NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

  For Immediate Release October 7, 2020   SENATOR MARSH (TAITANO) CONTINUES HER CRUCIAL CONVERSATION SERIES, BREADFRUIT  AS A MEANS FOR FOOD SUSTAINABILITY AND SECURITY Senator Kelly Marsh (Taitano) authored a bi-partisan supported bill to capitalize on Guam’s lengthy history of reciprocal intraregional relationships which have been part of the region’s traditional approach to surviving and thriving within the Mariana Islands, Southeast Asia, and Micronesia. Her bill would develop a Guam Intraregional Commerce Commission, which will spearhead efforts to strengthen regional resiliency and rebuild and re-envision our economy in the face of the current global pandemic era.  With this focus on the need for greater regional economic collaboration in mind, Senator Marsh (Taitano) this Friday continues her Crucial Conversation Series, highlighting ways that we can build more sustainable industries while preserving our environment and culture. This week’s episode will discuss  lemmai  and  dok

I have a Chamorro Sentence email list. Every day or so I send out an email to everyone on the list featuring a basic sentence in Chamorro. You are encouraged to email back a reply to the sentence to either myself or the entire email list. If is entirely up to you how you want to use the list. You can ask yourself the question and then say your response out loud. You can write it down. You can send it to myself or to others and share your response. Hagu la'mon taimanu na mausa este na lista.  Here is the sentence that was sent out today. Chamorro Sentence #99: Hafa i mas ya-mu na fañochuyan Chamorro? or in English: "What is your favorite Chamorro restaurant?" If you are interested in joining the list, please send me your email at mlbasquiat@hotmail.com Otro fino'-ta: For those interested, Chamorro classes at Java Junction will be starting again this Friday,  January 25th at 12 pm. Classes are free and open to everyone and of all skill levels. The more stu

Every time I would travel to Japan I would be asked several things as to where I came from. #1: People would ask me if I was Ainu, the indigenous people of Japan who the government and most people pretended to be non-existent for quite a while. #2: I was from Hokkaido. I have no idea what people from Hokkaido look like, but if I was to imagine myself as some sort of Japanese person, it would be from Hokkaido. #3: People regularly asked if I was from Okinawa. I had no idea for years as to why people thought I might be from Okinawa. Even when I was living in the states I would sometimes meet Okinwans who thought I might be Okinawa. I would never begrudge people their mistakes. Being Okinawa sounds pretty cool, and besides when I travel places, it doesn't matter where, I constantly think that anyone around me could be Chamorro. I've asked some people in Okinawa so far, why people might mistake me as one of them? They have laughed and said I do look Okinawa, and the only

“Tåya’ Båtson San Jose” Michael Lujan Bevacqua The Marianas Variety 3/7/12 In the writing of my Masters Thesis in Micronesian Studies I conducted over a hundred interviews with Chamorros who were born in the prewar Naval colonial era of Guam history and also endured the trauma of I Tiempon Chapones, the period of Japanese colonialism in World War II. These interviews were conducted more than a decade ago, over the course of several years. Since then, so many of those I spent an afternoon with in their outside kitchen or a morning sipping coffee at Hagatña McDonald’s have passed away. One of the most interesting memories I have from that period is my attempt to figure out the meaning of an old Chamorro fina’kuentos, empe’ finayi, or in English “saying” that one of my interview subjects had used. While speaking to an elderly man in Inarajan about the work of Father Jesus Baza Duenas in World War II and the changes of life in his village, he invoked the saying “tåya’ Båston San Jo

From Ten Thousand Things : On May 23rd, Art teacher and peace blogger Sung-Hee Choi was arrested and detained with seven other people at Jeju Island for nonviolently protesting the South Korean government seizure of property belonging to 1,500 villagers in Gangjeong, Jeju Island, South Korea. The Lee administration wants to destroy this beautiful region of tangerine groves and greenhouses on the Gangjeong coast to make way for a navy base intended to house destroyers equipped with missile systems. At the time of her arrest, Sung-Hee Choi was holding a banner with the message printed on it: Do not touch even one stone, even one flower! She was arrested for simply holding the banner. She did not do anything to obstruct the South Korean government's destruction of the Gangjeong villagers' property. ************************ Below is a poem that was written by Sung Hee-Choi while she has been in prison. The revolution comes in time we do not know. It comes suddenly w

This weekend I'll be taking people up to the literal "top of the island," Guam's tallest "peak" Sabanan Lamlam, or Mount Lamlam. It is part of We Are Guahan's "Heritage Hikes." We went to is Pagat two weeks ago, Cetti and Sella Bay last week, and now our third and final hike up to Mount Lamlam. Even though will be the third time to travel up there in the past month, but I'm still excited about it. Here is one of the reasons why. My cognitive map of Guam, the network of images, symbols, ideas, sights, smells, and so on which I use to imagine what Guam is on a daily basis is dominated by my classrooms where I teach in, the apartment complex where I live in, and the things I pass by the side of the roads as I travel. I spend most of my time in the central part of the island bouncing between Chalan Pago, Hagatna, Tamuning, Barrigada and Mangilao. As such, Guam is a pleasant concrete jungle, dotted every once in a while with random clusters

Please consider signing this petition titled "To Prevent the Construction of a Mounded Landfill on top of Inarajan Watershed at Layon, in Dandan, Municipality of Inarajan." I'm pasting the entire text of the petition below, and a link to its online form can be found here . I would love to write more about this issue right now, there is so much going on and so much to be said. If you've ever wondered why some of the more conscious people on Guam refer to the Federal Government as "Federales" in a sneering or fearful way, one of the reasons is happening right now, over the landfill issue and the attempted exortion of the Government of Guam to the tune of almost $1 million dollars a week . Unfortunately I can't spare the time right now as I'm rushing to finish up a book chapter so I can get back to work on my dissertation. (The pictures in this post are all from the tinanom yan halom tano' on either the land around my family's house in Mangila