that meeting and see others, some of whom I had not met before, working with a similar critical or oppositional intent as my own. But for a variety of reasons, people left that meeting unsure about what we were doing, and also a bit put off, by some of the combatative discussions that had taken place. Some suggestions were made about splitting into groups and taking on certain tasks, but all together, it seemed like taya...

Halacha, hiningok-hu este na sinangan, ko’lo’lo’na gi entre i manakhilo’ yan i mansappotte i buildup giya Guahan, “Ai gumof matahlek i chalan-ña este na buildup.” Gi i hinasson este na taotao siha, estaba gof “simple” este na buildup. Madisidi todu esta, (ya mungga chathinasso sa’ siempre ma planunuyi hit esta lokkue’), ya gaiprubecho este para i taotao Guahan, kontat ki ti manggongon hit yan ti mamaisen kuestion hit. På’go, ayu i manggof malago na u fåtto (ya u magåhet) i buildup, ma susukne i kumokontra i buildup, put i meggai na mampos annok na prublema na para u katga magi. Gi minagahet, desde 2005, ayu na prublema siha, esta manggaige guini, esta manggaige guihi giya Japan, yan esta manggaige lokkue’ giya Washington D.C. I manmalago i buildup, ti ma admite este siha, achokka’ annok, na guaha giya D.C. yan Japan ni’ ti ya-ñiha este na buildup, ya siña mas piligro gui’ kinu prubecho para Hita, ti ma admite. Instead, ma fa’finu todu. Kontra Hita ni’ sumångan na matahlek yan piligro ...

Tomorrow my Guam History classes will be conducting their political status forums. For this exercise, which is their last big group project, I divide them into three groups, one for each of the potential future political statues of Guam, and they have to debate which is the best for Guam. I'll write more about this project later, but it is usually the most fun part of my entire semester, since its high energy, usually gof na'chalek, and I'm always happy when students find small and large ways to surprise me with their arguments. One of the highlights of tomorrow will be when some producers who work for the show Dan Rather Reports will be filming one of my classes when they are debating political status, and then interviewing me afterwards about Guam's history. They are on island doing a story about the infamous military buildup which is always looming in a menacing ambigous form on Guam's horizon. They spent a week last month following Congresswoman Bordallo around,...