NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

 I recently gave a lecture talking about the Maga'håga spirit and the matrilineal strain that runs through Chamoru culture. In putting it together, I had to scrounge for different quotes from the early accounts of the Spanish, when they encountered Chamorus in the 16th and 17th centuries. It provides a stark contrast in most ways we see gender relations today, but it must have felt nightmarish at times for a Catholic priest of the time. To see women with this much authority over life and over their husbands, I imagine it would have given San Vitores and others plenty a panic attack.  Here are some of the quotes I used in my presentation: *******************   In each family, the head is the father or older relative, but with limited influence. A son, as he grows up, neither fears or respects his father. In the home it is the woman who rules, and her husband does not dare give an order contrary to her wishes, nor punish the children, for she will turn upon him and beat him. If the w

Independent Guåhan’s educational outreach continues in Dededo and with their monthly General Assembly returning to Hagåtña For Immediate Release, August 25, 2017 –  In dependent Guåhan (IG) continues their efforts to educate the island community about the possibilities for Guåhan should it become an independent country, with two educational outreach opportunities in the last week of August. The first, a village meeting, will take place at the Dededo Senior Citizens’ Center on Wednesday, August 30 th from 6:00 -7:30 p.m. The second, the latest in their monthly General Assemblies (GA) will be held on Thursday, August 31st from 6:00 -7:30 p.m. at the main pavilion of the Chamorro Village in Hagåtña. Both events are free and open to the public.   Over the summer, IG held a series of successful village meetings in Malesso’, Chalan Pågo and Toto, drawing more than 150 people total. Under the leadership of Melvin Won Pat-Borja, IG will continue thi

In 2012 I had the honor of traveling to Washington D.C. as part of the Guam delegation for the First Stewards Symposium, a gathering of native peoples associated with the US to discuss climate change. We performed at the National Museum of the American Indian and set up a display there of Chamorro cultural tools and artifacts. One of the highlights of the trip is that I got to spend time with Tony Ramirez, long time curator for the Guam Museum. I had known him primarily as the curator but through talking to him I learned so much more, even about his past as one of Guam's progressive activists and even participated in the Sella Bay protests of the 1970s. Guam has lacked a real museum for too long and it was always Tony's mission to see a new museum built and in use. He passed away earlier this year and it is truly tragic that he didn't get to see the museum he helped sustain for so long finished in Hagatna. While he was waiting for a new museum to be designed and built,

This is the of Cetti Bay from the river. Cetti Bay and Sella Bay are both spots in Southern Guam that are favorites for people with boats and hikers to visit. People known them as beautiful secluded places. In truth their history goes much deeper than that. Sella in particular was notorious in the 1970s as a site of protest against US militarization. The US Navy had wanted to build an ammuniation wharf there. Chamorro rights activists, Senators and environmentalists came out to protest this and were able in delaying the process so much the Navy eventually gave up. Before there was Pagat or even Pott's Junction, there was Sella Bay. But even beyond this, if we look at these two villages in ancient times, we can see a tragic lesson they embody. In ancient times these bays were actually villages. Cetti was known as Atte and Sella was known as Sidya. They were on different sides of the Chamorro Spanish Wars. Sidya sided with the Spanish, while Atte sided with rebel Chamorros. A

“The Spear of the Nasion” Michael Lujan Bevacqua Marianas Variety 11/20/13 When I first began attending the University of Guam as an undergraduate, I had been off island for several years and so in a way, I was remembering and re-discovering Guam. When I had left Guam in middle school, I had never heard of Nasion Chamoru, but when I returned it was something that everyone seemed to have opinions about, mostly negative. Byt this point, the first Maga’lahi of Nasion Chamoru, Angel Santos had already successfully transitioned from activist to politician and was running for governor under the Hita banner. The height of Nasion Chamoru’s notoriety, when they were camping in front of Adelup and blocking access to disputed properties and getting arrested had passed several years before. Despite these changes in the group, there was still plenty of hate and vitriol left in how people talked about them. That first year I was at UOG, from parties, to the

Over the past few years I have been on many hikes here on Guam. I have seen so many beautiful things on these hikes. I have found artifacts that hundreds had probably walked by, but never noticed before. I have found latte stones that may have gone unseen for centuries before I stumbled upon them, literally. I have seen sunsets sitting on rocks that seemed to be created strictly for the purpose of allowing ones eyes to swallow the sky in massive gulps. I have seen the ocean in so many types of blue at a given moment that it both looks like one massive solid color and a multitude of disagreeing blues at the same time. Throughout these hikes the history and beauty of Guam has come alive in so many ways. I feel not only a stronger connection to the present day Guam, but also to so many versions of its throughout the past. Walking amongst latte stones where Chamorros walked hundreds of years before. Exploring caves where Chamorros and Japanese soldiers huddled hiding from American bo

From We Are Guahan : This year was an eventful year for We Are Guahan. The organization helped organize over 11 hikes to historic sites on Guam, announced a high school scholarship program and enjoyed a historic legal victory against DOD in the lawsuit to save Pagat Village. We Are Guahan would like to extend a dangkulu na Si Yu’us Ma’ase for your continued support of our efforts. Special thanks to Dr. Miget Lujan Bevacqua for coordinating and assisting in the organizing of the Heritage Hikes, Alissa Eclavea for her efforts to raise funds for the GAPSS scholarship program, all of the artists who have volunteered their time and creativity for the Prutehi yan Difendi campaign and everyone else who supported us this year. We look forward to being involved in more things in the year to come. Below is a chronological summary of just some of the activities We Are Guahan was a part of in 2011: February 2011 •2/14: Sticker-up day to spread awareness about Pagat Lawsuit. •2/25: Relea

Local Artists Wanted: UOG searching for submissions for Storyboard 12 3:00 PM, Dec. 2, 2011 by Storm Roberts Pacific Daily News Perk up, Pacific island artists, it is time yet again to submit your pieces of art to the University of Guam's division of English and Applied Linguistics to be showcased in the 12th issue of Storyboard, a community literary journal. "Storyboard is a wonderful space to print local literature and art," says Victoria Leon Guerrero, editor of Storyboard. "It's a good place to publish things from discussing personal issues and (tying into this year's theme) describing community crossings encountered on Guam." Theme The theme of this edition of Storyboard is "Crossings" which, according to the contest informational poster, can be any of the following: crossing of water or borders; crossing and intermingling of cultures, stories and beliefs; Guam and its neighbors as historical, political, and social crossroads

For the past few weeks I've helped organize two public forums at UOG's CLASS Lecture Hall, both of which were completely packed. A forum held in September featuring David Vine talking about Diego Garcia and Leevin Camacho talking about the Pagat lawsuit was attended by well over 200 people. The same was true for a forum on political decolonization featuring expert on the existing Non-Self-Governing Territories Carlyle Corbin from the Virgin Islands and Guam's own human rights attorney Julian Aguon. In both cases, almost every seat was packed, with some lined up watching along the lecture hall's walls. Granted, a good number of those in attendance were students who were there as part of class, but it was still inspiring to see so many people in a single place to learn about issues such as base displacement and decolonization. While Carlyle Corbin was here last month he mentioned how impressed he was with the level of discourse on Guam in terms of decolonization. Compar

(featured in picture: fearsome hikers Jon Glaser, Nate Denight and Ken Kuper, manabak siha gi i saddok Cetti) Earlier today we finished our last hike of We Are Guahan's second batch of Heritage Hikes. I lead and organized with Leevin Camacho our first round last November, which was a huge success with around 150 attending our three hikes. This time around we got 130 for hikes at Tumon Bay, Pagat and Cetti and Sella Bays. Gof yafai yu' pa'go. I hike-mami ginnen Cetti asta Sella gof makkat pa'go. Manmamokkat ham noskuantos na miyas gi un okso', un saddok yan i kanton tasi. Tinaka' sais oras gi todu. Daggau yu' didide', maka'guas yu' meggai gi i kannai-hu, yan machefchef i tomo' addeng-hu. Gigon na matto yu' gi i gima'-hu lumalango yu' gi i katre, ya mumaigo' yu' tres oras. Achokka' mamumuti yu' pa'go, gof magof hu put i chine'guen-mami gi este na hikes, ya esta listo yu' para bei in fanche'gue i

Sorry it took a couple months to get it organized but Heritage Hikes, organized with the help of We Are Guahan are back. Part of the problem that we had, is that for several months we were attempting to work with the Navy on Guam to have the next round of Heritage Hikes visit places on DOD installations on Guam such as Haputo or Spanish Steps. When the military has been confronted with why Pagat should remain in public hands and not in theirs, they often often stated that the historic or cultural sites which are within their footprint, behind their fences, are not totally blocked off to the public, but anyone can seek permission to visit them. We decided to test this out and asked to visit a number of sites in the Northern and Southern part of Guam on Naval properties. At first, things went very well, and we were allowed to visit a few sites and conduct test hikes there, where we checked out the terrain and also prepared what sort of historical lessons we could provide to people. But w

For those of you who like hiking, learning more about Guam’s history and natural environment or, like me, are looking for an excuse to get some exercise, I’m helping organizesomething this month you might be interested in. I’m working with We Are Guahan to hold three “Heritage Hikes” on three different Saturdays in November. Last Saturday we hiked down to Pagat Cave, Cliff and Village. This coming Saturday we'll be hiking down to Cetti Bay and up Sella Bay. Next Saturday we'll be taking our last hike up to Humuyong Manglo and Mount Lamlam. I'll be helping lead each hike and be talking to people about some of the historical, cultural and biological importance of each area. The Pagat hike was very successful with more than 30 people joining us. I'm hoping for at least the same amount, maybe more for the next two. If these hikes are that successful and people really enjoy them, then I'll work on organizing some more early next year, perhaps to some different si

During the DEIS comment period I was involved in alot of different activities or collaborations meant to respond to the document. Family issues and my work schedule didn't allow me to participate as much as I might have wanted to, but I still found some important ways of helping out. In December of 2009 I attended a meeting with half a dozen or so other UOG faculty members, to discuss how, we as UOG professors might respond to the DEIS. A lot of different things were discussed, such as public meetings, presentations, reports or letters. It was exciting to attend that meeting and see others, some of whom I had not met before, working with a similar critical or oppositional intent as my own. But for a variety of reasons, people left that meeting unsure about what we were doing, and also a bit put off, by some of the combatative discussions that had taken place. Some suggestions were made about splitting into groups and taking on certain tasks, but all together, it seemed like taya&#