NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

The position of the non-voting delegate in the US Congress is something I've been fascinated about for many years. As a scholar I’ve channeled this fascination into research. Over the past fifteen years I’ve conducted more than 50 interviews from different people who have been in some way tied to the non-voting delegate position.   I’ve been able to sit down and interview former Guam delegates Bordallo and Underwood, former US Virgin Islands Donna Christensen, former (and now deceased) American Samoan delegate Eni Faleomavaega and current delegate from Washington D.C. Eleanor Holmes Norton. In addition, I’ve also interviewed people who have worked on territorial issues in the US federal government, including those who have worked in the Guam delegate office from Won Pat and even to current delegate San Nicolas.     I dedicated a chapter of my dissertation to discuss the strange and peculiar position of the non-voting delegate. The so-called greatest country in the world permits its

The conventions for both political parties this year have passed. Because of the time difference on Guam, I wasn't able to watch them as much as I'd hoped, because I was usually in class when people were speaking. I followed the coverage as best as I could, even writing about the Guam delegations for both the DNC and RNC and the way they represented the island in their roll call spotlight moment. I have only attended one political convention in my life and that was in 2008 when I got to be the "Blogger from Guam" to the Democratic National Convention in Denver, where Barrack Obama received the nomination for President. I has wanted to go back to another convention or two, and toyed with the idea of attending this year, but my teaching schedule made it impossible. While reflecting on this year's convention and my own experience 8 years ago, I sifted through my digital files and came across this article this article that I written fro AAJA or the Asian American