NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

The grandfather of someone very close to me passed away recently. As I type this, I’m currently in the hospital in the middle of the night keeping watch over my own grandfather, who has been here for several days now. “Matai Si Ukudu gi un kåmyo,” i Chamoru ma sångan. Hunggan, dinanche este. Yanggen tin un tungo’ håyi Si Ukudu, gi i tiempon antigu, gof kapas Si Ukudu mumasge’. Achokka’ gof pikaru este taotao, ya meggai manina’bubu as Guiya, gof mappot para makonne’! I minagahet este na sinangan. Hunggan, maskeseha Si Ukudu ha eskapåyi todu i enimigu-ña siha gi lina’la’, guaha unu na ti ha hulat umigi. Ya kinenne’ gui’ ni’ este na kontrariu annai gaige ha’ gi i kamyo-ña. My life has been a bit crazy in recent months. Amongst many other things, I moved to Guam, I defended my dissertation, I started working at the University of Guam. There were so many other moments however, which were incredibly difficult and which in some instances I still haven’t found time to truly reflect on. For ins...

My grandfather, echoing older days of politics on Guam, often says that the Guam Legislature always needs at least one Lujan. Its for that reason that in the 2008 election, in which grandpa was particularly displeased and disgusted at the character of the potential candidates for the office, he only cast two votes. One for Doug Moylan ( sa' ga'mumu yan ga'gumantes gui') and the other for Jesse Anderson Lujan, also because ga'mumu gui', but more so because Lujan gui'. Unfortunately the votes of my grandfather, my grandmother and even my brother weren't enough to put Jesse Anderson Lujan or "JAL" as I fondly refer to him as over the top in this past election, and so next year the Leyesleturan Guahan will be without a person who has Lujan as their last name. Oh, they'll be plenty of people with Lujan parientes or relatives, but no one left whose main family identifiers are Lujan, through either their mother or father (at least on the surface, ...

On November 29th, the Chamorro creative arts group " Ginen I Hila’ I Maga’taotao Siha " wil be hosting a Stories and Songs Festival, which is free and open to the public and will feature Chamorro/Guam storytelling as well as arts and crafts. The group has been organizing a series of very enjoyable presentations recently, even having on before Halloween, where they told ghost stories on the beach at Ipan. I'll be participating in this festival in a number of ways. First off me and i che'lu-hu Kuri will have a table set up in order to display the tools of our grandfather Tun Jack Lujan. My grandpa has been a Chamorro blacksmith for more than 80 years now, and whereas the island once had several dozen tool makers, he is now the only traditional one, or one who comes from a generational legacy. Put i mafana'guen-na i che'lu-hu, esta gaige gi entre i familia-ku kuatro na henerasion herrero. Yesterday I posted some videos of grandpa, Kuri and me working in the sho...

Whenever I come back to Guam, I find myself closer and closer to death and mortality. When I speak about the state of affairs on Guam both here on the island and elsewhere, one of the shocking statistics that I tend to bring up is the almost unbelievable rates of death for certain cancers on Guam. According to research done by Dr. Lisa Natividad, for some of these cancers, the rates of death are 40 times higher on Guam than they are for the rest of the United States. Another statistic that I often cite is the number of Chamorros from Guam and the CNMI that have been killed fighting in America's "War on Terror." The numbers are appalling considering the small populations of Chamorros. When you combine them with the deaths of soldiers and contractors from other Micronesian islands, you have more than thirty people killed in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Horn of Africa and the Persian Gulf. I wrote on these deaths several months ago in my post " We Are War Stories ." Anot...

Ti manuge’ yu’ gi i ma’pos na simåna put I Ha’anin Mannana. Despues yu’ put este, sa’ achokka’ siña ta sångan na “puru ha’ ginnen i minalago i mangkometsiånte este na ha’ani” i espiritu ni’ ha kekeonra sen maolek sinembatgo. Gi i todu i kettura siha, ma o’onra i mannana yan i famalao’an, lao pi’ot gi i kutrran “matriarchal” siha, nai ma gof respepeta i bida yan i pusishon i famalao’an. Achokka’ i Españot yan i Amerikånu, annai manhalom siha giya Guahån, ma kefunas este na espiritu gi i ketturan Chamoru, ti kabåles i minalago-ñiha. Olaha mohon yan si yu’us ma’åse na ti ma hulat muna’kabåles este na binaba. Lao put i esta atrasao-hu, ti bei post på’go put Si nana-hu ha’. Achokka’ nahong i mångge na bidå-ña para bai hu na’bula un miyon na posts put Guiya. Instead, bai hu post put i fuetsan todu i famalao’an Chamoru, i mampå’go yan i manmo’na. Eståba yu’ gi i weekend gi halom i mina’tres na dinaña’ Famoksaiyan, Guma’Famoksaiyan: Gathering Strength for the Journey Ahead . Gi este na inetnon...

I always feel very strange and honored to be one of those kids who come back home to Guam, and amongst all the errands and tasks that they are required to do for family members ( manyayabao, mañuñule’ åmot, manyeyettek, manhuhungok estoria siha put i tiempon åntes), I am also asked to write press releases. For those of you who don't know, my Grandfather, Tun Joaquin Flores Lujan (familian Bittot/Katson) is a bit of a celebrity on Guam, as he is the last traditional Chamorro blacksmith. I will post later I'm sure more details on what exactly this means, what tools he makes and what his many accomplishments are. For the moment however, Grandpa is finishing off year long grant with Guam Council on the Arts and Humanities Agency (CAHA) to train two students, one of whom is i che'lu-hu Si Kuri. In compiling his final report for CAHA Grandpa, wants to include some news coverage of his teaching and passing on this trade, and so he enlisted me in getting some news coverage for him...