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The Motives of Maga'låhi Kepuha

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Since Maga'låhi Kepuha from Hagåtña is the most famous of all Chamorus from ancient times, I get asked about him more than any other figure from that time.  Here are the questions and some answers I gave to a Guam History student recently, who wanted to know more about his legacy as a leader.  ***********************  What made Chief Kepuha a great leader?   Given the time that he lived, you could argue that Kepuha was a great leader because he could better see into the future in terms of how the Spanish would become the new dominant power on Guam, and so being as close and as helpful to them as possible would ensure that his family would benefit the most despite some massive changes. Nearly all Chamorus wanted to trade with the Spanish, but this did not mean that they wanted them to stay in their houses. Or that they wanted them to stay on the island permanently. Kepuha’s claim to fame was that he, was more open to letting them stay personally, even taking responsibility for them.
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Pakaka Neni Famatkilu

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My time with Lulai Lumuhu is filled with dancing and singing. Desiree always said that she would pay attention to my voice while she was in the womb. When she heard others, like Sumåhi and Akli'e' she would kick and move. But when I was speaking to her she would stop and listen. Ti siguguro yu' esta på'go, kao este kumekeilekña na ya-ña i bos-hu pat ti ya-ña i bos-hu. Kao ha respepeta yu', pat kao inespåpanta? I try as much as possible to sing Chamoru songs to her, knowing that she'll hear English and other songs from just about everywhere else, she'll be hearing Chamoru from me. The song that soothes her the most is "I Puti'on." Akli'e' and I do a nice duet of the song for her to help calm her when she is cranky. Over the years I've collected several dozen Chamoru children's songs from before World War II, many of which are fragments. Songs then were different then the way we think about them now. People took tunes they liked a
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School Days

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After finishing up an online  lecture  series last week for the Guam Museum and the cultural diasporic group Håle' Para Agupa', one of the attendees in zoom asked me where I get all this information from, is it in books, are there movies or documentaries. I responded that there are a fair amount of books out there and some documentaries, especially if you are looking for World War II history in Guam. There are many more books out there than in the past, and what is nice is that more of them are written by Chamorus or at least people who have ties to Guam, but who may not be ethnically Chamoru.  I do my best to read whatever I can out there that is connected to Guam, to the Marianas and to Chamoru issues in anyway, and this doesn't only mean things formally published. I enjoy going through documents, archives, newspaper and magazine articles, transcripts from interviews that others have conducted. But one great source of information for me over the years has been interviews
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Ten Weeks for the Tweed Protest

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  For the past 10 weeks, I've been writing columns for the Pacific Daily News providing historical context for the 1946 protest of US Navy Radioman George Tweed by more than a 100 Chamorus. Today marked my last column on the series. Although I did get a great deal more hate messages and a hateful comments during this series, I still greatly enjoyed writing these pieces. George Tweed was such an incredibly important symbol for Chamorus during the Japanese occupation. For me as a historian it is fascinating to think about how, just two years after the end of that occupation, more than a 100 Chamorus felt compelled to make signs and protest him when he returned to island. They didn't do this in the dead of night, but in the middle of the Plaza de España in front of the leadership of the US Navy on Guam. As I wrote in this last column, it was a multitude of things that compelled Chamorus to take this act, but many of them weren't about Tweed himself. Chamorus were frustrated th
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Lulai Lumuhu

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After almost 13 hours of labor, I am excited beyond words to introduce all of you to Lulai Lumuhu Perez Bevacqua. Lulai means to fish on the reef by the moonlight. Lumuhu is an ancient Chamoru month, it was documented to mean “the time to return” or “to resume one’s path.” Desiree moved back to Guam last year to reconnect with her island and learn Chamoru. This name holds special significance, since her return home allowed us to meet. Perez is from Desiree’s family and is “Familian Boño.” She's also Familian Pepero as well. Bevacqua is my family and although we have roots elsewhere as well, we are from the Kabesa and Bittot families of Guam. Lulai has one of those matan bihu mångnge faces, that make you feel torn between pinching them to vent out the magoddai or take her hand and sniff it “manginge’” style to show her respect. She looks like fresh new life, paopaopao yan pao'neni lokkue' and also looks like my grandfather at the same time. Sen magof ham på’go ya in agradede
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I AYUYU

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As part of my work at the Guam Museum, I am giving regular tours and educational presentations, and due to the pandemic, most of them are via zoom or via Facebook live. When I taught at UOG, I was constantly talking to students and engaging the community. But this was along expected lines, usually following a syllabus or a textbook. Now that I'm at the Guam Museum, I am always talking to people, engaging them, answering questions and researching to try to be able to provide the best knowledge and information I can in response to community queries. As part of these presentations, I try, as much as possible to include Chamoru poets, musicians and filmmakers, as a way of highlighting not just historical points, but also the creativity and storytelling potential of Chamorus.  One piece that I have been using regularly is the poem, "I Ayuyu" by Jay Baza Pascua, written and performed for the Chamoru MMA fighter Pat Ayuyu. It represents an attempt to portray power in an ancient
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Faisen I Guam Museum Fatfat

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For the past few months I've been holding livestreams on behalf of the Guam Museum called "Faisen I Guam Museum" or "Ask the Guam Museum." Gi minagahet, I love these livestreams, sen ya-hu siha. Because they give me a chance to answer questions people might have about things related to Guam/Marianas History, Chamoru language and culture. This takes me back to when I was a graduate student at UOG in Micronesian Studies, spending half the day in the MARC archives and the other half doing oral history. I was always brimming with information, things I had learned or come across, and was always looking for ways to share it with others. At that time I was spending alot of time too shadowing my grandparents, being their driver or chaperone. Taking grandpa to the Chamorro Village or to present about Chamoru tools. Taking my grandmother to funerals and other events. I used to not particularly enjoy being their driver and following them around since, they tended to talk t
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