Yanggen Ti Hita Tumuge'...



There is an wonderfully engaging and educational free exhibit at the Guam Museum right now titled "Yanggen Ti Hita Pues Håyi?" which chronicles the movements for self-determination and decolonization over the past century in Guam. While the exhibit is up, community groups are taking advantage of the space and the history on the walls, to hold events and talks. It is wonderful to be in the space, surrounded by the work, voices and reminders of so many who have gone before.


The Guam Bus and the Guam Commissionon Decolonization are holding one such workshop tomorrow titled "Yanggen Ti Hita Tumuge', Pues Håyi?" meaning "If We Don't Write It, Then Who?" It is free for all to attend and will take place tomorrow night, (6/3) in the Guam Museum's rotating gallery from 5:30 - 7:00 pm.



 

As part of the event, some local writers will share their work, Victoria-Lola Leon Guerrero, a writer and head of UOG Press will offer some tips on how to get your work published, and then we'll also talk about how people can get organized into writing groups or collectives, whether for fun or to encourage themselves to publish.



 

For anyone who has been looking for writing community, this is a great place to start and meet other writers and learn about some writing opportunities.

The other day while walking through the exhibit I took some books that I had in my bag and held them up in different areas and snapped pictures of them. We can see that accompanying the political history, where there are demands for greater self-government and for political status change, and the idea of the Chamoru people having rights and being indigenous, integral to this is Chamorus desiring to retell stories long told against them. To research their past and make new connections to their ancestors that colonization has long disconnected them from. To rejoin the world and imagine the world in new ways, where they are not simply a footnote or an addendum to an empire, but the main character to their own story once again. Writing, telling the stories, not just in fiction, but through history books, through narration, through poetry, through plays, through films, all of these become ways in which the political movements on the walls of the exhibit are inspired and given life.

Please come and join us tomorrow to hear from some amazing writers.




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