NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

During the pandemic lockdown on Guam, I was feeling at various points, like so many, stressed and anxious about the world and what was happening and what might happen. I was fortunate to still have a job during the lockdown, and because of technology like zoom and social media, I could still keep up my community work, by teaching classes in the Chamoru language and also history. I also was able to keep up with Fanachu! the podcast for Independent Guåhan. Because of so many people sheltering at home, our audience grew exponentially. One thing that I found myself doing more, like most people with a certain level of privilege and comfort, was watching more things online, on laptops and on my phones. Movie theaters were closed, but Netflix and Youtube were always open, so long as I had data on my phone and wifi in the home. As most people were locked down, sheltering in place, only encouraged to go out and explore for essential tasks or errands, things in general started to shift to becomi

It remains a tragic, frustrating but also telling statistical anomaly that Guam has one of the highest concentrations of US veterans, but ranks amongst the lowest areas in terms of spending by Veterans' Affairs. A few years ago this led to the PBS program American by the Numbers flying out to Guam to do a documentary on what it is like to come from a place that signs up and serves in such high numbers, but does not translate into high levels of spending to thank those who have served for their sacrifices. I am not a patriotic person in any form really, and I do not take much pride in the high levels of military service Chamorros and Guam in general sign up for, but this poor treatment of our local veterans is something that anger and irritates me as well. Below is an article that discusses an overview of the PBS documentary, which was titled Island of Warriors. ****************** "Guam's Wounded Warriors" by Marlon Bishop LatinoUSA July 6, 2016 Every July

Chamorro Soil, Chamorro Soul by Michael Lujan Bevacqua May 4, 2016 The Guam Daily Post Last week’s University of Guam Film Festival or UOGFF was very exciting for me personally. In three of the films featured, I had a role in creating, whether as an actor, producer or consultant. I had a minor speaking role in the film “You’re Not Going Anywhere…Kid” directed by my former student Kyle Twardowsky, who shot the entire film on his iPhone. The documentary “War For Guam” which was premiered last year on PBS stations around the United States was also shown. It was directed by Frances Negron-Muntaner, a prominent Puerto Rican scholar who teaches at Columbia University. I worked for a several years as a co-producer (along with local filmmaker Baltazar Aguon and others) on this film that shows the Chamorro experience in World War II, primarily through the re-telling of the stories of American holdout George Tweed and Chamorro priest Jesus Baza Duenas. The final film, which was

The film American Soil, Chamorro Soul premiered last week at the University of Guam Film Festival. The documentary is currently on sale through the website Chamorro Film . Head there to watch it online or purchase a DVD. I'll be posting more about the film as I was involved in the filming of it as an informant and a consultant. It is a very interesting and exciting short documentary about contemporary Chamorro culture. Below is an article about the film and the director Jessica Peterson. *********************** Where Does America's Day Begin? by Amanda Pampuro Guam Daily Post April 3, 2016 From cultural resurgence to sustainability, healthcare and tourism, the documentary short “American Soil, Chamorro Soul” raises a number of questions. Painting “intimate portraits of Chamorro people living their culture,” the film features master dancer Frank Rabon leader of Tao Tao Tano, carver Ron Acfalle as he rebuilds the ancient proa as best he can, and Audrey Meno who

Gof malago' yu' mohon na para u mafa'nu'i i nuebu na muben Michael Moore giya Guahan. I ma'pos na mubi-na siha, manmafa'nu'i guini. Lao, ti siguru yu' put este na mubi. Anai hu atan i listan i manindependente na mubi siha ni' manmachuchule' magi pa'go, puru ha' manconservative gi fina'tinas-niha. Taya' "progressive" pat "liberal" taiguihi i fina'tinas-na si Michael Moore. ***************** Where to Invade Next - Michael Moore Strikes a Melancholy Chord by Joseph A. Palermo Professor, Historian, Author Huffington Post 2/13/16 Where to Invade Next is Michael Moore's most disturbing film yet. Contrasting the progressive public policies practiced abroad with those here at home, Moore starkly drives home just how inhumane American society has truly become. The movie is a simple exercise in comparing and contrasting American public policies with those of other countries. It'

While in Kobe I watched the film Akahama Rock and Roll, a documentary about the Akahama area of Otsuchi, which was dramatically affected by the 3/11 tsunami in Japan. It gave me a interesting introduction to the area that I've been visiting this past week. Akahama was home to a strong fishing community, which was devastated by the tsunami. The village itself suffered incredible human damage with 1 in 10 residents perishing in the waters and fires. The tsunami in the area reached more than 60 feet in height and easily devoured the seawall and almost everything else. The documentary showed how people are rebuilding and also disagreement over certain proposals meant to help keep the community safe from future tsunamis, namely the rising of the land on which new buildings will be erected and the creation of new, higher sea walls. I haven't posted anything this week on my blog because I've been so overwhelmed with the stories I've been hearing as my research study group

Chamorro Studies @ UOG Proudly presents a special screening of: "WAR FOR GUAM" Directed by Frances Negron-Muntaner A 57-minute documentary that chronicles the Chamorro story during and after World War II. A panel will take place after the film and a Q and A with the audience.  CLASS Lecture Hall UOG 6 - 7:30 pm Light Refreshments will be Provided Please contact Professor Michael Lujan Bevacqua for more information at mlbasquiat@hotmail.com http://www.warforguam.com

The documentary "War for Guam" premiered last month across the US and its territories. There were two showings of it on the local PBS Guam, KGTF. It was incredibly exciting to see this documentary finally be finished, as I first worked on it more than 10 years ago while a graduate student in Micronesian Studies at UOG. I was hired as the local producer who set up the interviews and locations. I cannot help by feel a heavy dose of nostalgia as I watched the documentary and recalled so many moments in the production. Part of the nostalgia was feeling the loss of several individuals who were gracious enough to participate in the film, but who passed away before they could ever see it finished. In this moment as I am writing I find it difficult to even type their names down. A flood of moments during the production and beyond race down to my fingertips, causing my fingers to pause and lock. On June 15th at 6 pm at UOG, in the CLASS Lecture Hall the Chamorro Studies program wi

Maolek na mensahi para pa'go na ha'ani.

 In his book Saina Chamorro poet and scholar Craig Santos Perez does something that really intrigued me. I recently wrote a review essay of his three poetry books hacha, Saina and Guma', and this was one thing that caught my eye. Throughout parts of the book he includes the names of soldiers from Micronesia, who will serving in the US military were killed in the Middle East, in the Horn of Africa, Afghanistan and Iraq. He lists them in the way that is customary for KIA lists, with their age and a hometown. He crosses out however everything except their names.  The tactic of crossing things out can be a beautiful strategy. I used to use it alot before, most notably in my article "The (Un)exceptional Life of a Chamorro Soldier: Tracing the Militarization of Desire in Guam, USA. The act of crossing it out can mean that this doesn't really exist. It can be a way of de-emphasizing something. It can be a way of drawing attention to it, albeit in a circu

PBS recently did a short documentary about Guam and veterans here as part of their program America by the Numbers. It was a pretty good piece. I was interviewed for the program at the WWII Memorial Asan Overlook as seen in the picture for this post. The interview was pretty long covering a whole range of topics. As usually happens with these sorts of things, very little of it was used in the actual interview. I still think it was a good piece even if I was barely in it, although there was a glaring, but expected lack of discourse around Guam's political status. The issue of Guam's colonial status is always something that mainstream media in the states have difficulty with. You can describe it in a hundred different ways, talk about it from this angle, that angle, give a wide range of options for how to approach it, but ultimately it is for your average media person, something they can't engage with. It would require too much discursive muster, it would consume any piece

For "Sindalu" the Guam Humanities Council Exhibit that I am working on, one of the tasks I did was to collect as many of the articles about Chamorros that have died in Afghanistan and Iraq as possible. Part of the problem with collecting these articles is that many of the Chamorro soldiers who have died lived elsewhere and were recruited outside of the Marianas. Sometimes these soldiers will show up in lists of dead from the Marianas, sometimes they don't. These lists are also more complicated by the fact that some of them will include the deaths of soldiers who were deployed but not killed in combat and others will exclude them. What makes it even more convoluted is that the metrics for counting the dead has changed as well. During Vietnam, the number was strictly Chamorros, even though there were a handful of soldiers from other islands in Micronesia who did serve. But in the Wars on Terror, the fights in Afghanistan, Iraq and the Horn of Africa, more and more non-C

Guam is truly fortunate to have its own international film festival. It is even more fortunate that it has been able to enjoy this festival for three years in a row now. But it is the most fortunate of all, and I don’t think we realize it enough, that we have people here who are willing to take on the task of organizing the festival and making it a reality for the community. The 3 rd Guam International Film Festival, titled “Beyond the See” took place last week. All in all, the festival offered over 45 films from across the world and took place over 6 nights at the Agana Shopping Center. The trailer for the film festival invoked the word “passion.” The more films I watched and the more I interacted with both audience members and filmmakers, the more I could feel this passion. Filmmaking, especially in this small-scale, grassroots form is a very delicate and personal art. For many filmmakers, it is something they want to do, hope they can do, but struggle to find ways to su