NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

I used to get alot more hate mail through this blog. I would get random people, sending me angry comments or emails about random things which they felt I was somehow responsible for. It is intriguing how people paradoxically see activist or dissidents as being both powerful and powerless at the same time. On the one hand they see them as having so much authority and power in terms of tearing things apart and ruining things, but in precisely the same sentence or moment event, they can see them as having no power or authority or say, belonging to a ridiculous and blind minority or splinter group. Intriguing how stupid the world can be isn't it? That someone can say so passionately that you represent the end of the world and nothing in this world at the same time. For me that doesn't really make sense. If the activists have power because of what they say or do it means they represent something much larger than themselves. It means if you are going to say that they are ruining some

For the past few weeks I've been working with some friends on writing columns for the Marianas Variety about things that we've found and analyzed about the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Guam's military buildup. The Variety has been published them daily as DEIS Perspectives, and even some members of the community, who I didn't contact have been joining the discussion. They will keep publishing the columns until the DEIS comment period ends Feb. 17th. I published a column the week before last, and I'm currently working on another right now ( ti apmam munhayan). The point of these columns was that, so many people have been talking about the DEIS and about the military buildup, but most haven't actually seen the document and perhaps don't actually know what's in it. While, I am happy to hear more and more voices which are speaking critically and negatively about the buildup, I am always happier when those voices come from a place of knowledge or

Leo Babauta and his blog Zen Habits have made a big splash this year. Babauta published his first book this year The Power of Less , and it is already a best seller. His blog is a huge success, and he is actually living a blogger's dream by being able to live off the revenue that Zen Habits makes. It was even named last year as one of Time Magazine's 25 best blogs of the year. Bai hu admite yan kalang hosguan yu' nu i gof matungo'-na! Zen Habits is a nice website, with alot of harmless, self-helpful, inspirational/motivational life reorganizing content. Reading through some of Babauta's posts on that site however creates a strange contrast for me. I know that Babauta's been a writer for many years, and it was actually through some of his writing from almost a decade ago that I know him best. But compared to the Babauta of today, these pieces seem as if they are from another universe. The show/group Malafunkshun had a website made in 2000, and at that time

Did you know that in the last election, Jofis running under the Malafunkshun party actually beat one of the listed candidates? For those of you who don't know, Jofis was a write in candidate, which means that you don't check his box, you have to write in his name at the bottom to vote for him. In the last election, Jofis actually got more votes than one of the candidates on the official list. Can you believe that?