NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

Representatives of the group Our Islands Are Sacred delivered the letter below to Governor of Guam Eddie Baza Calvo at 4 pm on September 11th, 2015. The letter expresses the disapproval of many of the military buildup proposals to Guam and the Marianas by the United State and also to Governor Calvo's rhetoric regarding the buildup. The group is inviting community member to also submit letters to Governor Calvo expressing your own thoughts on the military buildup and the recently signed Record of Decision, which is meant to move the buildup plans forward for Guam. ****************** Open Letter to Governor Eddie Baza Calvo September 11, 2015 Hafa Adai Governor Calvo, When we first heard about the military buildup, we were shocked to learn how massive it was. We couldn’t believe the Federal Government would even imagine proposing something so clearly harmful for our island and our people. So we fought and we fought hard. We even took the feds to court and WON! W...

Taya' fino'-hu put este na asunto'. Ti hongge'on i bidada-na este na palao'an Si Kim Davis.  Atan ha' este na articles siha ginen Si Allen Clifton, mas gaitiningo' gui' kinu Guahu pa'go. Atan lokkue' i memes siha put Si Kim Davis. Ai adai, sen dinanche, sen na'chalek. Mabuena. *************** A Message to Kentucky County Clerk Kim Davis: You’re a Disgrace and a Hypocrite By Allen Clifton 9/2/15 Forward Progressives One of the most dominant stories of the last few days has been the continued refusal by Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, in defiance of the Supreme Court’s ruling that bans on gay marriage were unconstitutional. Wait, a slight correction – she’s actually not issuing any marriage licenses, not even to straight couples. In other words, she’s not doing her job. If you ask me, I get the feeling this is just all one big scam. Normally this isn’t a story that ...

Mafitma i ROD gi i ma'pos na simana. I Maga'lahen Guahan ha silelebra este komo un gefpago na rigalu para i taotao Guahan. Lao anai hu hungok i sinangan-na sigi di hu faisen maisa yu', "hafa magahet na ha taitai ayu na ROD?" Kao ha tungo' hafa ilelek-na? Anggen magahet na ha taitai ayu, ti sina ha sangan ayu. Ti ha konfotme i sinangan-na i ROD, ha chanda gui'. Gi i dinesganao-hu, muna'hasso yu' put i sinangan-na i difunto na Senadot Ben Pangelinan. Matai gui' gi ma'pos na sakkan, lao hu record gui' gi Mayu, anai tumestigu gui' para i huntan publiko put i SEIS. Estague i video para i tinestigu-na, ya hu pega lokkue' gi papa' unu na tininge'-na ginen i ma'pos na sakkan lokkue'. ******************* Estague i Mañamoru! ben’s Pen Published in Marianas Variety March 13, 2014 THE month of March signals the start of our celebration of Mes Chamorro. School children around th...

I used to run (with the help of a few others) the blog Peace and Justice for Guam and the Pacific . It is still online and features more than a thousand articles from a variety of sources dealing with issues of peace, militarization and culture primarily in Guam, but also in the wider Pacific. I was working on the draft of an article recently talking about Nasion Chamoru and their effect on Chamorro activism and Guam society. I found on that blog several articles and I wanted to share some of them below. ***************** Mayors shuns Chamorro Nation By Mar-Vic Cagurangan Variety News Staff July 16, 2007 GUAM senators yesterday gave the Japanese delegation a rundown of demands that they want from the U.S. government in exchange for hosting the 8,000 troops that will be relocated from Okinawa, while Chamorro activists told the delegation that they don't want the Marines to come to Guam at all. The delegation, however, declined to give audience to Chamorro Natio...

While in Japan last month I didn't get to hear much Chamorro. When i nobia-hu Elizabeth Kelley Bowman visited we would speak Chamorro to each other and I did bring some Chamorro LPs with me that I would listen to in my apartment, but for my last week in Japan I got particularly homesick for the Chamorro language. Thankfully the group Famagu'on Tano' yan I Tasi was there to help me with my minahalang. They are a Japan based Chamorro dance group, comprised of primarily education majors at Teikyo University under the guidance of Dr. Kyoko Nakayama. I visited the group in Tokyo in my final days, conducted some interviews, gave a talk and was treated to a BBQ. On a crowded Sunday afternoon, in an ocean of people speaking Japanese, it was so nice to have a group singing and chanting in Chamorro. Given the occasion one song they sang over and over was "Nihi ta fanhanao ta fanpiknik." I've included the lyrics below. Nihi ta fanhånao ta fanpiknik, Guih...

When I was in Fukushima I saw a map of the areas around the nuclear power plant which were affected by radiation. There were different colors bleeding out, being darkest and reddest close to the plant, but becoming lighter and orange and yellow as it moved further northwest, until it became just white like the rest of the prefectures in the Tohoku region of Japan. It was interesting seeing the discourse change as conversation with people moved from one area to the other around that map. In Fukushima, where the radiation levels were considered safe enough that no one was evacuated, but dangerous enough that all the dirt in the city is being dug up and stuffed into trash bags, no one was evacuated. I visited Iitate Village, featured in the New York Times article below, where people were warned and evacuated a month after the earthquake and meltdown, and may have been exposed to dangerous levels of radiation during that delay. In Iitate people are allowed to return, but cannot stay over...

Gi Fino' Chamoru guaha ma sangan, "i linachi-mu siha mas muna'kapas hao." Este kumekeilekna na taya' perkefto taotao gi hilo' tano' ya humuyongna, i linachi-ta sina gof impottante gi taimanu ta na'lakabales hit komo taotao gi lina'la'. Lao gi i halacha na "news," kalang taya' esperansa para Si Scott Walker gi i Republican botasion para President gi otro sakkan. Hu taitaitai meggai put i linachi-na, lao ti annok taimanu ha fa'mamaolek gui' pat taimanu ha tulailaika i chalan-na put i nuebu na tiningo' yan kinemprende ni' nina'na'i gui' ni' linachi-na. *********************** When you're as bad at campaign as Scott Walker, you should just give up by Jeb Lund 9/3/15 The Guardian UK S cott Walker’s presidential campaign is only a little over 50 days old, and it’s increasingly obvious that Scott Walker sucks. Not for his record or what he believes , although both of those are – to bor...