NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

This month, Lulai, my third oldest started her first year attending the Maga'låhen Hurao Charter School.  She had begun attending the Hurao Tiempon Somnak over the summer, but now this month has begun attending the Hurao school in earnest and Desiree and I are excited to say the least.  It has just been a few weeks, and so far guaha na biahi ya-ña, guaha na biahi ti ya-ña.  Every day she both enjoys attending school but is also struggling with separation anxiety saying "Ma'å'ñao yu' yan mahålang yu' para si nanå-hu yan si La'yak" (I'm afraid and I miss my mom and La'yak). Lulai's older siblings, Sumåhi and Akli'e' attended Hurao on and off in different forms over the years, sometimes the summer programs, sometimes the after school programs, and later even helping as aides.        All of this was across more then 10 years, yet Hurao wasn't to the point yet where it was an immersion or charter school in earnest.    After taking pi...

  Ya-hu este na litråtu. Lao guaha råson siha, ni' muna'ti ya-hu lokkue'.    I posted this image a few months ago on the Guam Museum's social media as well as my own.    It shows a Guam classroom in the late 1940s. Manggagaige todu, i ma'estra yan i estudiante siha gi halom un kuatto. Tumotohge i ma'estra gi me'nan i pisåra. Esta matuge' guihi i leksion. Uno na hobensita tumotohge mientras i otro manmata'ta'chong. Håfa ilelek-ña este na påtgon? Kao magacha' gui'? Pat kao gof osgon na estudiante ya ha kehåhayi i otro estudiante lol. Hekkua'.   Regardless of whatever is happening in the image itself, I have mixed feelings about this picture, reasons I really like it and reasons it makes me feel uneasy. I like this picture because it shows Chamorus just a few years after the end of the Japanese occupation, life is returning to normal. Schools have been built or rebuilt. Education which was paused or disrupted for two to three years becau...

After finishing up an online  lecture  series last week for the Guam Museum and the cultural diasporic group Håle' Para Agupa', one of the attendees in zoom asked me where I get all this information from, is it in books, are there movies or documentaries. I responded that there are a fair amount of books out there and some documentaries, especially if you are looking for World War II history in Guam. There are many more books out there than in the past, and what is nice is that more of them are written by Chamorus or at least people who have ties to Guam, but who may not be ethnically Chamoru.  I do my best to read whatever I can out there that is connected to Guam, to the Marianas and to Chamoru issues in anyway, and this doesn't only mean things formally published. I enjoy going through documents, archives, newspaper and magazine articles, transcripts from interviews that others have conducted. But one great source of in...

I used to have an assignment in my Guam History classes, where I would have my students visit different schools on the island named for a different local historical figure. They would have to interview an administrator and a teacher to learn how their school honored their namesake and how their namesake’s example or history was or wasn’t incorporated into school curriculum or activities.  Unfortunately, most schools did little in this regard. Some had a simple plaque, a statue, a poem or a song. Some had a day in which they would honor the person. Many of the schools are named for educators from the past century, usually in the village of the school that came to bear their name. Some teachers or administrators who had family ties in the village could share stories about their school’s namesake, but most didn’t know much and couldn’t share much.  I would give this assignment to help students understand the value of history, but also the potential uselessness of history...

A special presentation by Chamorro Studies student at UOG as part of the 2019 MARC Seminar Series. Sen gefpågo este na dinanña'. Ya-hu taiguihi na fina'pos, sa' ta na'fåmta' i lengguahi ya ta na'gof oppan gui' lokkue'! It featured presentations by students at the CM102, 202 and 302 levels. It also featured some very special presentations by my CM340 of Chamoru Culture students. One of whom Joe "Dågu" Babauta is included below in a video with his original song that he shared.

TENTATIVE Inachá’igen Schedule 2019 Inachá’igen Fino’ CHamoru  March 11 and 12, 2019 UOG CLASS Lecture Hall and Calvo Field House Monday, March 11, 2019, CLASS Lecture Hall, 12 noon – 5 p.m. 12 noon                       Participants and Schools Registration                                     CLASS Lecture Hall opens 12:30 p.m.                   Monday Competition Opens                                   ...

2016 Inachá’igen Fino’ CHamoru Chamorro Language Competition March 8 and 9, 2016 University of Guam Theme/Tema: I Fino’ CHamoru: I Guinaha-ta, Iyo-ta yan Ta Fanána’i (The Chamorro Language: Our Abundance and Ours to Share with One Another) List of Winners I. Eskuelan Elementario/Elementary Schools A.     K-2 Dinilitreha/Spelling 1 st Place:         Nathan Galas, Ordot-Chalan Pa’go 2 nd Place:         Antonio Cruz, Mt. Carmel Catholic School 3 rd Place:         Elah Amaqui, Inarajan   B.     3-5 Dinilitreha/Spelling 1 st Place:        Marcy Buekea, J. Q. San Migel 2 nd Place:        Dylan Babauta, Wettengel 3 rd Place:        Ryne Rosario, J. M. Guerrero C.    ...