NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

Two letters to the editor on recent and not so recent activities related to Guam's decolonization. For those who don't know, there are three political status options that are outlined per local and international law for Guam's future, integration (statehood), free association and independence. Each of these status has a task force that is mandated to educate the community about their status. These task forces are volunteer and have always been, although public law does indicate that the Commission on Decolonization is supposed to provide funding and support for their outreach. But there is little written into the law about the structure of these task forces or details about their obligations. They are supposed to have a certain amount of members and they each have a chairperson who gets to serve and vote on the Commission itself, but other than that, they are amorphous and nebulous non-governmental organizations. The business of government usually moves slowly, unless...

Gaige yu' giya Grand Rapids, Michigan gi este na simåna para i kada såkkan na konferensia para i NASAA (National Assembly of State Arts Agencies). Gof umachågo' iya Guahan yan iya Michigan. Siña este i uttimo na sakkån-hu gi CAHA, nai sumesetbe yu' komo membron board desde 2011. Gi este na konferensia mandanña' membro ginen i arts council gi diferentes na states pat territories, ya ma diskuti hafa guaguaha put prugraman art siha gi i bånda Federåt. Ma diskuti lokkue' diferentes na strategies put i prublema yan chinanada siha i arts councils ma fafana' på'go.

Some recent articles about budgets and bills and the yinaoyao between the Legislature, most notably Senator BJ Cruz and Governor Eddie Calvo and his team at Adelup. Ti menhalom yu' put este na asunto siha, pues tåya' otro sinangån-hu. Taitai este siha, ya hagu un diside håyi gaitinina yan håyi mambebende dinagi. ******************** September 10, 2016 The Honorable Edward J.B. Calvo Governor of Guam Ricardo J. Bordallo Governor’s Complex Hagåtña, Guam 96910 Re: Response to Lapse Message on Substitute Bill No. 250-33 (COR) Dear Governor Calvo: Håfa adai! On September 1, 2016, I delivered a letter to you relative to the concerns you identified regarding Substitute Bill No. 250-33 (SB250), now the Annual Appropriations Act of FY 2017. I had hoped my clarifications would have prompted you to direct your fiscal team to reconsider its initial findings on SB250. Unfortunately, based on your lapse message to Speaker Judith T. Won Pat, you have disregarded the fact...

Estague i ofisiat na tinifong para i "primary" na botasion, ni' masusedi gi diha bente siete, Agusto, Dos Mit Diesi Sais. Manmakuenta gi este na tinifong, i botu siha ginen todu i sasenta saia na distritu. Delegate (Democrats)  Bordallo, Madeleine (i): 8,028 Babauta, Anthony: 4,698 Delegate (Republicans)  Camacho, Felix: 4,627 Metcalfe, Margaret: 3,025 Legislature (Democrats)  Aguon Jr., Frank (i): 9,381  San Nicolas, Michael (i): 9,381  Terlaje, Therese: 9,149 Cruz, Benjamin J. (i): 8,221 Nelson, Telena: 7,985 Rodriguez Jr., Dennis G. (i): 7,736 Ada, Thomas C. (i): 7,270 San Agustin, Joe S.: 7,217 Underwood, Nerissa (i): 7,022  Muna Barnes, Tina (i): 6,869  Won Pat, Judith (i): 6,526 Lee, Regine: 6,281 Respicio, Rory J. (i): 6,278  Bordallo Jr., Fred: 6,014  Alerta, Jermaine: 5,562 Gaza, Victor: 4,462 Dominguez, Armando: 3,649 Legislature (Republicans)  Blas Jr., Frank (i): 5,315 Castro, William...

I first wrote this article 13 years ago while I was applying for graduate school in the states and working part-time at the Guam Communications Network in Long Beach, California. My auntie Fran Lujan was working there as well and they had an irregular publication called Galaide'. Prior to my leaving Guam, I had photocopied hundreds of articles from the Pacific Daily News around the time of the the 9/11 attacks, and I had spent more than a year trying to organize my thoughts on it. It seemed so strange in that moment, how everyone was reaching out to the United States, trying to find a way to patriotically or tragically feel included in its embrace. But the more that people asserted their inclusion and their belonging, the more the structure of their exclusion became pronounced and obvious. I used the article below as my attempt. It remains my first all-out attempt at a critical intervention. I still find myself making some of these arguments, whereas others I have moved on from o...

Ti hu egga' i Commander and Chief forum gi NBC yan MSNBC pa'go. Tinane' yu' ni' mamana'na'gue. Hiningok-hu meggai gi internet put håfa masusedi. Ti makopbla si Trump. Machanda si Hillary. Ti nahong i minagahet gi sinangan-ñiha. Lao, impottante nai na ti ta po'lo na parehu este na dos. Ti chumilong i hinasson-ñiha. Ti chumilong i minalate'-ñiha. Buente ti ya-mu i idehå-ña pat i sinangån-ña si Hillary, lao ti puniyon na gaitiningo' gui'. Lao ai adai si Trump. Annok na ti meggai, ti nahong i tiningo'-ña put este na asunto siha. Ti listo gui' para u presidente. ********************** Clinton: No US Ground Troops in Iraq, Syria; Trump: Steal Iraqi Oil by Juan Cole Informed Comment September 8, 2016 The NBC Candidates Forum continued the shameful corporate coverage of the Great American Meltdown that is our election season. That season has given us a Faux Cable News that runs clips of only one side and p...

The Chamorro Diaspora Michael Lujan Bevacqua The Marianas Variety April 23, 2016 I spent five years of my life in San Diego while I was attending graduate school there at UCSD. It was an interesting experience that truly helped to shape and deepen my understanding of Chamorros as a people today.    We may see Chamorros as tied to home islands in the Marianas, but the reality is that more than half of the Chamorro people live in the United States in what scholars refer to as “the diaspora.” For most of my life, I have moved back and forth between Guam and this diaspora — spending a few years in Guam and then a few years in Hawai’i, a few more years in Guam, a few more years in California and so on. Although people tend to conceive of Chamorros as being either the “from the island” or “from the states” variety, there has, since the revoking of the military’s postwar security clearance, been a constant back and forth migration of Chamorros. Individuals...