Faisen I Guam Museum Fatfat

For the past few months I've been holding livestreams on behalf of the Guam Museum called "Faisen I Guam Museum" or "Ask the Guam Museum." Gi minagahet, I love these livestreams, sen ya-hu siha. Because they give me a chance to answer questions people might have about things related to Guam/Marianas History, Chamoru language and culture.

This takes me back to when I was a graduate student at UOG in Micronesian Studies, spending half the day in the MARC archives and the other half doing oral history. I was always brimming with information, things I had learned or come across, and was always looking for ways to share it with others.
At that time I was spending alot of time too shadowing my grandparents, being their driver or chaperone. Taking grandpa to the Chamorro Village or to present about Chamoru tools. Taking my grandmother to funerals and other events. I used to not particularly enjoy being their driver and following them around since, they tended to talk to other older people, either in Chamoru or just about things I didn't know about or didn't really care about.
But as I researched more, learned more and became able to speak and understand Chamoru, I started to enjoy following them and joining the conversations. It usually came about when one of them would be discussing something and then one of my grandparents would turn to me and ask me a question about prewar history or Chamoru culture or even ancient Chamoru words. I would feel proud if I knew the answer and could tell everyone, but if I didn't I would get out a notebook and say "despensa grandma/grandpa. Ti siguro yu', ti hu tungo' enao, nangga ya bei espihåyi hamyo nu enao gi archives agupa'!" I'm not sure I don't know that, wait and I'll look for it (for you) in the archives tomorow!
My grandparents have both passed on, but I still enjoy being able to help people know and understand more about our past. If you have any questions you'd like me to try to answer for my the next livestream next week you can message me on Facebook or Instagram or email me at Michael.bevacqua@dca.guam.gov.

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