NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

For my intermediate Chamoru coffeeshop classes, which during the current lockdown, have been moved online, we translate a Chamoru song into English each week. We listen to the song twice, go over the lyrics, sometimes talk about the cultural dimensions of the song or the metaphors and history that it invokes. It is one of my favorite ways to teach the language, since it involves not only teaching the language itself, but also making connections across generations and sometimes using the nostalgia that people have to encourage further learning. My lyrics are often from just listening since few Chamoru albums include lyrics. This means that sometimes my lyrics are slightly to noticeably off. But even years after doing this regular assignment, I still learn new things from this exercise, even for myself. Sometimes I hear lyrics in a new way and realize I was singing them wrong for years. Last week, at the request of one of my students, we translated the song "An Mo'na Hao&quo;

The issue of lockdowns, checkpoints, roadblocks, civil liberties and rights has been prominent lately in Guam (and in other places as well). I was looking at my bookshelf for different books and discussions on this sort of issue, wanting to just put some structure to the ways that people were talking about stricter measures to save lives, but others trying forcefully to argue that their rights wer e more important than the public health concerns. There were alot of ways to approach something like this, since it brings in philosophy, political science/theory, sociology, legal theory, etc. As I was scanning my bookshelf though, I saw a book I hadn't read in a while, but has one passage which I thought of as being relevant in the sort of "looking awry" way I like my critical analysis, "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" by Mark Twain. In it, there is the passage on the two "Reigns of Terror."  "There were two "Reigns of Terror"

Estaba guaha tres na manga ni' hu gof tataitai yan hu tattitiyi kada simana pat kada mes. I fine'nina "Naruto." I mina'dos "Gantz." Yan i uttimo "Berserk." Gi entre este na tres i fine'nina ma tutuhun "Berserk." I yiyinga' tumutuhun ayu gi 1990. Para Naruto matutuhun gi 1999 yan 2000 para Gantz. Lao pa'go Naruto yan Gantz esta munhayan. Makpo' Naruto gi issuen 700 (lao ma fa'tinas ensigidas un nuebu na series) yan makpo' Gantz gi issuen 383 (taya' nuebu na series para este, lao olaha mohon na guaha). Achokka' "Berserk" i mas amko', guiya i mas nateng lokkue'. Gi 25 na sakkan, matto gui' gi issuen 342 ha'. Ya guaha na biahi i yiyingga' ha fa'tinas unu na pat dos na issues gi unu na sakkan. Lao magof yu', sa' gi Fanuchan'an, put fin, ma na'huhuyong regulamente "Berserk" ta'lo. Hu diseseha na sina ma konsigi mo'na taiguini, sa' sen y

People ask me all the time what decolonization means or is. Manhoben, manåmko’, taotao sanhiyong, taotao sanhalom, all hear of this term as they go about their lives, but are unclear as to what it might mean. For most it stirs up fearsome feelings about losing everything that makes life possible and so they are seeking some reassurance that decolonization couldn’t mean that. I have a variety of answers, anecdotes, theoretical lens and concept ready to go, but it always depends on the context. Are they speaking to me about decolonization in a political context? Or is it cultural? Linguistic? Economic? Spiritual? People will conceive of decolonization differently based on their particular interests or their set of phobias. Many will instinctively define decolonization in a particular way because of their fears of feelings of dependency. Others will want to define it in a certain way because of their interest in something changing. You can conceive of decoloniza

  The election for President in the US in 2016 has already started, and even though I am only casually following the coverage it does already seem like every single Republican or every possible stripe is teasing that they are running. It is interesting to see the bubbles in which people live and how it sustains their egos and gives them delusions of grandeur and potential power. All of these Republicans keep telling us that everyone they know is compelling them to run for President, and most of the country is wondering how many followers on Twitter or Facebook count as "everyone" nowadays. This video here from Bill Maher who has created a convenient guide for billionaires out there who are interested in buying a candidate and want one that matches their ideology or would be willing to say the craziest things. Some other articles are included below as well. ******************** Sarah Palin and the Demise of the Tea-Party Media By Eric Boehlert Huffingpost 1/30/2015

Today in class will be learning about the Wars Against Spain in the early 19th century. It is a period where Spain loses all of its colonies in Latin American (except for the Caribbean) in less than 30 years. In order to understand the roots of those anti-colonial wars we need to understand the indigenous forms of resistance that continued for centuries even after Spain had colonized, converted and enslaved most of Latin America. We'll be learning today about Tupac Amaru II who led an uprising against the Spanish in 1780. Below is a song written by Alejandro Romualdo that I sometimes share with my students. And hunggan, kumayu Si Tupac Amaru yan Si Tupac Shakur. Tupac Shakur was named after Tupac Amaru.  A CHORAL SONG FOR TUPAC AMARU By Alejandro Romualdo Valle Lo harán volar con dinamita. En masa, lo cargarán, lo arrastrarán. A golpes le llenarán de pólvora la boca. Lo volarán: ¡Y no podrán matarlo! They will blow him with dynamite. As on

I recently took my kids to watch the film “Rise of the Guardians.” It was an entertaining movie, where the mythical beings that accompany some kids throughout their childhood, such as Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy, are portrayed as guardians who fight to keep the children of the world safe. The movie was strange for me due to the fact that all of these guardians came from Western cultures, but were meant to represent the childhoods of everyone in the world. Every culture always has their own sorts of beliefs that children are told to give some magic to the world or help them respect boundaries or authority, learn certain values. There are always similarities about these beliefs, but there are still very distinct differences. I was surprised that the film didn’t do more to show diversity in these guardians in line with the diversity of beliefs in the world. After watching the film I asked my five-year-old Sumahi if she believed Santa Claus to

If any of you have ever wondered what a page of the manga Lone Wolf and Cub would look like translated into Chamorro, here is a page from one of my favorite issues. I wrote about this exchange a few weeks back in my post titled " Lone Wolf and Bamboo Spear ."

  In my continuing efforts to ensure that I destroy myself I have started up yet another blog. This blog on the website Team Liquid, which is the largest community site for things related to the game Starcraft, will be naturally dedicated to things dealing with the limited amount of time I get to spend gaming every week. This blog will join the scattered and rag tag band of social online media that I try to run. I have this blog that I do not update as frequently as I used to. I have 3 tumblrs. A Twitter account I don't use much anymore. I have a Chamorro email sentence list I send out every day or so. I also have a weekly column in the Marianas Variety. In addition to all of this I am also doing National Novel Writing Month this month and although I already have 3000 words, I feel like I am behind. The title of my Starcraft blog is " The Bamboo Spear. " I love writing about nerd-related things because I like to combine that aspect of my life, with my love fo