NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

There is a saying in Chamoru, "mungga masse, anggen ti ya-mu makasse." Don't tease, if you don't like to be teased. It is fairly simple and straightforward, but it is always funny when you find someone who can't handle some of their own medicine, or who has trouble hearing the truth of themselves that their teasing or their negative behavior is meant to hide. That is one of the main reasons that people engage in that type of behavior. Is so that no one will look at me with critical, judging or penetrating eyes, if I keep everyone looking at the faults in someone else.  I have always tried to keep myself very distant from superficial people like that. I don't mind it if people are shallow or superficial in general, but I don't want those types of people close to me by any means. But in my dating life, sometimes people slip through the cracks. Often times there are things that I'll see in someone, or at least think I see in someone, but they may not see

When talking about legends many people become focused on what is true and what isn't true? What is authentic and what really happened? What can be determine from the story that is real and what isn't? These types of discussions may have some importance within a historical context, when trying to understand it from the perspective of aligning stories with a particular history or historical context. For example there are ways that you can look at the story of the Iliad from a historical perspective. There are ways you could try to draw out historical truths from it, and even if some of the details may not be real, you can nonetheless see larger societal dynamics at work in the poem. This is something to keep in mind when we look at Guam or Chamoru legends. Is that there are some ways to examine, analyze or understand them from a historical perspective, but this misses the larger point of their purpose. Legends serve a social or a culture purpose. They aren't meant to be p

I have spent the past few weeks meeting with people who are running for political office here in Guam this year. Some for senator, some for governor. This year promises to be an exciting one in terms of campaigns and candidates. With five teams running for governor (4 Democrats and 1 Republican). More than 80 packets for senatorial candidates have been picked up, with only 15 possible seats in the legislature. Mampos meggai na månnok manmalålagu gi kånton guma'! What is different this year however is not just the amount of candidates, but also the diversity in terms of their background. More and more, people are running for office who haven't been in formal government service before. They haven't worked in a political machine. They are outsiders, activists, educators, working class people, lawyers, professionals, veterans, journalists and more. The question remains however, and I will acknowledge from the very start of the conversation, that there is nothing intrinsic

This legend of Gådao is an intriguing one. In some ways it fits the mold perfectly for a Chamorro legend. In other ways it feels different, like something borrowed from a Greek legend perhaps. One thing that stands out is the idea of Gådao becoming a Maga'låhi or a king for the entire island. This stands in contrast to much of what we know about ancient Chamorro culture. Where they seemed to be like most indigenous people, where they had a society were power was actively distributed and made diffuse to prevent anyone from dominating too much over others. Although the emphasis on great accomplishments bringing one great social standing feels very appropriate. If I had to guess about the origin of this story, it seems in some way like a legend made by a Chamorro during the Spanish period, meant to reflect the greatness of their ancient past. Gådao existed in some form for sure, and perhaps the legend of him and Malagua'i or Malaguaña is an older form. But this

Un diha siempre bai hu pula' este na betsu/kånta gi Fino' Chamorro! Lao esta ki ayu na diha, estague i palabrås-ña gi Fino' Frances yan Fino' Ingles. Achokka' matuge' este gi halom i kotturan Europa, siña uma'aya este na i estorian yan kotturan Chamorro. Achokka' i fina'tinas-ña i Españot ma kefunas i fuetsan i famalao'an Chamorro guini giya Guahan, sisiña ha' ta silebra siha, achokka' ti ta tungo' i mismo na'an-ñiha! ****************** Dictes moy où, n'en quel pays, Est Flora, la belle Romaine ; Archipiada, né Thaïs, Qui fut sa cousine germaine; Echo, parlant quand bruyt on maine Dessus rivière ou sus estan, Qui beauté eut trop plus qu'humaine? Mais où sont les neiges d'antan! Où est la très sage Heloïs, Pour qui fut chastré et puis moyne Pierre Esbaillart à Sainct-Denys? Pour son amour eut cest essoyne. Semblablement, où est la royne Qui commanda que Buridan Fust jetté en ung sac en Seine? Mais

The Greeks are Right! by Slavoj Zizek The New Statesman 7/6/15 The unexpectedly strong No in the Greek referendum was a historical vote, cast in a desperate situation. In my work I often use the well-known joke from the last decade of the Soviet Union about Rabinovitch, a Jew who wants to emigrate. The bureaucrat at the emigration office asks him why, and Rabinovitch answers: “There are two reasons why. The first is that I’m afraid that in the Soviet Union the Communists will lose power, and the new power will put all the blame for the Communist crimes on us, Jews – there will again be anti-Jewish pogroms . . .” “But,” the bureaucrat interrupts him, “this is pure nonsense. Nothing can change in the Soviet Union, the power of the Communists will last for ever!”. “Well,” responds Rabinovitch calmly, “that’s my second reason.” I was informed that a new version of this joke is now circulating in Athens. A young Greek man visits the Australian consulate in Athens and

When Christopher Columbus flopped at the Box Office...Twice Scott Mendelson 10/13/14 Forbes.com Yes, today is Columbus Day, when government offices and many schools are closed to celebrate the Italian explorer who allegedly discovered America. I’m not going to get into the historical accuracy or moral difficulties of the previous sentence, but if you need a refresher go HERE . No, what I am here to discuss today is a bit of forgotten box office history involving the “reason for the season.” I am speaking of course about movies revolving around Christopher Columbus. As the old song goes, “In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue!” So, since 1992 was in fact the 500-year anniversary of the year Columbus allegedly discovered America, Hollywood set out to “honor” the occasion with not one, but two big-budget big-screen adventures featuring the explorer. There have been any number of occasions in the last few decades of very similar films opening within a short period of

For me, the most depressing aspect of the past US presidential campaign was the final debate between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. After months of trying to create stark contrasts between them, and trying to incite people to vote for them and not think of them as just being two slightly different flavors of the same soda, the façade fell fast and in an almost embarrassing fashion when the President and his challenger appeared to not only share the same talking points on foreign policy, but possibly share the same brain entirely. They looked more like long lost twins who had just found each other, rather than two distinct sides of the American ideological spectrum. This benefited Obama significantly, because Romney could not make the case that he offered something new in terms of how the US relates to the rest of the world. As a result the incumbency of Obama made him appear to be more solid, made it seem like the ideas they both supported belonged to him and