NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

It is now less than a year til Guam hosts FESTPAC or the largest cultural festival in the Pacific. I am involved in FESTPAC in a number of forms and there are some ways that we are clearly ready and on course and others where ai adai it seems like it'll take a miracle for us to make it on time.  Para i taotao ni' muna'la'la'la' yan chumochonnek mo'na i kuttura-ta (gi meggai na manera) este na dinana' i mas takhilo', i mas sagradu na tiempo. Kada kuatro na sakkan mandadana' i taotaogues i Pasifiku gi unu na isla, ya manafa'nu'i yan manapatte i kutturan-niha. Un sen dangkolu na onra este na para ta kombida taotao ginen kana trenta diferentes na isla siha magi para i tano'-ta.  For those of you who would like to receive regular updates about FESTPAC, its planning and organizing go on Facebook and LIKE the official FESTPAC page. Here is the link: https://www.facebook.com/guamfestpac2016 Or, each Friday the Pacific Daily News i

If you look at pictures of Chamorros a hundred years ago, we look markedly different today. I do not mean in terms of skin color and so on, but I mean in terms of size. If you look at images of Chamorros a century ago there are some who look healthy and comfortable in their size, but most, especially men are quite skinny. Descriptions of Ancient Chamorros allude to them being a bit on the larger side, healthy, but slightly overweight. A happy and comfortable plumpness.  Chamorros today are a very large and very unhealthy people. Some of this can be blamed on environmental factors, such as poisons in the land and sea due to militarization. It can also be blamed on the diets of people today, which are a combination of poor health choices but also structural conditions that go all the way back to the end of World War II and the drastic changes that took place in the Chamorro way of life. Chamorros are not unique in this regard but it is a tragic story we find across the Pacific, wher