NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

The Toujin Grave or Toujin Tombs is a very interesting site. It features a large monument which is unmistakably and almost guadily Chinese. There are always things through Okinawa and Japan that you can point to as being Chinese in origin or being part of Chinese influence, but often times Japanese chafe at such connections seeking to hide the history of contact or the genealogy of cultural evolution. But this monument is meant to absolutely be Chinese. While for mainland Japan the signifier "China" is something to be wary of. For centuries it has evoked a gathering threat, just on the other side of the sea, a force to be reckoned with. Something that Japan draws much of its culture from but also resists admitting to because of the general feeling of antagonism. China was always a potential military threat, always looming and leering in a way that it could perhaps swallow up Japan. In World War II the Japanese got to act out a lot of their pent up national aggression or r

I recently watched The Green Inferno from Eli Roth, which is a disturbing film to say the least. It follows in the vein of Cannibal Holocaust and other gore-filled flicks from the past. Many of these films have no real merit to them, as they are simply meant to shock or horrify. But in some rare cases there is the intent to have some real intellectual or political teeth behind them. In some cases films of this genre, which seem to only prey on the poorest instincts of people, end up making remarkably strong appeals to human ethics. They may do so in ways to appall us, but that on its own can be a good reminder about the flexibility of ideology. How one position, which may feel so secure and true in one moment can have the theoretical floor fall from beneath it the next. Eli Roth was heavily criticized for his portrayal of indigenous peoples as savages and evil, mindless cannibals. His response was to say that to worry about a movie and its portrayal of indigenous people while actual

Desde sumaonao Si Donald Trump gi inachaigen Presidente gi sanlagu mas na'kaduku todu! Gof taffo' gui', taimamahlao gui'. Fihu ti hongge'on i sinangan-na lao gof klaru i motibu-na. Esta kana' bente taotao manhalom gi i inachaigi para i mas takhilo' na ofisina gi sanlagu. Gi ayu na batkada, taimanu unu sina gumefe'na? Para Si Trump, un konsigi muna'huyong i taihinasso na klasen kuentos ya sigi ha' mama'tinas hao "scandals." Humuyongna i media u ma tattiyi hao ya ma espiha hao para nuebu na taihinasso pat na'manman na klasen kuentos. Kao "serious" na klasen pretendente Si Trump? Buente ahe', lao para pa'go na momento guiya i mas annok yan i mas makubre gi i inachaigi. Debi di ta gof atan taimanu na para u inafekta i inachaigi ni i gaige-na. I mas halacha na scandal put i sinangan-na put Si John Mccain.Ya-hu este na tininge' ginen i Washington Post put hafa ilek-na. *********************** Wh

Torture and Zero Dark Thirty   David Bromwich 1/19/13 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-bromwich/torture-zero-dark-thirty_b_2512767.html  Zero Dark Thirty is a spy thriller about the tracking and killing of Osama Bin Laden. Good police work did it, the film says, and it aims to show what (in the extraordinary circumstances) good police work amounts to. Action movies have been the director Kathryn Bigelow's métier, and Zero Dark Thirty is tense and well-paced. It has the kind of proficiency one associates with, say, The Hunt for Red October . It does not mean to compete with a film like The Battle of Algiers . There is no question here of taking up a complex historical subject and exploring it with a semblance of human depth. Rather, the movie accepts the ready prejudices and fears of its American audience, and builds up pressure for two hours to prepare the thrill and relief at the raid on Bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad. The first two hours skip forward s

In my World History class recently we discussed the Congo Free State. In my Guam History and World History classes I often create strange lists for students in order to understand the ways in which I see the history that I'm teaching. For Guam History I have two main lists, "The Most Heroic Chamorros That You've Never Heard Of" which features figures Chamorros from Guam History who were heroic and brave and accomplished great things, but don't fit into the usual historical narratives and are either accidentally or intentionally erased. I also have a list "The Assholes of Guam History" which has you might guess is a list of all the jerks in Guam's History. The people who have oppressed Chamorros, slaughtered them, held them back and just caused all sorts of problems. Some of them are Chamorro but most of them are non-Chamorros. These lists evolve as my understanding and knowledge evolve. For example many years ago if I was coming up with an Assh

After serving eight terms as one of the most progressive members of the US House of Representatives, Dennis Kucinich is leaving Washington D.C. next month. Kucinich was often the most reasonable voice in very unreasonable and irrational times. He ran for President several times, once I got to see him at a campaign stop in Atascadero, California. He was proud defender of the often time embattled and much maligned label of liberal. He will be missed. Below is the text for one of his most famous speeches given in February 2002. ***************** A Prayer for America by US Rep Dennis Kucinich February 17, 2002 I offer these brief remarks today as a prayer for our country, with love of democracy, as a celebration of our country. With love for our country. With hope for our country. With a belief that the light of freedom cannot be extinguished as long as it is inside of us. With a belief that freedom rings resoundingly in a democracy each time we speak freely. With the unde

I have only been in South Korea for two days and I have already met dozens of political prisoners, some of whom were imprisoned for a matter of months, others for years. When I say political prisoner I don't mean someone arrested at a protest, but rather people who have been condemned and wrongfully incarcerated by the South Korean government. In fact, within the span of one day, I met three men who were political prisoners longer than Nelson Mandela was imprisoned in South Africa. I didn’t make this connection right away (this connection to Mandela), but it was something that was regularly reiterated throughout the day. I’ll return to this at the end of the post. Most people on Guam or in the United States don’t know anything about South Korea, and certainly not about its government. But that is why nationalism and the imaginary cognitive mapping that it provides is so important when dealing with “the rest of the world.” Most people might know about the Korean War or know that S

Put este na klasi siha, na ti bai hu fa'yi'us Si Obama. I Manrepublicans, hinasson-niniha na gaige Si Obama gof chagogo' gi i banda Akague', lao ai adai, ti nahong iyo-na "inakague pulitikat" para Guahu. Esta noskuantos biaha desde mahula' gui', na nina'desganao yu' . Otro fino'-ta, achokka' sina hao i mas "liberal" na taotao annai malalagu hao para ofisinan pulitikat, gigon humalom hao mumas conservative. Ti sina masuhayi este. Ginnen i sistema. Gigon na manakikihon hao "power" lumaconservative. Despensa, sa' ti bei fangge post pa'go. Manegga' yu' Cricket gi i internet pa'go. Tres na matches manachagigigu. Sri Lanka vs. Pakistan, West Indies vs. England yan South Africa vs. Australia. Ai adai, esta kalang bulachu yu' nu este na binila'! *************************************** Published on Saturday, February 28, 2009 by Salon.com Obama's Efforts to Block a Judicial Ruling on