NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

As Pandemic Lockdown Continues on Island, Independent Guåhan will focus its April ONLINE General Assembly on the Importance of Sovereignty and honor Chamoru health care pioneer Amanda Guzman Shelton For Immediate Release, April 26, 2020 -  Independent Guåhan (IG) invites the public to attend its April General Assembly (GA), which will take place ONLINE through the group’s Facebook page on Thursday, April 30 th  from 4:00 – 5:30 pm.  The COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread across the world, with to date, more than 2 million sick. From Guam, we have seen a variety of responses to this crisis, from countries that have both effectively combated and contained the virus, and others where the virus has spread and resulted in a significant loss of life. In a crisis such as this, we on Guam are reminded of the importance of sovereignty, or the basic ability to self-govern and seek to dictate our place in the world and relationships to others.  As the world waits to see if things

Each semester I try to organize a Dinanna' for our majors and minors. We have grown as a program so much in the past three years, even though I am the gehilo' for it, I have trouble keeping track of things. There are so many things which make Chamorro Studies as a program or discipline different than other academic units at UOG. We are one of the programs which you could argue is most connected to the community, save for those who are explicitly about community service or engagement (such as the cooperative extension). We are also a program which, in the scheme of things at UOG, has to regularly argue for our existence, against all manner of colonial and ignorant nonsense. Many programs exist simply because they are part of an established Western or international canon for education. There is little obligation for the faculty, the students or the program, since their vitality is assumed to be a given because of that relationship between power and knowledge. Women and Gender

Going through my files tonight trying to find stuff for my Guam History class that I'll be teaching starting tomorrow and I came across the following list. Every March, people on Guam celebrate Chamorro month. This is a wonderful change from the past when there was little to no positive public recognition of Chamorro culture, language and peoplehood. But at the "national" level, March is also supposed to be a month for celebrating women, as Women's History Month. The list that I found in my notes was from the American Association of University Women and their Guam Chapter, after they researched a list of Chamorro female "firsts" to be presented March of 1991. The list is very interesting and informative even if some of their choices could be questioned. Some of the names might be familiar to you, whereas others might be lost to history. ********************** Rosa Roberto Carter First Chamorro woman to be president of a university (UOG) Doris Flor

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 Washingto

June 28th, 2012 7:23 PM More Than a Victory, the Decision Today Was a Mandate for Us to Act By Michael Moore From Michael Moore.com     Even though it's been a few hours now, I'm guessing you're still pinching yourself to make sure you're not dreaming. But yes, it happened. At 10:07 this morning, the conservative Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, John Roberts, not only joined with the liberal justices to completely uphold almost every single part of the Obama health care law, he wrote the majority opinion himself! In fact, he went even further. When he realized that the government had poorly made its constitutional case to the court, he went searching for a clause in their argument and the constitution that would give him the justification he needed to back the administration and to insure that his decision would hold up legally. In other words, even thoug