NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

A special presentation by Chamorro Studies student at UOG as part of the 2019 MARC Seminar Series. Sen gefpågo este na dinanña'. Ya-hu taiguihi na fina'pos, sa' ta na'fåmta' i lengguahi ya ta na'gof oppan gui' lokkue'!

It featured presentations by students at the CM102, 202 and 302 levels. It also featured some very special presentations by my CM340 of Chamoru Culture students. One of whom Joe "Dågu" Babauta is included below in a video with his original song that he shared.

My two columns from earlier this year published in the Pacific Daily News on the ban of cockfighting in the US territories. I've been slowly working towards an article on this topic, targeting two main aspects. 

First, the debate over whether or not we can consider cockfighting to be part of Chamoru culture or whether it is really Chamoru or not. This is deployed in very interesting ways in this debate, as people seem to feel that if it isn't really Chamoru then it is ok and right to ban it. Whereas others tie to a strong, grounded sense of authenticity in contrast to perceived sort of softness of Americanized life.  Very interesting sort of discursive dancing around authenticity. 

Second, the role that Guam's political status plays in the cockfighting ban. Some people argue that we don't necessarily see Guam's colonial status at play here, since this is just another way that big government in Washington, the elites impose things on the little man. This way of framin…

TENTATIVEInachá’igen Schedule 2019 Inachá’igen Fino’ CHamoru  March 11 and 12, 2019 UOG CLASS Lecture Hall and Calvo Field House
Monday, March 11, 2019, CLASS Lecture Hall, 12 noon – 5 p.m.
12 noon                       Participants and Schools Registration                                     CLASS Lecture Hall opens
12:30 p.m.                   Monday Competition Opens Guam and CNMI National Anthems and Inifresi                                     Welcoming Remarks by Dean, CLASS, Dr. James Sellmann                                     Welcoming Remarks by Inachá’igen Chair, Siñot Joey Franquez                                     Housekeeping Matters
1:00 p.m.         Storytelling/Umestoria K - 1:             Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Catholic                                                                                     Merizo Martyrs Memorial Elementary                                                                                     Kagman Elementary 
                        Storytelling/Umes…

Two poems written by the late Angel L.G. Santos while he was in US federal prison in the year 2000. I will write more on them another time, but for now, let them stand here as a testament to who he was and the times in which he lived, and also, how he helped to affect the course of Chamoru and Guam history up until today.

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Who Are We To Uncle Sam – Friend or Foe? (by Angel Leon Guerrero Santos)
As I pen this poem, while I sit in prison, For you silence my voice, in the American tradition;
Who are we Uncle Sam, are we friend or foe? If we are your friend, then treat us as so;
Our land and our water, the air God giveth,  You came to our island, and then you taketh;
We have drinking water, at Fena Lake you will find, You want us to pay “Now!”, cause it’s no longer mine;
Our language and our culture, is 4,000 years old, You pass your own laws, “No More!” we are told;
We live and we learn, you say we are one, You build your own schools, with us you were done;
Our j…

Every year, at some point during at least one of my classes I'll mention the name "Janet Benshoof." It isn't a name commonly known on Guam, at least among the general population, but it was a name that was notorious for a short period in the early 1990s, and one that probably deserves more attention. Janet Benshoof was the ACLU attorney who came to Guam to lead the fight against the strictest and harshest anti-choice, anti-abortion law within the US and its empire as of 1990.

She was the only person arrested under that harsh anti-abortion law that made national headlines. Reading her obituary though I saw that her work was truly international, joining causes for the betterment of women's lives across the globe. In her obit below from the New York Times there is even a section that deals with her time in Guam and a quote from Former Governor of Guam Joseph Ada.

One day I'm gonna write an article about that time in Guam's History, because it represents a f…