NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

  Fanachu! was first started by Manny Cruz in 2016 as part of the media committee of Independent Guåhan. When he left island for graduate school, it was taken over by Lawrence "Signezama" Lizama. Since the start of the global COVID-19 pandemic, I've been taking over hosting duties. I've always been a part of Fanachu! but since last year, I've taken over much of it, with help in producing or organizing and hosting episodes from others every once in a while.  Several things helped me get through the pandemic and all its sort of low fi craziness. One thing was Fanachu! Having something to focus on each week, to bring people into conversation, to learn more about things I'm interested in. It was a nice way to focus my life and feel like I was still having an impact, albeit small one, at a time when things were being delayed or cancelled.  Earlier this month Fanachu! reached 100 patrons! An exciting milestone, I never thought it would reach.  As part of finally get

Last year a graphic story that I wrote titled "I Sindålu" was published in the creative anthology Pacific Monsters edited by Margret Helgadottir. It was a fun story, that I thankfully got to write in the Chamoru language, with English translations. It tells the story of a Chamoru soldier who is dealing with the trauma of what he experienced while being deployed in a foreign land. He comes home to Guam and live in a ranch at the edge of the jungle, and begins to feel menaced by the spirits of his ancestors, the taotaomo'na. I really liked writing this story and was happy to see it in print, but I am terrible at promoting things, especially if I'm the one who created it ( ai lokkue'). Here is an interview that I did with the website The Future Fire.   ************************* Sunday, 6 May 2018 Interview with Michael Lujan Bevacqua The Future Fire http://press.futurefire.net/2018/05/interview-with-michael-lujan-bevacqua.html May 2018 I n th

Humånao si Jose para mamfe’ pugua’ gi halomtåno’. Gi kinekiyong-ña manli’e’ manamariyu yan agaga’ siha na manga gi mas yahulolo’ na råmas. Guaha mås ki singko gi un rasimu. Ha po’lo påpa’ i kinatgåga-ña ya ha tutuhon fumeddos i trongkon mångga. Ti åpmam hulo’ esta gaige gi un råmas ni’ manggaige i mambunito siha mångga. Ha tife’ mås ki siette na mångga ya ha balutan gi me’nan chinanå-ña. Ha tutuhon tumunok påpa’ lao kada ha’ atan påpa’, mås chågo’ i lini’e’-ña. Sigi ta’lo påpa’ lao kada ha atan påpa’ luma’chago’ ha’ i tano’. Ha hasson maisa si Jose na kalang båba este i che’cho’-ña. “Fa’na’an ti debi bai tife’ este na mångga.” Ha li’e’ otro na dångkolon råmas lao åntes di u falak guatu ilek-ña, “Guello yan Guella, despensa yu’ sa’ ti hu tungo’ na ti debi na bai tife’ este na mångga.” Annai munhåyan ha sångan este, ha hago’ guatu i dångkolon råmas ya ayu siña måtto påpa’ gi hilo’ tåno’. Annai tumunok påpa’, ha baba i balutån-ña mångga, lao ti bunito esta

Each month Independent Guåhan honors a Maga'taotao or an elite, pioneering or noble person, who has fought hard in some way for the rights of the Chamorro people, especially in terms of self-determination. This month we are honoring the late Clotilde "Ding" Castro Gould who was a war-survivor, an educator, author, song-writer and a master story-teller. She is best known for her creation of the Chamorro language comic strip Juan Malimanga, which appears in the Pacific Daily News six times a week and her role in helping develop the bilingual and bicultural education program in Guam’s public school system. Tan Gould was also a member of PARA (People's Alliance for Responsible Alternatives) and OPI-R (Organization of People for Indigenous Rights), and as a political activist fought hard for the right to self-determination of the Chamorro people.  Para Guahu, there is an extra dimension to this honor, as I, through my work in the Chamorro Studies Program

One thing that I struggled with when I first became more conscious about issues affecting Guam, especially around political status, was the question of why more people weren't interested in this and why so few people were committed to the idea of changing it. For my entire life, for the entire lives of my mother and father, for the entire lifetimes of my grandparents, Guam has been a colony of the United States. The face of American colonialism in Guam has changed significantly. My grandparents grew up at a time when Guam was strictly segregated and Chamorros were openly treated as inferior to white Americans. Today, although people on Guam do regularly experience second-class treatment at the hands of the United States at multiple levels, it is easy to dismiss this as simple ignorance or lack of respect and not tie to it a larger political relationship. Para Guahu, ti ya-hu na mañåsaga ham yan i familia-ku gi un colony. Ti ya-hu na esta para kana' kuatro na siento na såkka

For most Chamorros, there is only one religion which gets to be designated as a "Chamorro" religion. That is Catholicism. Even though it has only been a part of Chamorro lives for just a few hundred years, it became intimately connected to so many parts of Chamorro life during that time, that for some scholars and individuals you cannot be Chamorro today unless you are Catholic or participate in Catholic rites. For others the Chamorro religion deals with taotaomo'na or aniti, ancestral spirits, their reverence and worship. We see elements of this in the way that cautious respect for the jungle and other natural areas persisted in a quiet supernatural or spiritual form, even when the overt belief in the spirits of Chamorro ancestors became weakened and almost forgotten. Although positive perceptions and connections to our ancient ancestors are common today, few people accept this as their religion alone. Instead they mix elements that to some might be contradictory toget

Thought it would be nice to end the year with a reference to what is considering to be the beginning of the Chamorro people, namely Fouha Bay, where most consider the Chamorro creation story to be set. Here is some information on it, placing it in both a historical and contemporary context and briefly how it connects to an upcoming project my family will be published. ******************* Fouha Bay/Laso' Fouha The Birthplace of Chamorro Civilization There are several creation stories for Chamorros. Some deal with Magellan getting lost, others with Marines hitting beaches, and then there are those which imagine the beginning with snakes tempting fruit aficionados in paradise. One creation story that is achieving more and more prominence is the tale of Fu’una and Puntan, which is partially set in the village of Humatak, and it is also the setting for a comic that I have been working on with my brother Jack as part of our Guam Bus creative plans.  For

-->  According to my tracking statistics for this blog, a large number of people visit one of these pages based on searches related to Guam and its military buildup. My assumption is that some of these people are journalists looking into the issue, a few more may be scholars, as my blog has been quoted in several dozen academic publications on the topic. The majority are students working on research papers, either in Guam or elsewhere about the major concerns for the military buildup and putting together pro or con arguments. In the spirit of this Christmas and future Christmases, I thought I'd post a couple more articles to help those with future research paper needs. These are a few articles that I've used in papers or presentations to make certain important points. ********************* DEIS rouses youth activism Monday, 11 Jan 2010 05:02am Marianas Variety By Zita Taitano DYNAMIC young community voices are starting to rise above the public compla