NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

The Guam Legislature will be voting Friday on several bills to provide money from the Tourist Attraction Fund to support several important projects for Chamorro culture and language. One such project is the funding of the non-profit “Dukduk Goose” which has created a wonderful pilot for a local children’s show called “Nihi.” For those not familiar with Chamorro, “Nihi” is an inviting word and one that fits perfectly as the title for a kids’ show. It is used in sentences to convey togetherness and doing something as a group. Most people translate it to mean “let’s.” As in Nihi ta hanao = let’s go. Nihi ta fanocho = let’s go eat. It is a beautiful everyday way of inviting people to do something with you or go somewhere together. “Nihi” is a show that I worked on, helping my cousin Cara Flores-Mays. She had an idea and was looking for creative and cultural minds to make it possible. I helped write a pilot episode and some children’s songs that used Chamorro and English. I assis

“Crazy Talk” Michael Lujan Bevacqua The Marianas Variety July 4, 2012 The same scene happens every couple of months at my grandfather’s shop at the Chamorro village. A military family comes into the check out my grandfather’s handmade tools. They look around and are impressed. I answer their questions and give them some background on my grandfather Tun Jack Lujan’s role in perpetuating the Chamorro culture today as a Master Blacksmith. As they are leaving one of them turns to me and says “I want to thank you for showing this to us and answering our questions, you aren’t as terrible a person as I thought you were.” The first few times this scene took place I was taken aback. How did they know anything about me and what did they know that made them assume I’d be terrible? We’d never met before and how could they possess such strong negative feelings to me already? I’ve come to learn that the reason for this is because of my internet presence, primar