NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

Each year for the Inachaigen Fino’ CHamoru or Chamorro Language Competition at the University of Guam we offer a number of competitions where students can show their skills in reading, writing, speaking and singing the Chamorro language. Each year we provide students two texts in Chamorro, one of them is a song/chant and the other is a poem. Students will have to memorize and perform these pieces before judges and the audience. Here is the poem that was provided last year for students. It was written by two Chamorro language teachers and fa’fa’nague or dance leaders in Pa’a Taotao Tano’. The lyrics are included below: Imåhen i Taotao-ta Tinige’ Siñot Brian Terlaje yan Siñot Raymond Lujan, 2014 Betso 1 : Fresko i aire Duru i manglo’ Humuyong i atdao Chumi’op ha’åni An poddong i ichan papa’ gi i tano’ Manmagof i taotao, bunitu i ha’åni. K oru:               Humuyong i hilét i isan i langet Yan i paluma kumǻkanta gi i trongko Mamflores i tano’ P

O Tano' Gof triste hao pa'go Sa' i mas gefpago na diamante Esta gaige giya Guahu O Mapagahes, Triste hao, Sa' taya' mas "fluffy" Kinu i guinaiya-ku O Uchan, Un na'matmos i tano' Lao esta masmai i korason-hu ni guinaiya O Isa, Manayao hao kulot Ginen i mitkilot na guinaiya-ku O Atdao, Hosguan hao Nu i minaipen i guinaiya-ku O Pulan, Gof hosguan Nu i mina'lak i nobia-hu   Kao toninos hao? Sa' toninos yu' Kao toninos hit gi i tasin guinaiya?      

“Guinaiya gi Fino’ Chamoru #3” Michael Lujan Bevacqua 2/13/13 The Marianas Variety It is almost Valentine’s Day or as some say in Chamorro “Ha’anin Guinaiya.” It has become a tradition for me that around this time I write a column dealing with ways to express love using the Chamorro language.   In 2011 and in 2012 my Valentine’s Day columns featured an array of song lyrics, romantic turns of phrase and pick up lines all translated into the Chamorro language. I’ve decided not to mess with this organic tradition but embrace it. Today I present “Guinaiya gi Fino’ Chamoru #3” or “Love in Chamorro.” As usual this column is meant to be both fun and informative. Many of the sentences are translated from song lyrics, pick up lines and quotes that are famous in English. When translated into Chamorro they take on extra meaning because of the way Chamorro may not have the same particular metaphors or innuendos of English. When you read them they can be taken

I just finished watching The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. I had worried that the film would drag on due to the fact that they were taking a relatively short book and transforming it into 3 films, totaling as much as 9 hours of screen time. The book Breaking Dawn was not worthy of two films, and this was blisteringly apparent when both Part 1 and Part 2 seemed to drag on forever during certain sections. I was worried about a similar fate for the first Hobbit film. While I did cringe during certain parts, I did have to admire the way they extended the film, but still kept it entertaining. I recently reread the Hobbit and found that so much of the richness of it was in my head. The writing is very sparse and not very detailed. Even fact it seems that Tolkien's true passion was writing songs, since the books are littered with ballads from every race in Middle Earth. But this is one of the hallmarks of fantasy writing. The writing itself may not be the most lyrical or

Each morning of the First Stewards symposium, members of the delegations from across the Pacific and the Western United States would gather at the main entrance to the Museum of the Native American Indian. As the sun was rising different delegations would take on the task of welcoming the day, welcoming each other, and forming spiritual and cultural bonds. These gatherings would take place before 6 am, and so it was sometimes difficult for everyone to make it. But for those of us who did, we were fortunate enough to participate in some of the most quiet, solemn and beautiful moments. The symposium had a lot of discussions, alot of exchanges of information, a lot connections based on explicit comprehension. English is the means of common communication and so we can all speak to each other and try to get each other to learn and understand. But these sunrise ceremonies were something different. At the ceremonies nothing was in English. Very little was explained in English. Each grou

Last week a small group of people started walking at 5:30 am in front of the Malesso Church. They headed north along Route 4 for hours, passing through Inarajan and Ipan and eventually ending in the middle of the day at the Manengon Memorial in Ylig, Yo’na. For those who finished the journey it was a difficult trek of 19 miles the last half of which was under the unforgiving Guam sun. The name of this walk was "Remember Our Strength" or "Hasso i Minetgot-ta." I started off with the group in Malesso, but by mile 13, for my own personal reasons felt like stopping and didn't continue. Although I was tired by that point it wasn't an issue of physical pain that made me stop. I made this decision because in my eyes the walk had become something I didn't want to participate in anymore, and with only 6 miles left I decided to catch a ride back to my car. My personal issues with the walk however shouldn't detract however from the event's potential impor