NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

I'm in Nicaragua now for the most recent UN Regional Seminar the Third International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism from the World. I'll be testifying on the state of affairs in Guam and also answering questions from the member state that attend the meeting. I have never been to Nicaragua before and probably never would have ended up here save for this invitation by the United Nations. This year is different than any other year that I have visited the UN and its various entities. Over the years I have testified before the Fourth Committee in New York City (2007), visited the UN as a tourist (2008) and attended two regional seminars in Ecuador (2013) and Nicaragua as an expert. This trip represents by far the most interesting experience out of all the others. There is much more dialogue and discussion this year and I am learning far more than I have before. This time around I've decided to share some of what I've learned via this blog. I was torn over wh...

For the Importance of Second Language Learning Forum that I helped organize a few weeks ago, we were honored to have a very diverse and exciting panel. Coming at it from different angles, they covered a number of way, some more philosophical and others more practical, as to how learning a second language can be important and as a result, something that should be required at UOG.  The panel featured the following guests: Kenneth Gofigan Kuper, a Ph.D. student in Political Science at UH Manoa and former student of mine. He is a young activist who has taken up both the banner of decolonization and language revitalization. I've been working with him on a number of projects such as Ha'anen Fino' Chamoru Ha' and the upcoming Lalahen Sinahi project. He took Chamorro as his second language requirement at UOG and it changed the course of his life.  Ronald T. Laguana, the current director of the Division of Chamorro Studies in the Guam Department of Education. He i...

They say that what makes humans different than most other living creatures is their ability to visualize. To act not based on instinct or need or reaction to stimuli, but to hold within their mental processing an amalgamation of temporal moments, some of which have already happened and some of which could or never will happen. Humans therefore have the ability to strategize and adapt better than others, potentially. It also means they have a greater ability than any other species to lie to itself, to trick itself out of seeing obvious things and believing obvious things. To form intensely and exhaustively convoluted explanations for things, in order to keep them from being realized or understood, to suppress truth, to find ways to twist and neuter it. People become so attached to the current moment, in the same way the white at the crest of a wave feels dependent upon the particular form of the wave in order for it to exist. This attachment makes them see everything they can behind...

Feingold 2016 Nadia Prupis Common Dreams 5/14/15 Former U.S. Senator Russ Feingold, Democrat from Wisconsin, on Thursday announced plans to run for reelection and regain the seat, setting up a rematch with Republican Ron Johnson, whom Politico describes as "one of the most vulnerable incumbents on the 2016 Senate map." Feingold represented Wisconsin in the U.S. Senate for 18 years before he was defeated by the conservative Johnson in 2010's "Tea Party wave." However, as Politico points out, Feingold appears to have an advantage even two years ahead of the election, with a Marquette Law School poll conducted last month giving him 54 percent of the vote. In a video announcing his run, Feingold singled out money in politics as a major factor in his campaign. "People tell me all the time that our politics in Washington are broken and that multi-millionaires, billionaires and big corporations are calling all the shots," he stated. ...

I collect nicknames for Guam. In fact I usually begin every Guam History class by filling a white board with different names the Spanish, the Americans, the Japanese and others have given Guam over the years. One of the most interesting one that few people here remember is "unsinkable aircraft carrier." Guam is not alone in terms of being given this designation. Other places such as Israel, Diego Garcia, Hawai'i and even Okinawa are all considered to be of similar strategic value to the United States. I have heard many different explanations as to where this term comes from and why it is apt for Guam. Think about it for a moment and come up with your own interpretation.  ****************** Protests Growing in Okinawa Over U.S. Military Presence Jon Letman 4/03/15 Huffington Post If you live in Hawaii, you probably have more exposure to things Okinawan than most Americans. According to the University of Hawaii Center for Okinawan Studies, an estimated 45,00...

I miss teaching history. Guam History and World History were my teaching for for close to five years. I've only recently started teaching Chamorro formally at UOG, and although I enjoy it, for many years teaching history was my passion. I loved the way that history provided a means of probing and opening students' minds by revealing to them the invisible and unknown things that exist within them. The way that a word could be traced back in time and attached certain meanings that might have been unfathomable before. The way a word, a custom has been adapted and altered over time, and how it may unintentionally reflect and refract previous areas without people today realizing it. My most enjoyable experience was to root in the earth and in human meaning, things which people accept to be untouchable, natural, unquestionable. Perhaps not in the sense that they would refuse to entertain any questions about something, but rather the way that thing might persist in the...

The latte stones that we find at Angel Santos Memorial Latte Stone Park in Hagatna are some of the most iconic on Guam. They are larger than most on island and found in a central location in the historic Hagatna area. Tens of thousands of tourists visit them each year. The late Angel Santos, a Chamorro human rights activist and Maga’lahi of Nasion Chamoru loved to meditate around those stones. When Nasion Chamoru first came into being as an activist group, they declared their existence in a ceremony at that very park, surrounded by those latte and the spirits of the Chamorro aniti or ancestors that they represented. A statue of him will be unveiled soon, which helps to mark the space as not just one of commemoration, but one of transformation and possible critique. While for so many these stones represent the minesngon of the Chamorro people, and their history, their culture, like remnants of a lost time, they represent so much more than that. There is a sign there next...

The Forum on the Importance of Second Language Learning that I helped organize last week at UOG was a huge success. We had a massive crowd of students and members of the community. The comments that were made came from all types of people. Some students spoke about how important it is to requires students to take second languages because it will provide them so many long term benefits that they may not be able to perceive yet. Some community members spoke about how this idea of English-only or focusing the education at UOG on a single language was like a slap in the face to the dozens of languages that are spoken daily in Guam. Some business owners talked about the need for more languages to be taught at UOG and that more languages make you more intelligent and marketable. Some teachers talked about how students who know more than one language perform better in school than those who are monolingual. The conversation was fantastic, we stayed an hour and fifteen minutes beyond our sche...

Ya-hu este na mensahi. Gof tahdong na mensahi este. Meggai mamamaisen put taimanu na sina mandana' pat manunu i Chamorro siha. Hu komprende na na'malago' este na guinife, lao i chalan para ayu ti tunas, sen matahlek. Sina ta imahina ayu, lao ti sina ta na'magahet ayu. Achokka' sina manomlat todu i taotao-ta gi unu na palabra "Chamorro" guaha meggai na diversity gi ayu na palabra ha'. Guaha diferentes na dinilitreha. Guaha diferenestes na hinasso put hafa i Chamorro. Guaha ti yan-niha i palabra "Chamorro" sa' maayao ayu ginen i Espanot. Guaha ti yan-niha i Chamorro sa' ga'o-'niha i palabra "Guamanian." Guaha pa'go ma aguguiguiyi i palabra "Taotao Haya" para i mas natibu na na'an-ta. Guaha lokkue' ma propoponi na ta tulaika i na'an - taotao-ta para "taotaomo'na," sa' Hita i manmo'na na taotao guini gi este na patten Pasifiku.  Este na diferensia put ...

If you look at pictures of Chamorros a hundred years ago, we look markedly different today. I do not mean in terms of skin color and so on, but I mean in terms of size. If you look at images of Chamorros a century ago there are some who look healthy and comfortable in their size, but most, especially men are quite skinny. Descriptions of Ancient Chamorros allude to them being a bit on the larger side, healthy, but slightly overweight. A happy and comfortable plumpness.  Chamorros today are a very large and very unhealthy people. Some of this can be blamed on environmental factors, such as poisons in the land and sea due to militarization. It can also be blamed on the diets of people today, which are a combination of poor health choices but also structural conditions that go all the way back to the end of World War II and the drastic changes that took place in the Chamorro way of life. Chamorros are not unique in this regard but it is a tragic story we find across the Pacific, ...