NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

This past year I was fortunate enough to help Dr. Kelly Marsh-Taitano and Tyrone Taitano with the annual island review for Guam to be published in The Contemporary Pacific. I've been reading these annual reviews for years now and they are always a wonderful resource for people who are trying to trace trends or movements in the island. These reviews sometimes have a good way of highlighting certain things that the mainstream media in Guam ignores or doesn't give much attention. For this year's review I focused on the section dealing with the Commission on Decolonization. This is one thing which the reviews often times draw alot of attention to, even if the island community in general isn't paying attention or doesn't care. I'm pasting below the Guam review from 2003, written by Chamorro Studies and History professor from the University of Guam Anne Perez Hattori:

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Guam - Island Review
by Anne Perez Hattori
The Contemporary Pacific
2003

Spiral…

I am working tonight on a review of the past year on Guam in terms of decolonization. As a member of the Commission on Decolonization and the Independence for Guam Task Force and a community activist and scholar who has been working on and studying this issue for more than 10 years, I am excited to take up this task. Compared to the 1980s and 1990s when the issue of Commonwealth was prominent and much of the island was united behind it, the past decade and a half has been relatively quiet. Part of the reason for this is that the Commission on Decolonization, which replaced the old Commission on Self-Determination has lacked any real funding for the past two administrations. Staff positions have been paid for, but the Commission has received no funding whatsoever for programming or for educational materials. The previous administration under Felix Camacho almost seemed to shiver in fear at the idea of decolonization and did very little to support or promote it. When Eddie Calvo took o…

From the AP, found on the Huffington Post

Este i kannai i dos ni' pumoksai yu.

Para i manmofo'na na Chamorro siha, i kannai un gof impottante na simbolu put i guinaiya i saina-mu, ko'lo'lo'na i famalao'an na manaina-mu. Anggen matai un sen presisu yan ti tulaikayon na palao'an put hemplo Si Nana'-mu pat i Nanan Biha-mu, siempre para un chule' i te'lang i kannai-na. Para todu i manmatai un chule' i ha'i'guas, sa' ayu i ankla, ayu muna'chechetton i anten-niha para i tano' i familai. Lao para un sen mangge' na palao'an ni' gumu'ot yan fuma'maolek i meggai na patte gi i familia, i mas takhilo' na simbulo i tel'ang kannai.

Opposition to the Affordable Care Actby Bruce KarolleLetter to the EditorMarianas Variety10/29/13 AMAZINGLY, Obamacare threatens America’s unique status among the world’s advanced economies. As a nation where access to regular medical care has been a privilege, a privilege, according to many right-wing conservatives, that must be earned. We are the only advanced, Western-oriented country in the world with such a privileged healthcare system.

Our friends in Canada and our buddies the Brits (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland), perhaps America’s two closest allies, have had for years superior national health plans for all their citizens, as have other developed countries, i.e., France, Australia and Israel. When measured comparatively, their costs are far less than ours over the past decades.

Since the days of President Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt (early 1900s), seven other U.S. presidents, in my lifetime, have proposed national healthcare plans (Truman, Ei…

When I was younger growing up on Guam I remember my mother being involved in two major issues of the time. Firstly, she was involved in one of the many research projects about the cause of Litiko Bodig on Guam. I didn't understand much at the time, just that my mother was spending time with old Chamorro people and sometimes even taking them on trips to the states to meet with scientists.

The other issue was the "abortion muddle" surrounding what became infamous as the most draconian anti-choice anti-abortion law in the United States and its colonies. My mother was the President of the Guam Nurses Association at the time and although it was controversial, they took a stand against the abortion law, since it took away from women the right to choose what happens to their bodies. I remember marching with her at protests and even seeing her in a copy of the history book I used for World History 2 at UOG, from when she participated at a women's rights rally in Washington …