NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

The past few days have involved alot of very interesting discussion about the possibilities for Okinawa to become an independent country or seek greater autonomy from Japan. While at the conference that I attended most people were sympathetic in some ways to an independent Okinawa, some were still very resistant. If you are from Guam, then you may not think that Guam is very close to becoming independent. You may think of it as being an idea that only a few people take seriously. You would be right for the most part, but you would also be diminishing the fact that over the past 40 years Guam has come to accept the possibility of the idea being independent. The majority of people may not like it or may be afraid of it, but they can imagine it, albeit in very rudimentary and crude ways. In Okinawa people seem not to be able to accept this yet. There is an independent past, but like Guam, the present seems so intimately connected to the colonizer and so independence seems

“Gotta Catch ‘Em All!” Michael Lujan Bevacqua Marianas Variety 12/21/11 It is interesting to contrast the 2012 Republican primary with the 2008 Democratic primary. In 2008, Democrats were overcome with stressful joy at the prospect of having so many great candidates, two of whom (Clinton and Obama) would be historic and nation-changing figures if elected. Fast forward to the Republican’s 2012 and we see a huge array of candidates, but little consistent enthusiasm. In the last half of this year, Republicans have flirted with more “frontrunners” than Newt Gingrich has marriages. It will all be coming to a close soon, as the endless string of debates about who loves troops, tax cuts and Ronnie Reagan more will be eclipsed by the actual primary contests. Just as with the Democratic debates of 2008, little was yielded from them, as candidates are often more in agreement than disagreement, and did their best to score points by hitting each other with meaningless, witty one-liners. Be

For those of you who may not already know it, I'm a big fan of manga and anime. This doesn't mean I'm an otaku or anything (although normals sometimes call me one), but just that there are a handful of titles or franchises which I really read carefully and follow closely. For instance, in July I wrote a long post about how two of my favorite mangas to read, Gantz and Berserk were going on hiatus for a few months. My geek guts started showing when a simple post about how much I'll miss them ended up being a discussion about the aspects of killing God or Gods in the mangas, or the way in which the main characters seemed to be challenging the very order of things, and how exciting it was to try and see an author make that possible. (Este mina'hasso yu' na hu nisisita umespiha kao esta mana'fanhuyong i nuebu na issue Berserk. Esta maloffan dos meses gi iyo-na hiatus, pues sina esta makpo'.) For a few years now I've been translating manga, most notabl

Posting will most likely be sparodic for the next few weeks because I'm gearing up for my exams in my department. What this will entail is me turning in my final draft for my propsectus or my proposal for my dissertation on Tuesday. I will then receive a list of questions from which I will choose two and have one week to answer and then turn back into my committee. My committee is made up of five faculty, three from my department (Yen Le Espiritu, Ross Frank, Pal Ahluwalia) and two from outside (Jodi Blanco and Keith Lujan Camacho). Once they get my answers, I will have week to prepare for my oral defense on June 12th. This will entail a two hour defense/discussion with my committee, where they will challenge me on certain points, make recommendations and suggestions about how I can improve my project. I'm writing like crazy this weekend, so I can turn my prospectus in on Tuesday. I'll be writing like crazy next week also. I think I'll post tomorrow a little bit of my