NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

Earlier this month I was on a panel discussion at UOG about the prospect of Guam holding a new constitutional convention and writing a new constitution. I was by far the youngest person on the panel, as I hadn't been born yet when the last Guam Constitutional Convention was held, but I was honored to have my voice included amongst other notable island figures such as Speaker of the Guam Legislature BJ Cruz, Public Auditor Doris Flores Brooks, Guam Attorney General Elizabeth Barrett-Anderson and former Senator Marilyn Manibusan. The discussion ended up being quite rich, with three out of the five panelists (myself included) speaking out against the writing of a Guam constitution. It is not so much that I or the others were against the exercise of writing a constitution, but the issue was, why write a constitution now, while Guam remains a colony of the US? Every once in a while this topic will emerge, usually proposed as an easier path for dealing with Guam's political s

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

Connections between colonies are intriguing. They come most naturally from the gaze or the perspective of the colonizer. So colonies tend to be linked together as sites of corruption, incompetence, primitivity and overall negative binary possibility. We see this in terms of how the US looks at its colonies, describes them, produces them as objects of the law, and assume so much in the way of their nature without an ounce of self-reflection. As a continuation of the Obama Administration, the Trump Administration is now holding up foreign worker visas to Guam. They claim to be doing so because of corruption and abuse in the past. Whatever abuses have taken place are a sliver of a drop in the ocean that is American political or economic corruption. Often times people assume that the corruption begins in the colonies, but it is just as feasible that the corruption was imported or taught to the natives by the colonizer. For those of you with fancy literature backgrounds think Heart of Dar

Some recent articles about budgets and bills and the yinaoyao between the Legislature, most notably Senator BJ Cruz and Governor Eddie Calvo and his team at Adelup. Ti menhalom yu' put este na asunto siha, pues tåya' otro sinangån-hu. Taitai este siha, ya hagu un diside håyi gaitinina yan håyi mambebende dinagi. ******************** September 10, 2016 The Honorable Edward J.B. Calvo Governor of Guam Ricardo J. Bordallo Governor’s Complex Hagåtña, Guam 96910 Re: Response to Lapse Message on Substitute Bill No. 250-33 (COR) Dear Governor Calvo: Håfa adai! On September 1, 2016, I delivered a letter to you relative to the concerns you identified regarding Substitute Bill No. 250-33 (SB250), now the Annual Appropriations Act of FY 2017. I had hoped my clarifications would have prompted you to direct your fiscal team to reconsider its initial findings on SB250. Unfortunately, based on your lapse message to Speaker Judith T. Won Pat, you have disregarded the fact

Chelsea Clinton: Why Guam Should Choose My Mom Letter to the Editor Pacific Daily News May 4, 2016 I’ve spent the last few months on the road doing everything I can to make sure that my mom, Hillary Clinton, is elected our next president because I believe this is the most important presidential election of my lifetime. I feel that way for two fundamental and interconnected reasons that I think many in Guam share. First is a deeply personal one. This is the first presidential election I voted in as a mom — on April 19 in New York. I didn’t know I could care any more about the issues that I already cared about until I became a mother. As many parents I’ve talked to this campaign cycle have shared with me and I’ve shared in turn, everything feels much more personal once we have children in the world. Whomever we elect our next president will play a fundamental role in shaping the country, the world and the future that all our children will grow up in. The second rea

The idea of pay raises for politicians is always out there. People fell like politicians are always getting them, even if they aren't getting them at that precise moment. It is one of the things that if you asked people what is wrong with government or what politicians are good at, chances are very good they would cite "giving themselves raises" as one of their main skills. Part of what is always so odious about this is the fact that raises for politicians are something that always lies within the control of the politicians themselves. The way this issue is always present even when its not is tied to the level of trust of government leaders. The issues of GovGuam raising its wages last year was very interesting because of how it was an rare moment of harmony within branches of government, where they seemed to be eager to work together to keep this issue as quiet as possible. There was a small amount of protest about it, but ultimately it simply reconfirmed the apathy th

It is finally here. Put fin mafatto gui'. Election Day for Guam and the CNMI. I Ha'anin Botasion para todu i Islas Marianas. I have so much to do today but I am hoping to post some of my thoughts on the election before the polls close. Meggaigai na bai hu cho'gue pa'go, lao hu diseseha mohon na sina hu tuge' magi i hinasso-ku put i botasion pa'go antes di machuom i sagan mambota siha. Most importantly, who I plan to give my votes to. Put hemplo, hayi i gayu-hu siha ni' bai hu bobota pa'go. Here are some thoughts from my male' Victoria Leon Guerrero on how to pick a good candidate for you and for this island. Estague i hinasso-na i male-ku Si Victoria LG, put taimanu sina manayek hao maolek na gayu para Hagu yan para i isla.  ****************** FROM VICTORIA LEON GUERRERO: When I vote for a person, I ask myself some important questions. 1. Can I trust this person? 2. If I approach this person with ideas or concerns, will I

The website of Pale' Eric Forbes is a great place for information on Chamorro language, culture and history. He has everything from Chamorro sayings, to translations of Chamorro texts, to little tidbits and footnotes from Chamorro history. It is a great resource for those who want to deepen their knowledge about so many of the things that make Chamorro Chamorro. He has a creative way of drawing out interesting parts of our native and pre-contact history, but also our colonial history. He has an equal excitement for both dimensions, which many find surprising because of his work as a Catholic priest. Below is the transcript of some testimony given recently at the Legislature gi Fino' Chamoru. Pale' Eric provides not only a transcript but also a translation. Often times when he provide a text like this he'll have detailed notes on some of the words used and their origins. The testimony was given in favor of a bill to support the Historic Inalahan program. It is nice