NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

When talking about legends many people become focused on what is true and what isn't true? What is authentic and what really happened? What can be determine from the story that is real and what isn't? These types of discussions may have some importance within a historical context, when trying to understand it from the perspective of aligning stories with a particular history or historical context. For example there are ways that you can look at the story of the Iliad from a historical perspective. There are ways you could try to draw out historical truths from it, and even if some of the details may not be real, you can nonetheless see larger societal dynamics at work in the poem.

This is something to keep in mind when we look at Guam or Chamoru legends. Is that there are some ways to examine, analyze or understand them from a historical perspective, but this misses the larger point of their purpose. Legends serve a social or a culture purpose. They aren't meant to be pic…

Hu dingu i islå-ku gi ma'pos na simåna ya måtto yu' para Washington D.C.

Achokka' ti gof åpmam i tinaigue-ku, esta gof mahalang yu' nu i tano'-hu.

Ya este na minahalang, ti put i minanengheng guini gi sanlagu.

It is common to say that Magellan was the first to circumnavigate the globe, but this really isn't true. Magellan lead the expedition. He organized the five ships and crews that left Spain in 1519, and for the most dangerous parts of the journey, meaning the areas that were unknown to Europeans, Magellan was the commander. Magellan had traveled to the Moluccas previously and so he brought a great deal of experience and vision to the expedition. You could even argue that given the fact that Magellan had visited the Western edge of the Pacific years prior, his reaching the Philippines in 1521 would mean that he had traveled around the world, albeit in different pieces. 
But in terms of undertaking a full, continuous voyage around the world, Magellan wasn't the first. After crossing the Pacific, passing through (rather violently) the Marianas, he made his way to the Philippines. He was killed there after his hubris compelled him to get involved in a conflict between tribes. After …

Lumi’of yu’ gi tasi Tahdong, tahdongña ki hu hongge Mañodda’ yu’ tahgong Gi sen manengheng na unai Annai hu chule’ gui’ hulo’ para i sakmån-hu Hu pega gui’ kontra i talanga’-hu I fetgon pinachå-ña mamesña ki hu hongge Ya hu hungok Kumunananaf hulo’ i kantå-mu A’gangña ki i hesguan binibon tåsi Tinektoktok ni’ pappa’ påkyo’ Ya hu tungo’ na gaisiente este na kånta Tahdongña ki hu hongge
Dumesnik hao gi me’nå-hu Ma’lakña ki i langhet Mañiñila ni’ mit chålan na puti’on
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I dove into the ocean Deep, deeper than I believed I found a shell In the freezing cold sand And when I took it back up to my canoe I placed it against my ear The wet touch sweeter than I believed And I heard Your song crawling up Louder than the jealous fury of the ocean Embraced by the wings of a storm And I know that this song has feeling Deeper than I believed
You appeared before me Brighter than the sky Illuminated by a thousand thousand stars

Ti Guahu tumuge' este. I sodda' este gi internet lao ya-hu muna'famta este guini gi iyo-ku blog. Sa' ti meggai na kabåles na tinige' taiguini gi Fino' Chamorro sodda'on gi internet. Gof impottånte este na estoria gi kotturan Chamorro. Gi inaligao-hu put i estoria-ta, esta hu interview fa'na'an mas ki dos siento na manåmko'. I meggaiña manininterview hu faisen este na finaisen "gi dumangkolo'-mu, håfa i lihenden pat estoria na'manman sina un huhungok ginen i mañainå-mu pat i manacha'amko'-mu?" Kalang kada unu sumångan este na estoria put si Sirena.

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Estorian Sirena
Åntes na tiempo, guåha un familia mañasaga giya Hagåtña. Guåha lokkue' un bunitan palao'an gi familia ni na'an-ña si Sirena. Gus ya-ña si Sirena ñumangu, espesiatmente gi halom i saddok Hagåtña. I nånan Sirena ha sangani gue' na kalan guihan gue' gi halom hånom.
Un diha, tinago' si Sirena as nåna-ña na para u cho'…

"Climate Change is a 'Matter of Life and Death' for The Marshall Islands
by Jon Letman
Civil Beat
11/4/16


It takes a combination of guts, grit and gray matter to face off against what is arguably the world’s biggest threat — a planet in the throes of environmental and climate upheaval.
That’s exactly what Hilde Heine displays with an understated conviction that belies her own determination as a Pacific Island leader.

In January, Heine, 65, was sworn in as the eighth president of the Republic of the Marshall Islands and the first female head of state of an independent Pacific Island nation.
Among the many urgent tasks her administration faces is the immediate need to fortify her nation of 29 atolls scattered across 750,000 square miles of the northern Pacific against the impacts of climate change. What’s more, this young nation with a centuries-old history, is challenged by major demographic shifts stemming from the days when the United States used the northern…

Our Voices, Our Stories, Our Ocean
Pacific Literature Conference
May 13-14
University of Guam, Mangilao, Guam


Call for Papers and Presentations
Description of conference and its purpose
Pacific voices and stories have been marginalized in educational spaces throughout the Pacific for too long. However, with the emergence of contemporary Pacific literature since the 1970s, stories and perspectives on Pacific lives have been included in school curricula throughout most of the region (with less prominence in Micronesia). Thus, Our Voices, Our Stories, Our Ocean Pacific Literature Conference aims to provide a venue for Pacific writers and voices to increase awareness about Pacific literature for Pacific educators, students, and writers on Guam and throughout the region.
Moreover, because this conference will take place just two weeks before the 12th Festival of Pacific Arts (FESTPAC) on Guam, the conference’s steering committee encourages participation in this conference so that those i…

For those thinking about the future of Guam, especially in the context of decolonization, we should stop looking to the United States, but instead look to Palau/Belau. Many of our ideas about decolonization or independence and therefore political possibility are tied to the way we perceive the United States. We see it as being the model for the way a country should live and exist today. We are conditioned in an endless number of ways each day and over the course of our lives here to see the United States as the pinnacle of possibility. That if we are to live anyway, it should be the images we have of it. We look to other large and powerful countries as distant alternatives, but always we see America as being where its at. The way we see America however is far from objective. Our gaze drips with colonial nonsense. When the first discussions on political status change and decolonization started to emerge in Guam, one constant refrain of resistance was the notion that Guam could never b…

I've been involved in some form or another with the issue of indigenous fishing rights for Chamorros since 2009. I've attended dozens of meetings, worked on dozens of documents and talked to hundreds about the issue. It has been a largely frustrating endeavor, as the issue is so heavily laden with ideology, that even before you have said anything, people, often with little to no thought or information have already determined their response. What is so strange about Bill 160, is the way it seems to avoid or ignore what progress we've made on the issue of indigenous fishing rights, while creating another layer of government, which could conflict with existing layers of government resource management. I'm supposed to write up a response to Bill 160 and the discussion around it, and so I wanted to share some of the recent articles about it.

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Contentious public hearing for fisheries conservation legislation
by Sabrina Salas Matanane
KUAM
November 17, 201…