NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

  The second episode of "Faisen I Guam Museum" is happening this Tuesday, July 27th at 11 am Chamorro Standard Time on the Guam Museum Facebook page. If you have questions about Guam History, Chamoru culture or heritage, comment with them or email them to me at michael.bevacqua@dca.guam.gov and I'll select some to try to answer as part of the livestream. The first one held last month was a lot of fun, I'm really looking forward to this one and continuing the community outreach on behalf of the Guam Museum.

One of the earliest Chamoru translations of an American pop song I ever did.  I came across it recently while I was searching on some old external hard drives.  It is to the tune of the Coldplay song "Clocks"which came out in 2002.  I remember I had started translating the song, working to come up with some basic lyrics.  I was hindered in my translation by the fact that the title frankly, gi minagahet was weird or sucked in Chamoru.  Clocks, didn't make sense in Chamoru. It may barely make sense in English for the song gi minagahet.  "Reloh siha" mungga yu' nu enao lol.  This was very early in my Chamoru learning journey, I was functionally fluent, but still making mistakes all the time and my Chamoru sounded like it was stiff and dry, straight out of a grammar book, because I lacked the basic organic feeling of being part of a language community.  The ways that emerge sometimes for an individual, a family, a village, a people to build off of the rules. To

I put this together for a Chamoru language curriculum project I was working on a few years ago. It was meant to be an appendix to go along with other cultural components about learning Chamoru. The list started with the work of Malia Ramirez and then I added on a few more here and there. It is by no means meant to be exhaustive or complete. Chamoru family names are still evolving, although perhaps not at the rate they have previously. For every Chamoru, there are a number of names they can claim, but unless they are running for office, tend to only invoke one or two when representing their identity.  I returned to this list recently while discussing the topic in one of my Chamoru language classes. For many Chamorus in the states or who grow up on Guam without much emphasis on their heritage, they assume that their "family name" is their last name. I have had many troubling conversations with young people who assert that their clan name is "Leon Guerrero" or &qu;

Ha'ånen Guinaiya ta'lo gi otro simåna.  Estague un rigålu para todus hamyo guenao huyong ni' manamåntes put guinaiya yan i fino' Chamoru.  Estague na tinige' put courtship yan konstrumbre Chamoru put umakkamo' åntes di gera.  Tinige' este as Illuminada Perez, ni ma'estra gui' gi kinalamten para i nina'la'la' i fino'-ta.  *************************** Kustumbren Chamorro put Inakamo’ By Illuminada Perez   Annai sumuttero pat sumuttera un patgon, mana’eyak i lahi na patgon gumualo’ yan pumeska, parehu ha’ gi saddok pat i tasi, yan mamoksai månnok yan babui. I sottera, mana’eyak manlakse, manganchiyu yan manarekla gi halom guma’. Desde i diesisais años i patgon, ha tutuhun manenteresao put guinaiya yan inakamo’. Yanggen esta ti siña machomma’ i lahi yan i palao’an ni’ u maguaiyan-ñiha, pues i lahi ha sangåni i mañainå-ña para u fanmamaisen saina. Tenga i nana, i tata, i tiha yan i matlina, mañaonao manhånao para i gima’ i

I'm working on an exhibit for Humanities Guåhan, and its put me back into researcher/scholar mode. I've been pouring through books and reports for the past week looking for various bits and pieces of information. Part of this meant re-reading some books and archival documents I hadn't touched in over a decade. Given the way in which conversations over decolonization and self-government have begun to take on a new character lately, I was particularly attracted to passages that can help me or others reflect on our development over time, how far Chamorros and Guam may have come, or haven't, especially in the context of their political connection to the US. There are many ways that we can say that Guam has changed over the past 500 years or over the past 100 years. As we remain in the era of American colonialism, I am mostly concerned with the impact of the US and its policies. As I have written about in a variety of ways, these changes are tangible and very real, but a

Hami, i Taotao Guahan by Michael Lujan Bevacqua The Marianas Variety July 29, 2015   On December 17 th , 1901 a group of more than thirty men, primarily Chamorros gathered in Hagatna. Most prominent on their minds was the political status of their island Guam, which had been taken by the United States during the Spanish American War three years earlier. Since the transfer of power, confusion over Guam’s future hung like dark foreboding clouds. Although the American flag flew over Guam, the United States had not set up a government in which Chamorros would now enjoy the glories of American democracy. They had established a military regime which the US Navy total control over the lives and lands of Chamorros. The group that gathered in Hagåtña represented some of the largest landholders, the wealthiest families and some of the most educated Chamorros of the day. They carried last names familiar to us today, such as Perez, Torres, Dungca, Quitugua, Martinez

The Chamorro Land Trust was a government program born as an idea and hope during an expansion of Chamorro consciousness and then implemented and given life during a period of heated activism and protest for Guam. When we look back at the work of Chamorro rights pioneers such as Paul Bordallo or Angel Santos, the Chamorro Land Trust is a key, tangible piece of their legacies. The Chamorro Land Trust's mission is to provide land to landless Chamorros and for the benefit of the Chamorro community, but different administrations have always found ways to blur that or to quietly sneak around or shockingly expand what that might mean, giving away lands meant to be held in trust for the Chamorro people to all sorts of public and private enterprises. The late Senator Ben Pangelinan once said, "anggen ta manteni i tano', ta susteni i taotao." If we hold onto the land, we sustain the people. A very true point that is important to remember as Guam is sold off to foreign compa

The letter to the editor below from Joaquin Perez is very instructive. He discusses possible theories regarding the military buildup as currently proposed, drawing attention to possible connections between elements which people may not be noticing. One suggestion he makes is that perhaps the identifying of Litekyan as the location for a new firing range safety danger zone, could possibly be a tricky ploy to get Pagat, a place once taken off the table, back on the table. Technically Pagat is still on the table and is still a site the DOD designates for their firing range, but the popular opinion feels that it is no longer an option, the movement to save it was successful. Perez's article begs several questions that are important and need to be considered. Key amongst them in terms of resisting or countering or challenging is how should we interpret the military as an institution, in what way, through what level of consistency, efficiency or power should we see it? With Perez'