NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

Humånao si Jose para mamfe’ pugua’ gi halomtåno’. Gi kinekiyong-ña manli’e’ manamariyu yan agaga’ siha na manga gi mas yahulolo’ na råmas. Guaha mås ki singko gi un rasimu. Ha po’lo påpa’ i kinatgåga-ña ya ha tutuhon fumeddos i trongkon mångga. Ti åpmam hulo’ esta gaige gi un råmas ni’ manggaige i mambunito siha mångga. Ha tife’ mås ki siette na mångga ya ha balutan gi me’nan chinanå-ña. Ha tutuhon tumunok påpa’ lao kada ha’ atan påpa’, mås chågo’ i lini’e’-ña. Sigi ta’lo påpa’ lao kada ha atan påpa’ luma’chago’ ha’ i tano’. Ha hasson maisa si Jose na kalang båba este i che’cho’-ña. “Fa’na’an ti debi bai tife’ este na mångga.” Ha li’e’ otro na dångkolon råmas lao åntes di u falak guatu ilek-ña, “Guello yan Guella, despensa yu’ sa’ ti hu tungo’ na ti debi na bai tife’ este na mångga.” Annai munhåyan ha sångan este, ha hago’ guatu i dångkolon råmas ya ayu siña måtto påpa’ gi hilo’ tåno’. Annai tumunok påpa’, ha baba i balutån-ña mångga, lao ti bunito esta

In my Guam History classes this last month we read the poem below written by my pare' Julian Aguon, titled "The Mango Trees Already Know." The poem is written in the shadow of the impending military buildup to Guam, and is about how the warning signs, the possible dangers to our island and to the Chamorro people are all around us, but we seem to be incapable of doing anything to protect ourselves. Julian even discusses the death of his father to cancer, and forces an important connection between how Guam has become modernized and militarized since World War II and the alarming rates of cancer and disease. I asked my students this past week "What is it that the mango trees know, that we don't?" or "What is it that they know, that we refuse to recognize?" For me, in answering that questions, my mind quickly turns to the film The Happening, by M. Night Shamalayan. For those unfamiliar with the movie, people in the East Coast of the United States s