NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

I got an email the other day which featured the "purest" example of ideology I've seen in quite a while. It contained an email that had been sent to my friend (who I won’t name in case she wants her identity kept secret) from a “Marxist” professor which basically attacked her for not being Marxist enough. I only know some of the context, but she had just recently helped organize an Ethnic Studies summit in San Diego and so the listserv for the conference has been the site for a lot of pointless posturing, of which this purely ideological email is a perfect example. Reading the snarky, snippy Marxist email was both hysterical and depressing. It represented on the one hand something so hilarious in the way in which the author took himself and his orthodox defense of Marxist theory, thought and intellectualism so seriously. It was depressing because it made him look like someone so sublimely out of touch with reality and even the nature of the very theories he was shrou

A very personal post today, so I hope you'll forgive me. I’m at the very end of a big phase of my life. I’m all but finished with my Ph.D. program, I graduated, I defended As I stand here though, where the future looks like a frightening bleak expanse, which I can only jump into, and the past is a welcoming mass of things all radiating nostalgia, both in good and bad sense. First as things which I no longer cherish, but wish I could and others which I have left behind and wish I didn’t. Whenever we come to a point such as this, we wish desperately that we could sift through that old life, like a family searching through an already burning house for the things that are most precious, and pack a suitcase to carry them with us. But you know that you can’t do that. Some if not most of that old life will be waiting for you at the bottom of the cliff. It will appear brand new at first, but then begin to signify the same familiarity. What scares us the most about this situation, this t

Venusian : Hoplessly Positive/Habitually Negative Sometime Maybe : Toba Tek Singh Latitude 13 : We the Chamorro People Tasi Thoughts : The Place of My Birth: Guahan Forever Ka'ili : Have You Seen This Movie Yet? Sepia Mutiny : What's in a Name? Right New Blogology : What Happened on Saturday Guamology : Alex Munoz - Filmmaker Uranium Diaries : On Environmental Justice the maile vine : Today in Settler Colonialism From a Tongan Daughter : Pacific Eye Radio Debut the scent of green bananas : First Look: Meskla The Insular Empire : Adios, Tun Carlos! Flip Flopping Joy : trust Indigenous Studies Engages Ethnic Studies : Mission Statement Overseas Territories Review : The Unfinished Decolonisation Agenda for 2009 Peach Sand Beach : Boonie Crab, Coconut Dog Beautiful Women and Lanzones : on the writing process One-Eyed Copy Ninja : s-a-s Waiting for Wonderland : The Real Question and the Tragic

Last month, my department at UCSD wrote a statement regarding the Israeli invasion into Gaza. It was posted on our department's website and within a few days our department chair was already getting "polite" harassing emails from pro-Israeli students who felt that their entire foundation in the universe had been shaken because somebody had dared to state a number of very obvious things about Israel and its colonial control over the Occupied Territories. Before continuing, I'm pasting below the statement in question: Statement on Racial Violence in the Gaza Strip The faculty and graduate students in the Department of Ethnic Studies at the University of California San Diego condemn the most recent actions by the State of Israel in the Gaza Strip, commencing with the air strikes that began on December 27, 2008 and the ground invasions, which started on January 4, 2009. Both have resulted in the death and mutilation of a large number of Palestinian civilians. While Isr

Rashne: Hafa Adai Miget! Miget: Hafa Adai Rashne! Hafa bidadå-mu på’go? Rashne: Para bei fanegga’ kachido. Kao malago hao na ta hita na dos? Miget: Buente. Dipende nai. Hafa pon egga’? Rashne: Slumdog Millionare. Miget: Oh, bula hiningok-hu put enao. Gof maolek hun. Manggana gui’ meggai na premu. Rashne: Hu’u. Masusedi i mubi giya Mumbai, pinat gi sengsong i manaiguma’ siha. Miget: Ya taotao Mumbai hao no? Rashne: Hunggan, dumongkalo’ yu’ guihi. Meggaggai na hinasso-ku ginnen i tiempo-ku guihi. Miget: Pues siempre nina’lamahalang hao ni’ este na kachido. Rashne: Siña. Ti sumåga’ yu’ gi ayu na klasin songsong (ti taiguma’ i familia-ku). Lao yanggen mana’mali’e i otro na lugat Mumbai siha, siempre bei tungo’ siha, ya bei hahasso iyo-ku “home.” Miget: Teneki dinilok hao tuiguini put i hinatme giya Mumbai gi i ma’pos na såkkan. Rashne: Hunggan. Gof mahalang yu’ para i ciudåd-hu yan i familia-ku ni’ mañasåga’ ha’ guihi. Miget: Hu’u. Manggaisuette hit na tåya’ mandano’ annai ma

I'm still getting the hang of teaching this week and so I haven't posted anything yet, despite the fact that there is so much to post about! For the moment, it'll have to be i nobia-hu Rashne, who shares with you the excitement about the election of Barack Obama. I'll be back soon though and promise to post some things this weekend! ******************************** Dear family and friends, It's been forever since I wrote an e-mail but today feels like a good day. As some of you might already know, I've been in Las Vegas the past 13 days volunteering for the Barack Obama campaign. And while there was nothing glamorous about the work (it was hard work though - 12-13 hours everyday, non-stop) it was something that I marvelled at even while I was there, right bang in the middle of it. Marvelled at because of who I was working with - tons of folks from California, travelling down each weekend just to knock on doors making sure people were voting, high school stude

My wife made me canvas for Obama; here's what I learned This election is not about major policies. It's about hope. By Jonathan Curley from the November 3, 2008 edition Christian Science Monitor Charlotte, N.C. - There has been a lot of speculation that Barack Obama might win the election due to his better "ground game" and superior campaign organization. I had the chance to view that organization up close this month when I canvassed for him. I'm not sure I learned much about his chances, but I learned a lot about myself and about this election. Let me make it clear: I'm pretty conservative. I grew up in the suburbs. I voted for George H.W. Bush twice, and his son once. I was disappointed when Bill Clinton won, and disappointed he couldn't run again. I encouraged my son to join the military. I was proud of him in Afghanistan, and happy when he came home, and angry when he was recalled because of the invasion of Iraq. I'm white, 55, I live in the S

I was completely drenched, estaba sen sohgon yu' in American Presidential politics, for all summer and most of the spring. My blog was grateful for the attention, as plenty of times I was writing on it about Obama being smeared by Republicans or Race and Gender in the campaign , when I should have been working on my dissertation. I remember several times writing on my blog that I wouldn't be posting for a week or so, and then ending up posting about Palin or something else which had just pissed me off. This obsession reached its climax in August when I attended the Democratic National Convention in Denver and for almost two weeks, I thought of nothing else but Presidential politics, race, militarism, colonialism and US territorial - Federal relations. Now that I'm Guam, my intense link to the race is weakening, the need to constantly write about it, follow it and so on is dumidide dumidide muma'pos. Its slowly fading away. There are several reasons for this. 1. I&

Guest Blogged by Rashne Limki : I had the pleasure of meeting KS Rep. Raj Goyle (D) this morning at the AAPI Caucus. Over the past couple of days I kept hearing of the amazing job Rep. Goyle had done in getting elected to a district he himself describes as "the reddest of the red." Admittedly, this was the first I'd heard of him (in fact, I really had no idea of the current extent of desi representation in state and federal government, and it only seems to be expanding, slowly but surely.) So, like I mentioned this was the first I'd heard of Rep. Raj Goyle and I had no idea what he looked like. So, imagine my surprise, and embarrassment, when I figured out that the desi seated in front of me for most of the caucus was indeed Raj Goyle. Rep. Goyle is a super-energetic, dare I use the "i"-word – inspirational – speaker. He addressed the caucus for just a few minutes, talking primarily about his campaigning experience, but he had folks sitting up and paying

Guest Blogged by Rashne Limki I’m sitting right now at the AAPI Caucus meeting. It’s the second one I’m attending, the other being this past Monday. As an Indian, I guess I kind of fit into this rubric and I feel relatively comfortable within it because it is within this community that I became politically active at Oberlin. At Oberlin, one of the issues we grappled with was the ‘inclusion’ of the P or PI within the rubric. During my time at Oberlin, I knew exactly two Pacific Islanders, neither of whom were particularly active in the community. I’m not even sure how they identified, except that they probably put down A/PA on various official forms, just as I have had to do pretty often. I don’t feel particularly comfortable with this census categorization, except when I’m around it as a political community. In any case, sitting here in the AAPI caucus, the situation of Pacific Islanders is absolutely no different than anywhere else… the number of PIs can generally be counted on one

Guest blogged by Rashne Limki ... In the time Miget and I have been in Denver thus far, I’ve picked up one invaluable possession – a badge with a beautiful image of Michelle Obama that states “America’s Next First Lady: Michelle Obama” Other than the fact that it’s pink, I absolutely love it. I’m a massive fan of Michelle Obama, much more so than Barack. Tonight, thanks to Miget’s magnanimity in sharing press credentials, I stood approximately 10 feet away from her. It was beautiful. If you didn’t watch her speech, you can do so here. (omg…I was so close, I’m one of those heads in the third row, a little to her left!!) It had some delegates sobbing... all sniffly and red-eyed. One of the lines of attack used against Michelle Obama has been the labeling of her as “an angry black woman.” Quelle surprise! If smart white women are viewed as emasculating , imagine how a woman of color who speaks the truth would make male genitalia quiver. But as far as I’m concerned, if Michelle Oba

Rashne: Put fin, mafatto hao! Miget: Ei adai, mungga taiguenao! Esta un tungo' na fihu gof åpmam i mubin Bollywood. Rashne: Hafa un egga' pa'go? Miget: Sarkar Raj. Rashne: Hafa enao? Miget: Este i mina'dos na Sarkar. Buente dos años tatte na tiempo, ma fa'tinas i fine'nina. Rashne: Ah, hunggan hu hasso. Para ayu ma dalalaki i estorian The Godfather, no? Miget: Hunggan, lao manmanusa familian Hindu, enlugat di un familian Italiånu. Ya ma pega i estoria giya Mumbai enlugat di New York City. Rashne: Ya gi i mina'dos kao ma fa'kopia The Godfather Part II? Miget: Gi i tinituhun i kachido pine'lo-ku na hunggan. Lao gi i finakpo' siguru yu' na ahe'. Siña na i direktot Si Ram Gopal Varma, ha kekekfa'baba hit. Ya gi un banda ha na'hahasso hit na kopia ha', ya ensigidas gi i otro banda, kulang nuebu! Rashne: Pues hafa i diferesia? Hafa ma tulaika? Miget: Kao siguru hao na ya-mu na bei na'tungo' hao? Rashne: Hu'u nai, siempre

For those who have read my blog over the years, they may have noticed a new sort of political trend in the posts that I've written over the past few months. I've been writing alot lately about the 2008 Presidential Campaign, and in particular a lot about Barack Obama . There are a number of reasons for this. First, I am in the states now and so the Presidential campaign has become a large part of my life. Me and i nobia-hu Rashne, are sort of MSNBC junkies when it comes to the latest political news (no CNN for us, because Lou Dobb's head is huge and stuffed full of race baiting). Second, from an Ethnic Studies perspective, there are so many interesting things taking place in this election, because of the ways the media and other people are being forced to talk about race and gender, or doing their damndest to make sure that race and gender were never mentioned in any meaningful way . I've found the dynamics of the campaigns, at the level of race, gender and class, to b

The next few days will be busy, as you can see from my last couple of posts. I've got an action packed couple of next days ahead of me. Here's my list of to do things (off the top of my head): 1. Attend a educational policy meeting at UCLA tomorrow morning for Pacific Islanders. 2. Supervise a college networking workshop Saturday morning at the 6th Annual National Pacific Islander Education Network Conference ( NPIEN ) at Paramount High School. 3. Have my brother Jack record another " Guam Talk " with my friend Josette Saturday afternoon. 4. Meet with other grad students in the department on Sunday to help finalize plans for an Indigenous and Postcolonial Studies Conference we're organizing next year at UCSD. 5. Finish by the 20th, my first column that I've been asked to write for the Guam magazine GU . The column will tenatively be titled "In Search of a Slingstone." 6. Write two lectures on Pacific Islanders and their contempora

Esta chatangmak guini giya Guahan, ya sigi di humasso i nobia-hu Si Rashne. Gof fotte este na sinieñte, pues bai hu dedicåyi gui’ ni’ este na kachido. Hu guaiya hao Baloo-hu.