NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

While I was in San Diego attending graduate school I worked with alot of the Chamorro community out there, in particular the non-profit group CHELU Inc. CHELU stands for Chamorro Hands in Education Links Unity and it was created to support the Chamorro people and the maintenance of their health, their language and their heritage. I served briefly as a board member to CHELU, during which time I helped write for them a $100,000 ANA or Administration of Native Americans Grant, to study the state of the Chamorro language in San Diego county, which hosts the largest population of Chamorros anywhere outside of the Marianas. The grant was called Tungo' i Estao i Fino'-ta , and despite the group being rejected for the same grant the year earlier, with my help we received it and the study was conducted. When I helped organize three Famoksaiyan conferences in San Diego and the Bay Area, many Guam clubs or Chamorro groups were not supportive and sometimes openly hostile of what we were...

At the Guma'famoksaiyan conference last month, I organized a session on Learning Chamorro Language Through Songs, which went very well. Songs is one of the most fun ways through which you can learn a language, and so while most Chamorros who don't speak the language, might have some knowledge about Chamorro music and songs and may even enjoy listening to it, its unfortunate that there isn't more effort being put into using music as a medium through which we can revitalize the language. For this session all those present divided into three groups, and each group had a song leader who would teach one Chamorro song to those in their group over about forty minutes. When time was up, all the groups would gather together and present the the rest of the conference their song. It was decided during the session that there should be judges too in order to select which group was the best. The session went very well and people incorporated different performaces and dancing into their ...

Some photos from the Guma'Famoksaiyan conference last week. Si Yu'us Ma'ase nu todu ni' manmatto yan mandana'. _______________________________________

Sorry I won't be posting much for the next few days. This weekend is the 2008 Famoksaiyan gathering, Guma'Famoksaiyan: Gathering Strength for the Journey Ahead , and so I've got plenty of things to do to prepare for it. I'm actually writing up right now the roles and rules for an activity were going to try out, called "Decolonization Roleplaying." I'll have more to say about it later. But I figured I had to post something today, because I've gotten a rush of new traffic over the past week. Last week I was chosen to be one of the 55 state (and territorial/colonial) bloggers to be represented at the Democratic National Convention in Denver in August. A link to my blog has been floating around the internet, on all kinds of Democratic, liberal, progressive and yes sometimes conservative sites, which has been driving a lot of new readers here. So I now have, for at least the new few months, a new audience for this blog, and new obligations in terms of wri...

Minagahet Zine Volume 6 Issue 2 - March 24, 2008 http://www.geocities.com/minagahet Hafa Adai, yan welcome to i mina'trenta sais na Minagahet. It is that time of year again, almost time for another dinaña' Famoksaiyan or Famoksaiyan gathering. This year's gathering is titled " Guma'Famoksaiyan: Gathering Strength for the Journey Ahead ," and is scheduled for May 23-25, 2008 in San Diego, California. This year's gathering is being co-sponsored by Chamorro Hands in Education Links Unity (CHELU) Inc. For more info or to find regular updates, please head to the Guma'Famoksaiyan blog. This issue of Minagahet will be, for those who don't know much about Famoksaiyan, an introduction to hayi ham? and ginnen manu ham? And for those who already do know about Famoksaiyan it will be a retrospective of sorts, a collection of different events and projects that we've completed over the past three years. Ti bai hu kedagi hamyo, it has been surreal putting t...

Very busy lately, almost too many things to do, not enough time, but so many of these things are EXCITING!...or...at least interesting. Planning for the upcoming gathering Guma'Famoksaiyan: Gathering Strength for the Journey Ahead, to take place May 24-25 in San Diego, California, is going well. Email me or head to Guma'Famoksaiyan if you'd like to know more about Famoksaiyan , or attend the gathering. We are hoping for more new faces this year, and are also hoping to focus on building our infrastructure as an organization. I also have a few presentations coming up in Riverside and Davis. I'll be speaking in my friend Setsu Shigematu's class on Tuesday about Chamorro soldiers, decolonization and the film Utu. The week after I'll be presenting at UC Davis, at the conference Discursive Practices: The Formation of a Transnational Indigenous Poetics . Other than this, however the most important news is Barack Obama's goffffff na didide' na victory over Hill...

We're about a month away from the very exciting Guma'Famoksaiyan gathering to take place May 23-25, 2008 in San Diego, California. For those who don't know what this gathering will entail, let me post a description below: In times past, knowledge, skills, family and village histories were passed down to the younger generations through different guma’ or houses, such as the guma’saga’ or the family home, or the guma’ulitao, the bachelor’s house. In these spaces young Chamorros, would be given the crucial knowledge of their family, clan and village genealogy, and also be imparted the necessary skills for tasks such as planting, fishing, navigation, debate and weaving. Through this inter-generational sharing, young Chamorros would be prepared to be productive, respectful and active members of both their clan and their village. As Chamorros and their islands face uncertain futures due to various economic, health, environmental, military and social concerns, it is crucial that w...