NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

The first book that I bought for my daughter, prior to her even being born was a children's book that focused on the tale of the slaves who killed their captors aboard the ship The Amistad and after a long legal struggle were allowed to return to Africa. I only read it to her a few times over the years because the subject matter was difficult and the historical and racial politics difficult to unpack. Over the years I've tried to do the same with other books, especially liking to read to the kids books that focus on the experiences of Native Americans and African Americans. Parenting is a convoluted endeavor no matter what ethical commitments you do or do not feel. There are always problems, limitations, blindspots and ways in which your best intentions or goals backfire. But pushing your children to accept difficult truths and also feel the both responsibility and capacity to change things for the better is essential. It is one reason why, in my own creative works, includi

Este i nuebu na hinekka ginen as Craig Santos Perez yan i asagua-ña si Brandy Nalani McDougall.  Anggen ti un fåhan este trabiha, put fabot, yemme' i link gi papa'.  Meggai na gefpå'go na tinige' ginen i mantitige' yan manyiyinga' ginen i islan Guåhan yan i islas Hawai'i guini.  Banidosu yu' sa' unu na tinige'-hu "Ga'pang's Quest" mana'saosaonao gi este na hinekka.  Gof maolek i prisu lokkue', ti gof guaguan.  Dosse pesos ha'. ************************* Home(is)lands: New Art and Writing from Guahan and Hawaii, edited by Brandy Nalani McDougall and Craig Santos Perez. Purchase from Amazon here. “Despite the vast distance between Hawaii and Guahan (Guam), these islands and their peoples have experienced similar cultural, historical, ecological, and political struggles. Writers and artists from both places have been engaged in unwriting colonial representations and envisioning decolonial fut

There are good parents and there are bad parents, but there are no perfect parents. What I find intriguing from talking to public school teachers around the island, is the way in which they see many parents unable to deal with the reality of their children or their level of parenting. The students that are the most problematic are usually those where the family is hardly involved in their education. The parents are absent in the home life, discipline isn't taught and order and structure aren't laid down and so those kids become problem students in school. Kids misbehave, kids make mistakes, families become busy, attention is divided, these are all normal things. But when some parents are confronted with the misbehavior of their children, rather than recognizing the realities of life, they choose to throw up a facade of being perfect parents. Perfect parents are always blameless and so are their children. The school system is the problem. Other kids are the problem. The te

To be very honest I used to hate the comments on the Guam PDN website before. Every couple of weeks someone would tell me something someone was saying about me on in the threads. I wouldn't often check it out, but when I did it was never pleasant. It was like a no-reality zone there for most people. I would be called all sorts of names and people would make up some pretty insane things about me. The PDN comments were filled with so many people who had left Guam behind, but their disdain for the people of the island or disgust for the island burned brighter than ever. That disconnect was very intriguing for me. How the people who took that space the most seriously in terms of dominating it with their ideas were those who probably at the least to gain or least actual investment or connection to what they were arguing over. Since the PDN changed their comments over to Facebook and requiring that people be signed into Facebook in order to comment the dialogue has cleaned up quite a

Halacha fihu inetdot yu'. Achokka' kalang taya' gi oriya-hu ni' bubulao, kalang manieniente yu' na guaha un malamana na pakyo' gi oriya-hu. Na'ao siempre, lao gagaige ha'. Meggai masasangan put Guahu. Ya ti hu tungo' hafa mismo masasangan, lao hu tungo' ha' na masasangan. For the past few days I've been feeling a bit off, and usually when I get like this it is because of this feeling that I am being talked about, but I don't really know who is doing the talking, or what they are saying. I make regular public statements through this blog, through different events and activities and through my columns in the Marianas Variety and so it is common for my words to travel around the island and around the internet. Things that I barely remember saying on this blog or in public, sometimes become the only things that people remember about me. Sometimes I get used an example for good things about Guam or about Chamorros, sometimes I get used a

Gof magof yu' na manunuge' ta'lo Si Desiree gi i blog-na, The Drowning Mermaid . Ti meggai na blogs para i Chamorro siha. Lao, nangga na'ya, ti mismo magahet este. Meggai na blogs mamfina'tinas ni' Chamorro siha, lao manmafa'tinas ha', ya ti manmasosteteni esta ki pa'go. Aligao gi i internet ya siempre para un fanodda' meggai na Chamorro na blogs, lao pinat manggaiunu ha' na post siha. Halacha managu Si Desiree, pues tumaiguenaihon, lao esta ha tutuhun ta'lo. Maolek i bos-na Si Desiree. Gi fino' Ingles ma alok na "articulate" yan "passionate." Fihu masasangan na kalang taisiente i tinige'-hu siha. Puru ha' fina'tinas tintanos, ya annok na ti mismo ginnen i korason. Si Desiree ha na'danna' maolek i sinienten i korason-na yan i hinallom-na siha i tintanos-na. I humuyonga na an un taitai i tinige'-na, sina pinacha' i korason-mu yan i hinasso-mu achagigu. In her most recent poem Desiree

A great post below from The Drowning Mermaid , titled " Desiree, Be a Lady ." My favorite line is this one: "The "melting pot," the "my land is your land, from California to blah blah blah blah" (I never bothered to learn that song) is only fun, positive, or happy when you are not the one losing yourself, or if you are not the one acting as the gracious host for someone rich and powerful enough to hit you over the head for not being enthusiastic about "sharing." It's not fun or easy to accept if the brand of "unity" they are pushing always forces you to "accept," while they "come together." The problem with decolonization in today's "multicultural" world is that there is so much pressure to give in, to let the prevailing powers, prevail. To give in and let the way things are continue as they are, since to challenge things or try to change things would mean making people feel uncomfortable,