NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

I submitted my blog to a bunch of Blogsites, Blog search engines and so on. I got accepted to most of them, but was rejected from one for particularly unsettling reasons. Apparently its an English only blogsite. Here's an excerpt from the rejection letter I received. Your blog was declined for the following reason:I noticed that your posts are not all in English. Right now BlogExplosion onlyaccepts sites in English only. If all the posts after are going to be Englishonly then just resubmit and I\"ll approve. Thankyou! I really appreciate the warm and friendly tone of the rejection letter, and their offer of reconciliation. If you decide to change to English only, if you learn from the error of your ways (you foreigner!) then we will gladly accept you into the multi-cultural fold. Notice how the emphasis is not on what is being written, but so long as it conform to a specific way of relating information, forgetting of course that there are millions of people in the US wh

I've been reading The Work of Mourning which is a collection of eulogies and mourning texts written by the late Jacques Derrida. It contains Derrida's attempts to deal with the deaths of more than a dozen of his contemporaries and friends through writing. For decades Derrida has written about friendship, and the things which is means and implies, which we rarely ever consider. In every act, even in the act of making a friend, a sadness is always implied, because in that process of coming togther, there exists the trace of the inevitability not just that the friendship will end, but that one must leave it before the other. This collection of Derrida's work shows the tension involved with this process, and how one can continue the conversation of friendship when the other has left. And although we have very general stereotypical ways of talking about this at our disposal, I feel that Derrida, by exploring the work of his friends, and exploring his own relationship not to t

RUSH TRANSCRIPT This transcript is available free of charge, however donations help us provide closed captioning for the deaf and hard of hearing on our TV broadcast. Thank you for your generous contribution. Donate - $25 , $50 , $100 , more... AMY GOODMAN: As we continue our discussion of President Bush's inaugural address, let's hear a section of that speech. PRESIDENT BUSH: America will not impose our own style of government on the unwilling. Our goal, instead, is to help others find their own voice, attain their own freedom, and make their own way. The great objective of ending tyranny is the concentrated work of generations. The difficulty of the task is no excuse for avoiding it. America's influence is not unlimited; but fortunately for the oppressed, America's influence is considerable, and we will use it confidently in freedom's cause. AMY GOODMAN: President Bush, his second inaugural address. Today we're joined by Gore Vidal, one of Americ

A letter to the editor of the Pacific Daily News , published two years ago...just felt like I should post it. Decolonization is very much still on my mind, achokka' para i meggaina giya Guahan, esta taibali gui', ai na'ma'ase.... In response to the many letters that are going around the island, arguing against the decolonizing of Guam. I thought I’d write one of my own. Decolonization is a cause mostly taken up by Chamorro activists because for them the injustice of colonization is very personal and real. The harshness of colonialism hits Chamorros the hardest and this is why their voices are the loudest in support of decolonization. And those who scream the loudest are usually the ones who want the least to do with the United States, and therefore their cries are for less dependence on the US and more independence for Guam. But decolonization doesn’t mean independence, and it is not just for Chamorros, it just means ending colonialism, and this everyo

Speech given by Maga'lahi Hurao, 1671 while rallying Chamorros to battle against the Spanish... The Spaniards would have done better to remain in their own country. We have no need of their help to live happily. Satisfied with what our islands furnish us, we desire nothing. The knowledge which they have given us has only increased our needs and stimulated our desires. They find it evil that we do not dress. If that were necessary, nature would have provided us with clothes. They treat us as gross people and regard us as barbarians. But do we have to believe them? Under the excuse of instructing us, they are corrupting us. They take away from us the primitive simplicity in which we live. They dare to take away our liberty, which should be dearer to us than life itself. They try to persuade us that we will be happier, and some of us had been blinded into believing their words. But can we have such sentiments if we reflect that we have been covered with misery and illness ever s

Miget: Hafa ga'chong, kao mamaolek ha' todu? Nicole: Ahe', ahe'. Miget: Hey, diablo lai, sa' hafa guaha baba giya Hagu? Nicole: Manegga' yu' mubi gi painge' yan ti ya-hu gui'! Miget: Sa' hafa? Hafa na'an-na este? Nicole: Na'an-na Hum Tum. Miget: Hafa kumekeilek-na enao gi fino' Chamorro? Nicole: Kumekeilek-na "Guahu, Hagu." Miget: Oh! Guaha hiningok-hu put ayu! Dipotsi mangge i kanta-na siha no? Nicole: Guaha, lao dipotsi lokkue este "mubin feminist." Lao ti mismo. Miget: Hafa kumekeilek-mu? Nicole: Dipotsi nai este put i lalalahi yan i famalao'an yan na debi di u achaigua i "sexes." Ya mana'annok este gi i estorian Si Karan yan Si Rhea. Gi i tinituhun i mibi, gof baba na taotao Si Karan. Gagu, luhuriosu, pikaru, ya todu i tiempo, hinassosso gui' put manchika. Ma fa'na'an Si Rhea, "modern" na palao'an, pues gof ti ya-na Si Karan, yan sess

Good Morning Vietnam Matilda Dudley Do Right Rat Race Austin Powers Dodgeball No Man is an Island High Noon Max Havoc Hardboiled Psych Kim Possible Wedding Crashers Yours Mine Ours Family Guy Monk

An interesting site to check out. With some very interesting poems, including one by me, that I wrote two years ago. Most are in English, and most come from the perspective of an "average America" as opposed to your average person from Guam. Some would argue that they are one and the same, but if you were to think about it for more than a few moments you would realize that they aren't. And this has nothing to do with Guam's distance or inadequacies, but are merely part of the nature of its colonial relationship to the United States. Regardless, check out the site. http://www.geocities.com/guampoetsonline/

I just finished watching an ABC News report about Bollywood, "the biggest thing you've never heard of." This anonymity was the most prevelant theme through the twenty minute segment. The biggest stars that no one has ever heard of. It was painful to watch seriously. Anyone who thinks that Orientalism is dead mustn't watch much TV. This news report was the perfect example. The describing but equally deflating discourse on Bollywood's hugeness as well as unknowness was particularly salient. Bollywood is huge, raw statistics show that, it makes more movies, has more than a billion viewers more than Hollywood. So how can they obvious awesomeness be contained so as not to threaten Hollywood, or American/Western superiority? You do so by inscribing it in specific ways, referencing the undeniable, but in a way which will assure the Western viewer universal authority, hence, Bollywood, is the "biggest thing you've never heard of," speaking to the "av

Something occurred to me last week, which everyone knows, but few people seem to understand... I was talking to one of my classmates about India, Hindi stuff. He had been married in an Hindi ceremony in UP to a Buddhist girl, and I watch alot of Hindi movies and was in love with a Sindhi girl for six years (sina na mangguaguaiya ha'). Somehow we ended up talking about Hindi, the language after he asked me the word for "soul." I guessed it was "atma," and then ran through a list of other words which I know, (which is actually several hundred). After incorrectly saying that "Ishq" was the word for ocean, instead of love, I realized something. The sentence structure which I was using to translate between the language, to bridge them together, was this, "_____" is the word in Hindi for "____." I wasn't saying, "this means," I was saying "the word," which means alot more than most people would probably notic

When politicians from Washington come through Guam to check out the fertility of military possibilities, there are many questions which we just don't ask. Who arranges for prostitutes for the politicians? Is that done through the delegate's office? Perhaps through a special envony from the Governor's camp? Or maybe the Chamber of Commerce lets them use from their private stash? Or is a memo sent our prior to their leaving Washington that the Department of the Defense considers the island and everyone on it as a very willing to be patriotically dominated in anyway the military desires...

"If our gods and hopes are nothing but scientific phenomena, then our loves must be as well." Yanggen sigi ha' ta apu gi i fina'tinas saientifik, pues ti apmam siempre na taya' hit fuera di makina siha gi halom makina siha. Yanggen magahet este, esta hit taiguihi, lao ti apmam taya' mas sina ta puni ayu...

Tinige' Si Peter Santos (Chamoruboy) http://www.chamoruboy.com FEGGE' GI INAI Un puengi man guifi yu. Hu guifi na mamomokkat yu gi kanton tasi gi echongñan i Asaina. Annok gi mapagahes i sinisedeku siha gi it lina'la'hu. Gi kada susedimento hu li'e dos na fegge' gi inai: iyon i Asaina, yan iyoku. Gi annai annok i kilu na susedimentoku hu atan i fegge' gi inai. Hu li'e na meggai na biahi gi chalan it lina'la'hu na unu ha' na fegge' guaha. Hu li'e lokkue na ayu ha' na taguenao gi annai chumatsaga yan puminiti yu. Mampos yu enkebukao nu ini ya hu faisen i Asaina: Yu'us, ilekmu na gigon hu tattiyi hao, un dalak yu gi lina'la'hu. Lao hu li'e na gi annai matto gi chinatsagaku unu ha' na fegge' guaha gi inai. Ti hu tunngo' haftaimanu na gi annai hu gof nisisita hao na un dingo yu. Ineppe yu as Yu'us: "Lahihu, guinaiyaku na patgon-hu, hu sen guaiya hao ya ni n

Earlier today, someone in my cohort (group of people who enter a program together) asked me if I was happy in our Ph.D. program. I responded that happiness isn't really isn't a very total experience, at least not in the way I see it, experience it or conceptualize it. Like most things, its ephemeral moments which pass and die quickly, but can be easily found again. Happiness over periods of time doesn't really exist, the smile on someones face when they open a gift, quickly, often quielty slips away, not into unhappiness, but into an awareness of happiness. A cognizance of socially what a smile is supposed to signify leads someone to think, "I am happy." Awareness of happiness is its own killjoy, its own deflective reflective. Which is why I only think of it as minutes or stretched moments. Because a referential statement, which always comes into being when things move from being ephemeral to ephocal, is often times a eulogy. If you've seen the film Anchorm

taina'an... Annok na un guaiya yu’ Lao sigi ha’ na un puni Sa’ hafa ti un admite Ai sigi ha’ un kolat Hun I tano’ yan I tasi Umunu hit lokkue lao ti un li’e Sa’ hafa ti un tungo’ Hafa gaige giya Hagu I amot yan I na’malangu Mungga yu’ machonnek Toktok yu’ lao choffe’ Risaki yu’ ya u ma amte’

Not One Damn Dime Day - Jan 20, 2005 Since our religious leaders will not speak out against the war in Iraq, since our political leaders don't have the moral courage to oppose it, since Bush is wasting 40 MILLION dollars on his inauguration party...while the soldiers are too few and have inadequate armor to "create or maintain" peace in Iraq... Inauguration Day, Thursday, January 20th, 2005 is "Not One Damn Dime Day" in America. On "Not One Damn Dime Day" those who oppose what is happening in our name in Iraq can speak up with a 24-hour national boycott of all forms of consumer spending. During "Not One! Damn Dime Day" please don't spend money. Not one damn dime for gasoline. Not one damn dime for necessities or for impulse purchases. Not one damn dime for nothing for 24 hours. On "Not One Damn Dime Day," please boycott Wal-Mart, Kmart, Target... Please don't go to the mall or the local convenience store. Please don't

Anyone interested in making sure the Pacific isn't destroyed through nuclear testing, nuclear accidents or anything else which is rarely discussed about the militarization in the region, please get in touch with Fanai Castro. I've posted her release below. Dear Friends:1 March, 2005 will mark the 51st anniversary of the day the nuclear bomb“Bravo” was detonated on Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands.Internationally acknowledged by human rights groups throughout the world,1 March has become a day to remember those who have suffered and died as aresult of nuclear experimentation, uranium mining, nuclear weapons testingand nuclear waste dumping. It is also a day celebrating the strength andendurance of Pacific peoples who have maintained and continue to protectour languages, lands and cultural practices, ensuring that the ways ofliving and being handed down from our ancestors are passed on to futuregenerations."Guahan Artists’ Collective" will be sponsoring a projec

Late breaking Guam News from Guantanamo... One of my friends on the base visiting her parents. She's been freaking out there because although the place is full of military, few of them seem to know what Guam is or where it is. One soldier in particular was pretty funny. He asked my friend where Guam was exactly. She looked down at a tatto on the guys leg, and thought to herself, what the hell, you should know. The guy had a globe tattooed on his leg.

In the spirit of coalition building and opening up new forums and types of dialogue, I dedicate the following to building an important bridge between Hindi movies and the Chamorro language... Jofis: Lana Miget, gi painge' hu egga' Swades, ya gof ya-hu! Miget: Guana? Pine'lo-ku na esta ma na'ma'pos ayu. Magof-hu na ya-mu, lao nu Guahu, ti ya-hu. Jofis: Ki sa' hafa umbree na ti ya-mu? Ti ya-mu ni' kanta-na siha? Miget: Well, guaha na ya-hu, ya guaha na ti ya-hu lokkue. Lao ti put enao na guaha chinatli'e-hu nu Guiya. Jofis: Pues sa' hafa? Miget: Ai atan i hinasso-na Si Mohan, i petsona-na Si Shah Rukh Khan. Taimamahlao ayu! Hunggan, dinanche gui' lokkue, lao gos tairespetu, sa' hinasso-na na i tinakhilo' ha' i kesteumbren Amerikanu. Jofis: Hu hasso, hu hasso. Nai mandana gi i miteng despues di ma subi i nuebu na famagu'on. Ma fatta i Indians siha na maolekna siha kinu i Amerikanu siha put i ketturan-niha! Ya Si

I've been wondering lately. Are we socialized to just accept the things before our eyes? Meaning is that the most significant trait that we get from our parents, our education, our interactions with others. Or is it just part of the way humans function or are supposed to be. When something is before us, or presented to us, we often accept it, usually in and of itself, or because some forum has been fabricated or some authority generated. This is especially true when we deal with the ways things ought to be. Whatever exists and has impressive labels attached to it, we tend to cling to as being the way, or the only way. Democracy is an excellent example of this. In that American form of democracy is accepted by nearly everyone in America as being THE way to govern (meaning the ideal, the best). In Britian they tend to feel the same way about their form of democracy. What these superlative forms obscure, is that other things are possible, and it might be beneficial just to pursu

For a while I wasn't really sure how to respond to the tsunami. People would ask me about it, and I would just kind of mimick their statements, which usually amount to thin or empty statements which can appear to be very deep. According to Slavoj Zizek, the homo sacer for this century are those who can only receive humanitarian aid. Those who can only be acted upon but can never act. Isn't this the way in which we ALWAYS tend to look at people in the "third world?" For example, in Afghanistan, when it was on the verge of being bombed and invaded did anyone think that maybe the type of assistance that the country should receive, should not be humanitarian handouts, but reparations which admit to the US and Soviet roles in destroying the country, as well as provide ways in which the country could help itself. The focus instead was on how Afghan women need our help, or that we need to help these people survive. In these contexts, it is interesting how to survive an