NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

There are certain things in Guam and Chamoru life and history that exist as such potent and powerful symbols to illustrate reality, whether negatively or positively. You could argue the Karabao is one such positive image. Even the latte or the såkman/galaide'.  But when it comes to these types of negative symbols, you have the old standard, the vague image of island thieves or ladrones. But you also have two very powerful and obfuscating symbols that are more recent, from just the past century, that of SPAM and the brown tree snake.  I was in a virtual symposium last week where I talked about Spam as a way of talking about islanders and their relationship to everything from militarization to colonialism to the impact of capitalism and consumerism on everything from the land, the culture to the body itself.  The brown tree snake possess a similar sort of potential in talking about the impact on the island of Guam or the Chamoru people, their natural resources, by invasive species. I

Ya-hu i titilu-ña este na tinige' gaseta. Put fabot, kao siña ma sotta i islan Pagan? Sen gefpå'go ayu na lugåt. Esta meggai na lugåt gi hilo' tåno' mandinestrosa ni' fina'militåt. Kontodu meggai na lugåt giya Guahan yan gi otro isla siha gi kadenå–ta. Atan i isla mafa'na'an FDM. Esta i meggaiña na Chamorro manmaleffa nu ayu na lugåt. I mañasaga guihi på'go i bomba yan i paluma siha. **************** “Leave Pagan Alone” by Cherri Anne E. Villahermosa Marianas Variety April 8. 2015 NORTHERN Islands Mayor Jerome Aldan’s message to the military is to “pack up and leave Pagan alone.”  Aldan was among the public officials who were in the House chamber yesterday to hear what the representatives of the Marine Corps Forces Pacific had to say during a meeting that lasted for more than three hours. Aldan in an interview said he has not changed his position and is still opposed to the proposed use of Paga

Each year for the Inachaigen Fino’ CHamoru or Chamorro Language Competition at the University of Guam we offer a number of competitions where students can show their skills in reading, writing, speaking and singing the Chamorro language. Each year we provide students two texts in Chamorro, one of them is a song/chant and the other is a poem. Students will have to memorize and perform these pieces before judges and the audience. Here is the poem that was provided last year for students. It was written by two Chamorro language teachers and fa’fa’nague or dance leaders in Pa’a Taotao Tano’. The lyrics are included below: Imåhen i Taotao-ta Tinige’ Siñot Brian Terlaje yan Siñot Raymond Lujan, 2014 Betso 1 : Fresko i aire Duru i manglo’ Humuyong i atdao Chumi’op ha’åni An poddong i ichan papa’ gi i tano’ Manmagof i taotao, bunitu i ha’åni. K oru:               Humuyong i hilét i isan i langet Yan i paluma kumǻkanta gi i trongko Mamflores i tano’ P

My grandmother loved i paluman natibun Guahan pat i paluman Chamorro siha. Recently while going through her numerous papers and documents I came across some stories she had written, on her own, for herself or for my children perhaps in Chamorro about Guam's native birds. She always told me stories about the birds in her youth and how sad it was to no longer hear them. It is common nowadays to feel like there are no birds left on Guam, because most of the native bird population has died out, killed by brown tree snakes and by loss of habitat. Ti mismo magahet este na sinangan. Hunggan i meggaina na paluma siha manmatai guini giya Guahan. Yes it is true that most of the birds on Guam are gone, but certain birds are still active and audible. The only problem is that most of them are recently introduced. Some of the endemic or indigenous birds that you can still find around Guam are the chunge', the kakkak, the sali, the aga and if you head down to Dano' you can see Ko'ko

Eight years ago on my blog, I started a series titled "Paluman Marianas," meant to feature different native birds of the Marianas and my drawings or paintings of them. I only did one, for I Tettot or the Marianas Fruit dove, and never got around to posting another one. I have plenty of drawings and paintings that feature Guam's birds, in fact with my daughter Sumahi, I've added quite a few more. Sumahi loves to draw in general, but I've tried to teach her as much as I can about the native birds of the Marianas. She can name many of them, probably more than most kids nowadays. But sharing this part of our heritage with her reminded me of my long forgotten series of Paluman Marianas. I wanted to add another one today, #2: I sihek, the Micronesian Kingfisher. ************** Micronesian Kingfisher - Guam Information courtesy of http://guamendangeredbirds.com/wst_page4.html The Micronesian kingfisher (Halcyon cinnamomina cinna