NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

Around this time last year Howard Zinn passed away. He was most famous for his seminal counter history of the United States A People's History of the United States, but he wrote many other works as well and was a long time activist and support of numerous progressive causes. After I began teaching World History last year, I found that much of the way I talk about things, even history, tends to be at a level which is hard for your average UOG undergraduate to understand. When you starting talking like Levinas, Derrida, Benjamin, Slavoj Zizek and Avery Gordon to talk about history even if students are interested, they sometimes lack the vocabulary or a friendly framework to even engage with what I'm saying. The first time I taught World History 2 (from 1500- the present) I made the mistake of giving my students Walter Benjamin's Theses on the Philosophy of History, without prepping them much or giving them an idea of what it was about. Needless to say the discussion was gut

Esta måtto ta’lo i tiempo para bei in che’gue ta’lo “Sakkigake Chamorro!” It’s been a while since I did one of these, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t thought about it. I never was really an Otaku, but rather an anime dilettante, and so I very rarely go through periods of sleep depriving anima obsession, where I make unwise decisions to stay up for most of the nights reading through back issues of mangas such as MPD Psycho or Gantz (ta'lo !) or start watching an entire season of anime late in the evening, knowing full well that each episode I watch will just make me want to watch one more and the closer I get to the end of the season the more I will be able to convince myself that it is tomtom that I stay awake to finish it. The rest of the time however, my approach to anime is very temperate, ko’lo’lo’ña since I moved back to Guam. While in the states, cheap, sometimes pirated anime on Ebay or at flea markets would constantly feed my habit, on Guam finding titles I’m intere

For the first time ever in my life, I have a real job. I make not just some money, but enough money to pay my bills and to live somewhat comfortably. Its a weird feeling. Fihu chatguahu yu' put este. I'm still technically a student, since I have yet to submit the final draft of my dissertation to my graduate, but the social web around me, the way people talk about me, talk to me, expect things from me has all drastically shifted. Gi i hinasson i meggaina na taotao, esta to'a yu'. Esta gaiidat yu' sa' hokkok i umestudiante-ku. I am a molder of young minds, or a poisoner of young minds depending on your perspective. I'm someone who has students that I advise on their work and I'm even serving on graduate student committees now. I am a father, a chaos father as I like to refer to myself. I am now an adult grandchild, so since my grandfather has become ill recently, I'm elevated to the status of being someone who attends doctor's appointments with

Martin Luther King Jr. Day passed recently, and this year it was very different, for obvious reasons. America saw the election of its first African American President, and so people are feeling like a lot is suddenly possible, as the symbolism of America has been rocked, as its status as a white souled nation challenged indirectly, even though Obama was hardly a card carrying member of the Black Panther Party. As an Ethnic Studies scholar MLK Jr. is someone you always hear plenty about and always have to confront the ghost of. He is an inspiring figure, somebody who accomplished great things, who said many great things. Last year I went to the Martin Luther King Jr. historical district in Atlanta, Georgia, and saw his home as a child, and also different exhibits on the civil rights movement. Bai hu admite na guaha nai kana tumanges yu'. Manachu i taotao gi ayu na tiempo para i direchon-ñiha para u difende i tinaotaon-ñiha. But apart from these incredible things, MLK is also somet