NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

It is strange to study and document the impacts of colonization. There are always incredibly obvious ways that colonization affects a community, but there are always more minute and less perceptible ways it happens. One way that we can see colonialism in very dramatic but almost invisible ways, is how Guam, because of its attachment to the US, often times imagines itself to be somewhere else on the planet and something else entirely, whether it be politically, economically or environmentally. Colonization makes it possible for people on Guam to conceive of this island in the Pacific as not really an island, but an imagined extension of the US, therefore not capable of having its own interests or its own limitations, advantages and so on, but simply accountable or a beneficiary of whatever the US contends with. Just because the US flag flies over the island, doesn't mean that Guam is like California or Wyoming or Nevada or Alabama. It is an island in the Western Pacific and to ima

Hiningok-hu gi ma'pos na såkkan put un kakanta giya Hapon, lamita Chamorro pat mesklaon Chamorro yan Chapones. Eståba gof ya-hu J-Pop na klasen dandan, ko'lo'lo'ña i dandan Ami Suzuki ni' mambisita giya Guåhan gi 1990s yan mangge' kånta put i islå-ta lokkue'. Lao gi Fino' Ingles ayu un "phase" ya esta hokkok soumtteru-hu nu ayu na klasen dåndan. Lao annai hiningok-hu put un kakanta taiguihi giya Hapon, gumai'interes ta'lo. I na'ån-ña si Alice, lao fuera di enao ti meggai tinigo'-hu put guiya. Sigun i primet na tinige' guini mågi, malago' gui' hun manrecord kånta gi Fino' Chamorro. Malago' yu' tumungo' mås put guiya, ya anggen malago' gui' siña hu ayuda gui' tumungo' mås put i hale'-ña guini, put hemplo anggen malago' gui' muna'hålom mås infotmasion put Guåhan pat Fino' Chamorro gi kantå-ña siha, gof magof hu na bei ayuda. ******************** Alice in Musicl

This past year I was fortunate enough to help Dr. Kelly Marsh-Taitano and Tyrone Taitano with the annual island review for Guam to be published in The Contemporary Pacific. I've been reading these annual reviews for years now and they are always a wonderful resource for people who are trying to trace trends or movements in the island. These reviews sometimes have a good way of highlighting certain things that the mainstream media in Guam ignores or doesn't give much attention. For this year's review I focused on the section dealing with the Commission on Decolonization. This is one thing which the reviews often times draw alot of attention to, even if the island community in general isn't paying attention or doesn't care. I'm pasting below the Guam review from 2003, written by Chamorro Studies and History professor from the University of Guam Anne Perez Hattori: ******************** Guam - Island Review by Anne Perez Hattori The Contemporary Pacific 200

I just finished up an article on tourism, colonialism and cultural revitalization in Guam. Part of the article discussed recent interventions by both government and private entities to diversify Guam's tourism industry by trying to make it more locally focused and take it out of the bubble of Tumon. I discussed several failed campaigns over the years which often didn't amount to anything. Some of those campaigns seemed to hold a lot of promise, such as the village ambassador program (my grandfather was chosen as the ambassador for Mangilao because of his status as a cultural master). I am looking forward to seeing if this new program We are Guam, which was a name used several years ago for another initiative, leads to more concrete results and improvements.     ************   Former Miss Earth Guam and GVB to Launch We are Guam Program Written by  Roselle Romanes Pacific News Center January 19, 2015   In an effort to boost the island's tour

For me the idea that Guam is a colonized place is so obvious that I often times have to atan puyitos anyone who is confused by this comment. There is so much evidence around us and even inside of us at any given moment, that it doesn't seem possible that someone could try to argue otherwise. You could try to argue that it being colonized isn't that bad and that it is actually good since Guam is helpless and pathetic without someone else telling it how to live its life, but this is different than simply denying that colonialism exists. This position is one of apologizing or justifying colonization in the name of helping a poor, tiny island that can't survive otherwise. Those who act like Guam isn't or can't be colonized usually don't know much about Guam and the fact that they take this position is usually exhibit A in their class action lawsuit of ignorance. But what is hysterical is the way they don't admit to this lack of knowledge and try to pretend tha

I have to write more about this at some point. It is interesting because for so many Chamorros, their self-perceptions are mired in feelings that we have nothing (especially in cultural terms) and that no one would every want anything that we have anyways. It is intriguing then to see how popular Chamorro style dance is at conventions like this, and to consider that there are multiple Chamorro dance groups in Japan and the United States.  *************** News Releases  From the Guam Visitors Bureau Chamorro Culture Makes Impact at JATA September 28, 2014 (Tokyo, Japan) Team Guam continues to make a great impression at the JATA Tourism EXPO Japan with a plethora of activities lined up for the final da

Sakman Chamorro Project to take journey to the past Thursday, 05 Sep 2013 03:00am BY MAR-VIC CAGURANGAN | VARIETY NEWS STAFF WITH a nine-man all-Chamorro crew, an outrigger canoe built in San Diego will set sail on the first week of January 2016 and take a 40-day and 40-night journey to a native past. Master Carver Mario Borja said the 47-foot-long sakman, christened “Che’lu,” will travel 7,600 nautical miles from San Diego, to Acapulco, to the Marshall Islands, and finally to Guam. “We are looking for a meaningful expedition,” Borja said in an interview after his presentation of the Sakman Chamorro Project before the Rotary Club of Northern Guam, during the group’s meeting yesterday at the Hyatt Regency Guam. While the idea of taking the Hawaii route “sounds very nice,” Borja said, the navigating group is not keen on doing a luau. He said the canoe will be following the Spanish Galleon route and take the first port stop in Acapulco to ret

Gaige ha' i kettura yan i inafa'maolek gi iya GMIF Pedro Onedera Guam PDN 5/21/13 Desdeki i ma babaña astaki i finakpo'ña i Mina'bente sais na Ferian Islan Maikrunisian Guåhan, sigi ha' hålom i finatton i taotao siha. Guaha inapurao, minannge' prugråma, kulot yan inafa'maolek gi i tres ha'åni na feria ni', sigun gi ma muebi para mes Måyu, bula minagof put i atte, fina'tinas cho'cho' kånnai, tradisiunåt, tinalenti yan finatta ni' prinisenta nu i taotao tåno' ginen Republic of the Marshalls, Republic of Palau, Yap, Pohnpei, Chuuk, Kosrae ginen iya Federated States of Micronesia, yan ta'lo ginen iya Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas yan islan Nauru. Desde franela, åtten botto, linasguen håyu, todu klåsen inatan åtte taiguihi litråtu siha, tiniffok, finattan agrikottura na tinanom, yan i petlas siha ginen islan Nukuoro, un islan Pålinesia gi iya estådon Pohnpei, bula siha na kosas para todu i taotao,