NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

The conventions for both political parties this year have passed. Because of the time difference on Guam, I wasn't able to watch them as much as I'd hoped, because I was usually in class when people were speaking. I followed the coverage as best as I could, even writing about the Guam delegations for both the DNC and RNC and the way they represented the island in their roll call spotlight moment. I have only attended one political convention in my life and that was in 2008 when I got to be the "Blogger from Guam" to the Democratic National Convention in Denver, where Barrack Obama received the nomination for President. I has wanted to go back to another convention or two, and toyed with the idea of attending this year, but my teaching schedule made it impossible. While reflecting on this year's convention and my own experience 8 years ago, I sifted through my digital files and came across this article this article that I written fro AAJA or the Asian American

The Great California Genocide by gjohnsit DailyKos 8/14/2008 What do you think of when someone says "California"? Beaches? Sunshine? Hollywood?   How about the largest act of genocide in American history? "The idea, strange as it may appear, never occurred to them (the Indians) that they were suffering for the great cause of civilization, which, in the natural course of things, must exterminate Indians."  - Special Agent J. Ross Browne, Indian Affairs  California was one of the last areas of the New World to be colonized. It wasn't until 1769 that the first mission, Mission San Diego de Alcalá, was built in California at present-day San Diego. It was the first of 21 missions, which would become the primary means for the Spaniards to subjugate the natives. The leader of this effort was Franciscan friar Junípero Serra .  Despite whatever the movies portray, the missions were coercive religious, forced l

“Presidential Visit Calculus” by Michael Lujan Bevacqua 11/30/2011 The Marianas Variety The recent visit, but not really a visit by President Barack Obama to the World’s Largest Gas State Where America’s Day Begins caused a bit of a stir. There was a demonstration of more than 50 people at the front gates of Anderson while his plane was refueling. There have been debates about whether this counts as a visit or not. Furthermore, is Guam right to expect the “most powerful” man in the world to give it the time of day? Or is it just being selfish and trying to steal away the time of the busiest man in the world? At a time like this, it is probably important to reflect on the calculus of Presidential visits. Presidential stops are meant to enhance a Commander and Chief’s reputation. They are meant to give him a little boost, some extra political capital each time he leaves Washington and gets out to eat apple pie with Joe and Jane Six Pack. The calculus could be reduced to a handful o

The first comes from President Barack Obama. Teneki ilelek-ña bula put taimanu debi di ta fatta este na espiritun Amerikånu. Debi di ta silebra este na uniku na espiritu, ginnen i manaåpa'ka na manmofo'na Amerikånu. Siempre para fañångan put i manmumu na sindålu siha, ya debi di ta hassuyi siha yan i che’chon-ñiha. Este na katta, dipotsi put “manhahasso.” Si Obama ha sohsohyo’ hit na para ta gof hasso på’go put hafa impottånte, hafa gaibali. ********************** Michael -- This weekend, our family will join millions of others in celebrating America. We will enjoy the glow of fireworks, the taste of barbeque, and the company of good friends. As we all celebrate this weekend, let's also remember the remarkable story that led to this day. Two hundred and thirty-three years ago, our nation was born when a courageous group of patriots pledged their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor to the proposition that all of us were created equal. Our country began as a unique experi

I was completely drenched, estaba sen sohgon yu' in American Presidential politics, for all summer and most of the spring. My blog was grateful for the attention, as plenty of times I was writing on it about Obama being smeared by Republicans or Race and Gender in the campaign , when I should have been working on my dissertation. I remember several times writing on my blog that I wouldn't be posting for a week or so, and then ending up posting about Palin or something else which had just pissed me off. This obsession reached its climax in August when I attended the Democratic National Convention in Denver and for almost two weeks, I thought of nothing else but Presidential politics, race, militarism, colonialism and US territorial - Federal relations. Now that I'm Guam, my intense link to the race is weakening, the need to constantly write about it, follow it and so on is dumidide dumidide muma'pos. Its slowly fading away. There are several reasons for this. 1. I&

The almost week long break from this blog has been an unfortunate side effect of the shifting of priorities since I came back to Guam. I put alot into this blog over the past two months mainly because of the Democratic National Convention and also my own close following of issues of race and gender in the campaign and the pick of Sarah Palin for VP by John McCain. I'm scaling things back now in order to spend more time trying to be a good father to my 17 month old nene Sumåhi, and also working on finishing up my dissertation as soon as possible. Both activities require lots of attention and plenty of focus, and so sadly I might be posting less than usual for the next few months. This doesn't mean that I don't have plenty floating around in my head to post about, in fact sigi ha' machuchuda' i hinasso-ku desde matto yu' para Guahan! I have way too many things to write about now that I'm back, Guam is far from boring there is plenty happening that I'm

Even In Denver, Bloggers Keep Independent Streak New Media Types Are Excited To Cover The Convention, But Some Do It With A Critical Eye by Kevin Friedl, The National Journal Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2008 When the Democrats welcomed hundreds of bloggers to Denver, they may not have known what they were in for. Even the most carefully vetted bloggers, it seems, are still capable of biting the hand that feeds them press credentials. Before the convention had even begun, bloggers invited by the party to cover the event from inside the Pepsi Center were demanding greater access to the floor and overwhelming the DNCC staff with requests. Some bloggers used their initial posts in Denver to complain about security hassles, the credentialing process, and the lack of wireless Internet access, much to the annoyance of Democratic staffers. Of course, the great majority of the blogs' initial coverage was positive. These are, after all, Democratic partisans. Many see their role as sharing the ex