NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

Guam Mentions are always interesting. The random places that Guam will appear in the speech of military planners, world leaders, comedians and filmmakers is always so intriguing to me. Taking serious these mentions are sort of traces of the structure of American imperialism and colonialism was the main theoretical intervention of my dissertation. Moving away from seeing the random way that Guam gets mentioned sometimes whether it be by Bob Hope or David Letterman as actually possessing serious meaning and truth and not just being an accidental or random mention. For most the flexibility and labiality of meaning attached to Guam, the occasional invisibility that it is shouldered with or assumed is just a misrecognition, is something people say just because they don't know better or something you can just attribute to ignorance. But for me there is far more that just that. The colonial status of Guam and the ability to shift and produce meaning for it, the ability to

Gof na'chalek este. Ti hu tungo' hafa bei sangan, esta sen na'chalek sin commentary.    Hu na'chechetton magi un editorial put Si Kirby Delauter. Este muna'chalek yu' mas kinu todu i otro na editorials siha ni hu taitai gi lina'la'-hu.    Taitai mas, ya siempre para un komprende.    ***************  "Kirby Delauter, who didn't want his name in a news story, is now a story" Krishnadev Calamur  NPR.org 1/6/15 Update at 9:21 a.m. ET, Jan. 8 We reported Wednesday evening that Frederick County, Md., Council Member Kirby Delauter has apologized. You can find that story here . Our original post: Frederick County, Md., Council Member Kirby Delauter threatened a local reporter with a lawsuit for using his name in a story without permission. Delauter was mentioned exactly once in that article about parking issues. We could explain what he said in his Facebook post on Monday; instead we'll just point y

I liveblogged for most of the Great Debate held last week at the UOG Field House. I’ve been to most of the Great Debates over the past decade and a half and it is a highlight of the election year. This time there was no primary debates, just the general election debate. The drama was heightened because it was circling in the media and the tilifon alaihai that Calvo was dodging Gutierrez by cancelling his appearance for a debate. Gutierrez with far less money and far less infrastructure was pushing out several different lines of attack against Calvo and this would be the chance for Calvo to push back and defend himself, his administration and his family. Alas, the debate wasn’t that great. Gutierrez needed a crushing win and in truth, by my calculations Calvo came out ahead in the debate. There was definitely a contrast between the two candidates, but for most people they would have seen it as Calvo being prepared, composed and on message, while Gutierrez was off-beat, strugglin

In my Guam History classes this last month we read the poem below written by my pare' Julian Aguon, titled "The Mango Trees Already Know." The poem is written in the shadow of the impending military buildup to Guam, and is about how the warning signs, the possible dangers to our island and to the Chamorro people are all around us, but we seem to be incapable of doing anything to protect ourselves. Julian even discusses the death of his father to cancer, and forces an important connection between how Guam has become modernized and militarized since World War II and the alarming rates of cancer and disease. I asked my students this past week "What is it that the mango trees know, that we don't?" or "What is it that they know, that we refuse to recognize?" For me, in answering that questions, my mind quickly turns to the film The Happening, by M. Night Shamalayan. For those unfamiliar with the movie, people in the East Coast of the United States s

I don’t have cable anymore, but I was able to watch live President Obama’s Nobel Prize acceptance lecture the other day. Like most things about Obama, my reactions were very mixed. There were parts I was impressed with, parts I agreed with and enjoyed, but also plenty which I disagreed with and thought was foolish. The speech was very long and so since its final’s week and I have plenty of grading to do, I can’t go in depth into my thoughts or critiques about it, but I can write about some major points from the speech. Fine’nina, gof ya-hu na put fin i Presidenten i Estådos Unidos, malate’. Esta mampos o’sun yu’ nu i chatlenguahin Si President George W. Bush. Guaha nai ti hu komprende taimanu tumaiguihi, na ayu na taihinasso na låhi, inilihi ni’ i taotao Amerikånu (Lao annai hu hasso put i hinasson i taotao Amerikånu, siña hu lakomprende). Having an intelligent US President is not something to dismiss, but something to (even if just a little bit) cherish. When George W. Bush was in

The gof na'chalek lao gof na'triste lokkue' book Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut ends with the following paragraph. If I were a younger man, I would write a history of human stupidity; and I would climb to the top of Mount McCabe and lie down on my back with my history for a pillow; and I would take from the ground some of the blue-white poison that makes statues of men; and I would make a statue of myself, lying on my back, grinning horribly, and thumbing my nose at You Know Who. For those of you who don't know the book, you should read it, it is a tragic commentary on everything from religion, to colonialism, to the fallacy of objective science. At this point the whole world has been radically altered by a substance called ice-nine, which when is touched to water changes its composition so that it can be solid ice even at room temperature. The protagonist is stuck on the island of San Lorenzo, surrounded by the once ocean, which is now a world of tornadoes. He ha

During the 2004 Presidential election I received the following email from a Chamorro in the states. As you can tell from its tone and content, she was most definitely a Republican, and most likely someone who ga'umegga' Fox News. Her basic argument is that Chamorros and other non-white groups are foolish to follow the Democrats instead of Republicans. Michael, you have the correct idea of involving the Chamorro people in politics to become a “voice of the island”. I, myself am working on getting the Chamorro people to register to vote and get involved. However, Michael, it is my believe that as a former resident of Los Angeles, you are influenced by the Liberals out there. The fact of the matter is that Chamorro people resemble the Republican Party more as they are devout Roman Catholics (i.e. pro-lifers, anti gay lifestyle, etc. etc.). If you would do your research you will find that the Democrats have been lying about the Republican Party for ages! The Democrats are the wealt