NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

I met someone recently who asked me if I had read the story Thumbelina, and I was certain I had but a long long time ago. I could remember faint details, but not much. She told me that she had read it when she was young and reread it throughout the years. Eventually as she got out of an abusive and toxic long-term relationship she began to see more and more of her life through the imagery and metaphors of the story. I decided this week to reread it (and maybe read it with my kids). Revisiting the story, I can see why she felt it resonated so much with her. I am mulling over whether I should translate the story into Chamoru. I think it might work rather well. I remember my grandmother telling me a story of her mother's, about a boy who fell asleep and woke up a butterfly living in a flower. I'd probably call it " Si Dikike'."  Ta li'e' buente.  ***************************** Thumbelina by Hans Christian Andersen (1835) THERE was once a

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

Since I've become more involved in film-making, I've been doing more to try to watch "good" movies and see what tips or tricks they might offer. I try to avoid Youtube videos that sort of lay it all out for me, although those can be tempting and intriguing. But I just see if I can sort of translate it or decipher it, given my own understanding of visual language and narrative structure. One thing I have found fascinating however is reading interviews with great directors, where they talk about their choices in film-making and also what films or other creators they look to and try to follow or emulate. Below is an interview with Alfred Hitchcock from 1964. ************************ Interview with Alfred Hitchcock Monitor, BBC July 5, 1964 The following interview, between Alfred Hitchcock and Huw Wheldon , was filmed for the BBC television programme "Monitor" and was first broadcast on 05/Jul/1964. It was repeated in May 1997 as part of the BBC2&#

Gof malago' yu' mohon na para u mafa'nu'i i nuebu na muben Michael Moore giya Guahan. I ma'pos na mubi-na siha, manmafa'nu'i guini. Lao, ti siguru yu' put este na mubi. Anai hu atan i listan i manindependente na mubi siha ni' manmachuchule' magi pa'go, puru ha' manconservative gi fina'tinas-niha. Taya' "progressive" pat "liberal" taiguihi i fina'tinas-na si Michael Moore. ***************** Where to Invade Next - Michael Moore Strikes a Melancholy Chord by Joseph A. Palermo Professor, Historian, Author Huffington Post 2/13/16 Where to Invade Next is Michael Moore's most disturbing film yet. Contrasting the progressive public policies practiced abroad with those here at home, Moore starkly drives home just how inhumane American society has truly become. The movie is a simple exercise in comparing and contrasting American public policies with those of other countries. It'

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

The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon is one of the books that has had a huge impact on me. You can interpret this book to be so many things, although people traditionally focus on the call for violent nationalist revolutions as a means of decolonization. For me I have used Fanon's work, in particular this book in order to articulate so many of my own ideas about social change, in particular in Guam. He wrote a time when decolonization was a tide and it was something that he both channeled and rode. In the context of that time, but also even today when so much of the world has banished his writing to echoes of a bloody and mistaken past, there is still so much power behind them. Here is his last chapter, his conclusion to The Wretched of the Earth, which more than anything shows the humanist and idealist of Fanon, and the promise that decolonization always holds. ************************ Now, comrades, now is the time to decide to change sides. We

“Shakespeare gi Guinaiya yan Chinatli’e’” Michael Lujan Bevacqua Marianas Variety 4/30/14 Shakespeare’s Hamlet asks, “ Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer / The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, / Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, / And by opposing end them?”   Hamlet is paralyzed by the fear of death or suffering, but ultimately moves toward decisive political rebellion.    Similarly, the African-American lesbian poet, scholar, and activist Audre Lorde speaks of the radicalizing crisis in her life when she faced a diagnosis of breast cancer: “I was going to die, if not sooner then later, whether or not I had ever spoken myself.   My silences had not protected me.   Your silence will not protect you.”   Most might assume that it is ridiculous to compare a “great” writer such as Shakespeare to an activist like Lorde. One of them so many seem to accept as the height of human achievement whereas the other is gener

Published on Monday, March 3, 2014 by Common Dreams Ukraine in Context: What You Don't Know About a New Cold War In a crisis that betrays simple narratives, analysts hope for solutions that de-escalate the threat of violence while protecting ordinary Ukrainians from the various interests of elite powers - Jon Queally, staff writer   A Ukrainian soldier stands inside a Ukrainian military base in Crimea as unidentified soldiers, assumed to be Russian, encircle the base. (Photograph: Sean Gallup/Getty) As the events in Ukraine have sent world leaders scurrying to develop and spread narratives that serve their own interests, the complexities of the geopolitical and economic implications—whether from a Russian, American, European or Ukrainian perspective—have become elusive to those trying to understand exactly what's going on inside the country. While the U.S. media is obsesse