NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

After attending a conference where everyone couldn't stop talking about Ferdinand Magellan for three days straight, I could not help but think about one of the more intimate ways that the explorer has been invoked within my family. Many Chamoru families will mention Magellan in the usual ways, as the source of civilization, Christianity or modernity, as the limit of Chamoru existence, where prior to Magellan there is primitivity and savagery. They may mention him generically as being the first colonizer or the beginning of the end for the Chamoru people, even though he did not directly colonize Guam, and such a process would begin more than 140 years later under the guidance of Påle' San Vitores.  The interesting way that my family and in particular my grandfather Tun Jack Lujan, the late Chamoru Master Blacksmith would bring in Magellan's gifts, was through the metaphor of metal. Metal is always brought into play to provide meaning to the early years of European con

--> Ti Guahu tumuge' este na estoria, lao fihu hu sangan este na estoria gi klas-hu siha yan gi me'nan i famagu'on-hu. Estoria na estoria ni' mafa'na'an "Puntan Patgon." Este na estoria put i fihu na prublema siha gi familian Chamorro (yan gi todu i familian taotao). Achokka' mamparerentes, guaha nai ti maniniha put chinatkomprende. I Puntan Patgon na estoria uma'aya yan i estorian "Sirena" sa' i dos put i prublema anai ti manafa'maomaolek i manaina yan i famagu'on, sa' binibu pat hinesguan umentalo'. Hu hahasso este na dos na estoria todu tiempo, ya i mensahi gumigiha mo'na komo tata. *************         Åntetes na tiempo gi tiempon i man mofo’na na taotao eståba un taotao i na’ån-ña si Masåla. I gima’-ña gaige gi inai giya Tålagi Si Masåla gof banidosu sa’ pudi sumen dangkolo yan sumen metgot gue'. Mansen ma'åñao i Chamorron Guahan.   Tåya' gi isla siña umigi si Masåla.  

I am exhausted right now, but it is the yinafai i gaitininas, the exhaustion of the righteous as one of my friend states. As she likes to joke it is as my blog says, the feeling that there is "no rest for the awake." This weekend I manned a booth at the Chamorro Cultural Festival in San Diego on behalf of Chamorro Studies at the University of Guam. We are in the process of developing an online Chamorro Studies certificate program. UOG President Robert Underwood sent me to California and Hawai'i to network with Chamorros and Guam clubs to gauge the interest in offering a program like this. I expected the response to be positive, but nowhere near as positive and excited as it was today. Nearly every single person who stopped by the booth signed up expressing their interest in what we want to offer. It was a day filled with plenty of interesting moments and stories. Chamorros from all shapes, sizes, colors and levels of consciousness came up to me sharing their opinions

I'm in Las Vegas this week celebrating the graduation of my brother Jack. I've been writing quite a bit, but haven't found time to post anything online. I've been in the states for almost two weeks, but in a few days I'll be back on Guam. I'll try to post something before I board my plane next week, just because I feel lazy for leaving my blog so dormant, even though so many things have been happening on Guam and in my life. I have been keeping up my posts at my Tumblr though ( I Pilan Yanggen Sumahi...), so you can check out there if by some weird chance you are starved of my content.

For the first time ever in my life, I have a real job. I make not just some money, but enough money to pay my bills and to live somewhat comfortably. Its a weird feeling. Fihu chatguahu yu' put este. I'm still technically a student, since I have yet to submit the final draft of my dissertation to my graduate, but the social web around me, the way people talk about me, talk to me, expect things from me has all drastically shifted. Gi i hinasson i meggaina na taotao, esta to'a yu'. Esta gaiidat yu' sa' hokkok i umestudiante-ku. I am a molder of young minds, or a poisoner of young minds depending on your perspective. I'm someone who has students that I advise on their work and I'm even serving on graduate student committees now. I am a father, a chaos father as I like to refer to myself. I am now an adult grandchild, so since my grandfather has become ill recently, I'm elevated to the status of being someone who attends doctor's appointments with

Hami yan Si Sumåhi para bei in hanao gi agupa'ña para lågu, ya ti para ta bira mågi Guahan este ki i tinituhun July. Para bei hanao lagu put iyo-ku graduation gi i otro mes ginnen iyo-ku Programman Ph.D. giya San Diego. Gof ya-ñiha i familian-måmi gi lagu na manali'e yan Si Sumåhi. Meggai matulaika-ña siha esta gi i ti apmam na lina'la'-ña. Manlinemlam i familia siempre. Estaba kulang “eggplant” gui', fihu kumetu, ti siña kumuunanaf, ya-ña chumalek lao taya' kuentos-ña. Sesso, (pi’ot annai mampos machalek Si Sumåhi) siniente-ku minahalang para ayu na klasin haggå-hu. Achokka’ ya-hu este na nene-hu på’go na momento, sa’ siña umakuentusi ham, ya esta humuhuyong ginnen Guiya iyo-ña personality, sen mannge ayu na mas hoben na nene lokkue’. Ayu na otro nene mas fa’set para u na’maigo’, ya gof ya-ña mumaigo’ gi pecho’-ku. Este na nene-hu på’go, kada na manna’oppop gui’ gi i pecho’-ku, manggaogao “I wanna baila!” Ai adai, hu komprende na todu i famagu’on mangguaha mi

Regardless of who you are, whether you are a close friend, a fellow activist or even just a perfect stranger, or perhaps someone who mistook me for Rasheed Wallace, if I have ever spoken to you for any decent amount of time, then I am sure I have complained in someway about my brother Kuri (Jeremy) and his banding . Of course when I say banding I'm not referring to (prepare yourself geek joke on the horizon) to "banding" from the game Magic: The Gathering. But rather to the activity that Kuri regularly does, playing in bands, which keeps him from doing his chores around the house, or makes him impossible to get up in the morning. Kuri is currently in at least three bands that I know of, Freedom Fries (ska), Last Standing All-Stars (reggae) and Table for Five (reggae) and also allegedly participates in several other musical groups, such as UOG Jazz Band, George Washington Alumni Band, and he's probably also the trombone player for Rush's latest tour. (gi minagahet

Tomorrow I'll be in Denver for the Democratic National Convention. Kulang chubasko i hinasso - ku pa'go . Ti bula na tiningo '- hu put este na klasin dinana ', ya ma'a'nao yu ' na bai hu malingu gi todu i simana . Hafa i kustumbre put mangueguentos Kongresu pat Senadora ? Kao maolek ha' na bei deka ' siha gi i tata'lo - na ya faisen " Kao sina hu interview hao ?" Pat kao nisisario na bei famaisen mosu fine'nina ? Siempre todu i mampulitikat u manggaige guihi , manggaiayudante . Siempre siha dumiside hayi i ma'gas - niha u kinentusi ya hayi u linaiseni . This is my first convention, so there are alot of things I'm uncertain about. Protocols, schedules, events, directions. Right now I'm concentrating on preparing my research and coming up a list of topics that I'd like to write on, in addition to the interviews that I plan to do. I'm also working on the interview q

I came across a post on my friend Maile's blog the maile vine, where she posted a request for support recently made by South End Press . I'm posting the entire request letter below for you to check out and learn more about their situation. This year, the financial woes of Borders bookstores have hit South End Press especially hard. As a way to deal with its own troubles, Borders returned massive amounts of books. This means fewer copies of classics by South End authors like bell hooks, Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, and Vandana Shiva on the shelf for book browsers to happen upon. And as Borders returns came at the same time as end-of- semester returns it also means that for several months South End Press will receive no payments from our trade distributor–our main source of income. It hurts living paycheck to paycheck, especially when the checks don’t come. Our worry about how to deal with the immediate cash crisis saps time that we would otherwise spend on publishing and promoti

I always feel very strange and honored to be one of those kids who come back home to Guam, and amongst all the errands and tasks that they are required to do for family members ( manyayabao, mañuñule’ åmot, manyeyettek, manhuhungok estoria siha put i tiempon åntes), I am also asked to write press releases. For those of you who don't know, my Grandfather, Tun Joaquin Flores Lujan (familian Bittot/Katson) is a bit of a celebrity on Guam, as he is the last traditional Chamorro blacksmith. I will post later I'm sure more details on what exactly this means, what tools he makes and what his many accomplishments are. For the moment however, Grandpa is finishing off year long grant with Guam Council on the Arts and Humanities Agency (CAHA) to train two students, one of whom is i che'lu-hu Si Kuri. In compiling his final report for CAHA Grandpa, wants to include some news coverage of his teaching and passing on this trade, and so he enlisted me in getting some news coverage for him

Liberation Day stories about ecstatic and jubilant crowds of tattered and pathetic looking Chamorros are common in Liberation Day specials and political speeches. So are stories about Marines handing out candy bars, cigarettes, powdered milk and cans of Spam to eager young boys or suffering old women. These stories always end with throngs of smiling Chamorros peering dutifully into a tall Marine’s eyes, who of course represent the benevolent and ever-loving Uncle Sam who had at last returned. Whenever critiques of Liberation Day (or even the US in general) take place, these crowds and these Marines are always invoked in order to dispel such attempts. The imagery holds much power in emotionally disabling dissidents, especially from Chamorros. But despite this seeming power, the story always goes on, even when the celebratory telling stops. And as with most public, colonial mythology, that which is editted out, is vastly more revealing about the nature of the world, then that which is h