NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

Every July Guam becomes transformed into an "island of massacres." As the collection memory of the island becomes focused around recalling and recounting the tragic final weeks of I Tiempon Chapones on Guam, the month seems to move from one horrific story to another. July 1944 was filled with more atrocities and more suffering than the 31 months of Japanese occupation that preceded it. Pale' Jesus Baza Duenas is killed. Chamorros are forced into concentration camps. Massacres take place in Hagat, Yigu, Merizo and Hagatna. War stories from war survivors build towards a brutal climax at this point. This brutal period however is the prologue to the happy end to Japanese rule. Within days or weeks of these atrocities taking place, Japanese guards have disappeared from concentration camps and stories of American troops being spotted are traveling around with lightning speed. War narratives at this point jump from opposite sides of the spectrum. They go from being

The past few weeks while I've been conducting the Hinekka i Tiningo' i Manamko' project for Chamorro Studies and the Guam Museum, I have naturally felt nostalgic for the days when I was conducting my thesis research for Micronesian Studies at UOG. I started off without any real focus as to what I wanted to research or write about, but just a feeling that I should talk to as many people as I can. The initial project I told people I was working on dealt with an analysis of political campaigning on Guam and how they have changed over the years. This became difficult however after most of the interviews I did with the key people in the 2002 Gubenatorial races didn't offer up anything very interesting. People talked alot, but no one said much that I felt was useless, it all chalked up to the usual platitudes as to why one person won and another person lost. During those interviews I asked to talk to people who could represent the golden age of politics on Guam, when it w