NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

For the past year I have been assisting one of the men who fought the Japanese at Atate, Jose Mata Torres with the publication of his memoirs, “The Massacre at Atate.” Torres was a young man at the time who and wasn’t a main organizer for the attack but he said that he had never felt more inspired or exciting in his life, than to see the men from his village rise up and in order to defend their families and their lives, face off against their violent occupiers. On February 24th at 6:30 in the CLASS Lecture Hall at UOG, the book “Massacre at Atate” is being released. There will be a reading by Jose Torres and then a panel discussion afterwards. Please come and join us for this important step for Chamorro Studies, but also just the remembering of Chamorro history and in turn Chamorro possibility. As I come near to the end of this project it reminds me of something I posted earlier, last year titled "Three Massacres." It was originally posted on this blo

BOOK LAUNCH AND BOOK SIGNING “The Massacre at Atate” by Jose M. Torres This memoir tells the story of the courageous people of the village of Malesso’, who under Japanese occupation, fought and killed their captors, and liberated themselves. Published by the Micronesia Area Research Center Thursday February 26, 2015 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm UOG CLASS Lecture Hall The evening will feature a reading by the author, a panel discussion about the events in Malesso’ during World War II and a chance to meet the author and buy copies of the book. Refreshments will be provided. For more information contact Professor Michael Lujan Bevacqua At 735-2800 or mlbasquiat@hotmail.com

We Are Guahan  WeAreGuahan.com *FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE *  *September 23, 2010; Guam*- With the release of the DoD’s Record of Decision, it has become evident that the Department of Defense will continue to disregard concerns voiced by the people of Guam. Guam’s local residents will be the demographic most severely impacted by plans to increase the US military’s presence within the region through one of the largest peacetime military relocations in modern history. We Are Guahan will be hosting a rally on Oct. 1 to unite the community in response. The island participated actively within the NEPA process, with over 10,000 comments submitted in response to the Draft EIS from the community and Government of Guam agencies. Despite the outpouring of community involvement, the Final EIS failed to incorporate many of the island’s concerns into their final plans. Guam’s community and local leaders presented a united front in opposition to the condemnation of land and the taking of mor

Today, the word Pagat, is primarily associated with the area known as Pagat in Northeastern Guam, where you can find cliffs for jumping off of, a freshwater cave to swim in, and plenty of ancient artifacts. But Pagat is a Chamorro word, which has plenty of meanings, although it is not a commonly known or used word in Chamorro today. For some younger generations of Chamorros, who may not speak the language, but have been around it enough to understand, Pagat might be a negative term. It is a word meant to criticize or attack someone verbally. For the Guam Preservation Trust, in their recently started Save Pagat Village campaign, they define it as "to give advice." Pagat is a word sometimes associated with counseling someone, even lecturing them. For me however, I know of the word Pagat from its use as pinagat, which means a lecture, speech or sermon. One way in which you could consider the meaning of Pagat, would be the same as to "testify" in a gospel-style chur

The painting above is called "Samehada Strikes." If you are a geek or a fan of the manga Naruto then you may know what Samehada refers to and therefore what this abstract image is named after. If not, you can still enjoy this somewhat brutal image, which appears like the waves of an ocean, with a geyser of blood emerging from behind them. I painted this piece and a number of other pieces last weekend in preparation for an event coming up next month called Otaku Recon. Its a manga, video games and anime event which will be held on May 15th at the Holiday Resort and Spa in Tumon. For more information you can check out the website by clicking here . There's plenty of info and links to check out. They'll be cosplay, contests, screenings, and what I am most excited about, artist displays and tables. For the past few months, because of work, family and dissertation related afflictions, I haven't had much time to create art. I've made a little here and there, such

This Saturday, December 12th, We the People Inc. is sponsoring The First Guam Music Festival , which in addition to feature some local bands, will include the off-island acts of Ky-Mani Marley and Hawaiian group Ooklah the Moc. Click the link above for more details. I'll be at the festival partially in order to hopefully catch Ky-Mani Marley's live version of my favorite and only known song of his "Warriors" and because I was told that there'll be several bouncy castles there that I can release Sumahi into and watch ricochet around. But the main reason that I'll be there is in order to bring out the "We the People" aspect of the concert. Most will go there in order to hang out, see Bob Marley's son play and also just listen to some good island and reggae music. But one of the main purposes behind this festival is to try and mobilize people to register to vote and to get people active and engaged for next year's election. I'll be manni

Whether or not you support the military buildup which will hit Guam over the next few years, like one of those catastrophes from the film 2012, you should be concerned about the Draft Environmental Impact Statement that is being released on Nov. 20th. Anytime the Federal Government (including the military) plans a large project, they are required to do an EIS in order to assess the impacts and damages that the project might have on the surrounding environments or communities. The EIS process is meant to provide those who will be affecting with a report on what is going to happen to them should the project proceed and be completed. The community is given a short window where they are allowed to respond to the EIS, and regulatory agencies are given the power to suggest alternative plans or recommend that parts of the project, or the entire project as a whole should not be allowed to proceed. For Guam's military buildup EIS, a number of massive projects are being combined into a sin

Earlier this year in May, I helped organize and participated in an event called Chule' Tatte Guahan or Reclaim Guahan. It took place on May 23rd and was an all day event at Skinner's Plaza, that featured music, art, information and activism. For me personally, it was an important event because it represented the first time that I was working on an event such as this on Guam. I've helped organize big and small conferences or activist events in the states, but never something like this on Guam. For most of the organizers, who became known as "Guahan Youth," they underwent a similar experience. Some had returned recently from living or going to school in the states. Others had been involved in different grass roots or activist groups locally but never been on the frontline, never the main faces or the main voices, or most importantly those whom the main responsibility would fall upon. I was very involved early on, when the original idea was to try to lobby the Guam

Next month a historic event will take place on Guam. A gathering of women activists from ten different regions, (Guam, Okinawa, Japan, US, Puerto Rico, Philippines, The Marshall Islands, Belau, South Korea and Australia) will take place from September 14-19th at the University of Guam. This gathering will be the 7th of its kind, and brings together activists who are working with each other and within their regions to mitigate existing negative impacts of militarization and decrease its influence in the world. The name of this gathering in Chamorro is "CHinemma’, Nina’maolek, yan Inarespetu para Direchon Taotao" which in English translates to, "Resistance, Resilience, and Respect for Human Rights." The link to the conference blog is here . For those of you who don't know, militarization, as it sounds can refer to a process through which a place becomes inundated with military, power, technology, influence. Guam, since World War II has undergone generational peri

Some pictures of the preparations for the May 23rd, Reclaim Guahan Rally which took place at Skinner's Plaza in Hagatna . Tomorrow I'll post some pictures of the rally itself, it was quite an event. Despensa na gof atrasao yu' gi este.

************************** Ginnen i GFT THE YOUTH HAVE SPOKEN: EXPRESSING THEIR THOUGHTS FOR CHANGE IN OUR ISLAND We need to address important areas of concern in our island such as the military build-up, protecting our land and natural resources and preserving the Chamorro culture. The Angel Leon Guerrero Santos Memorial Water for the People Act (Bill 73) is one piece of legislation that will give back to the people of Guam. Those who have been given land from the Chamorro Land Trust have a difficult time living comfortably when there is no water sewage infrastructure in place. Bill 73 will have GWA provide free water infrastructure for those leasing under the Chamorro Land Trust. For years we have been trying to give back land to the Chamorro people but we must give back land that provides suitable living. This is just one of the many issues we need to address. The youth of Guam has recognized the downfalls of our island and is gathering together in hopes for real change in our

If you're in the Bay Area on May 13th, and you're interested in the Marianas Islands or Micronesia, you should check this film out and join the discussion. I'm pasting the info below and continue my post beneath it: ******************************** The Insular Empire: AMERICA IN THE MARIANAS What is it like to be a colonial subject of the greatest democracy on Earth? Voices from Guam and Saipan, a work-in-progress of a new PBS documentary by Vanessa Warheit. Wednesday, May 13, 2009 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm Cal State East Bay (Cal State Hayward) Old University Union Room 102 Suggested donation: $10-$20 Music performance by Saipan musician Gus Kaipat Discussion will follow screening. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Here is the link to the driving directions: http://www20. csueastbay. edu/about/ visitor-informat ion/driving- directions. html Here is the link to the campus map: http://www20. csueastbay. edu/about/ visitor-informat ion/maps-

Since I've come back to Guam I've been painting a lot more. I'm known on Guam as an artist in addition to be an activist, a writer, a scholar and the grandson of my grandparents. I sold at the Lunar Calendar Festival last month, and also gave out some free art at the Free Art Friday a few weeks ago. I've made about twenty small abstract pieces since the new year and I've already sold or given away half of them. I'm painting a few more this week, and getting them matted and ready for next week's 2nd Isla Art Fair at the University of Guam. Since all this art stuff is going around in my mind and blood, and generally keeping me from writing my dissertation, I thought I'd share a piece I painted over the summer last year. But first some background. The small art pieces I sell on Guam are different than what I've been painting over the past few years while living in San Diego. In the states, most everything I paint has been women's faces or sunsets