NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

Earlier tonight, I was walking from my rental car, several blocks to the Marriot Hotel for an APIA Vote Gala Reception titled “Living the Dream: Celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander Political Leadership.” For most of the day I’ve been wearing some buttons on my shirt. One says “ Asian Pacific Islander Americans for Obama ,” another says “Judgment to Lead” with Obama and Joe Biden on it, and the last one I received from the Guam Delegation which says “DEMOCRATS UNITED, WE WIN! GUAM.” If you are in the downtown area of Denver around the Colorado Convention Center and the hotels where other events are taking place, then you can safely assume that everyone around you wearing some sort of political paraphernalia is attending the Democratic National Convention. While waiting at a crosswalk, a young man next to me noticed one of my pins and said to me “Guam, alright!” I wasn’t too surprised by this. Guam had made a small splash the night before at amongst assembled delegates,

I've only been here for less than one day, but I've already heard personally some say "Guam, isn't that part of Hawai'i?" A member of the Guam delegation told me that, they are here in order to celebrate and be part of the Democratic party and the United States, but they are also here to inform the United States about Guam, to let them know that we exist and that we are part of them. In order to facilitate this informing, the members chose to wear matching blue or red Hawai'i print shirts and dresses each day. The result is that thay have been very popular with the other delegates, and often receive "ALOHA!" shouts from random delegates. According to this Guam delegate, they usually cheerfully shout back "Hafa Adai!" I understand this point about informing the people in the United States about your existence, that is what every Chamorro in the United States has to do, all the time, whether they want to or not, and even Guam's non

I attended four Asian Pacific Islander Events today, and for the part of me that has lived out in the states for the past four years, and become accustomed to pan-ethnic rubrics such as “Asian Pacific Islander Americans” it was an exciting day. For the other part of me which is rooted in Guam, and had never even used the term “Pacific Islander” until I came out here, the day has been a bit disconcerting. There is an exuberance this year amongst Asian Americans, in particular Japanese, Chinese, South Asian and Filipino, over their turnout at the convention and their political accomplishments in recent years. In California for instance, there are several Asian American Congresspeople and a multitude of elected officials at the state level. According to Congressman Mike Honda , a pioneer Asian American politician, of a room of more than one hundred people, you would have only found ¼ of that number of Asian American delegates, elected officials or activists in 2004 at Boston. Twelve yea

Articles from The Nation , by people who are better writers then me, with better access and better resources. They all deal with different aspects of the Convention from police and protestors to recently chosen VP Senator Joseph Biden and his experience: The Most Powerful Man in Denver (You've Never Heard Of) Ari Berman Meet the lobbyist who's behind the Democratic convention. Shiny, Happy People Richard Kim The DNC is all big smiles, good cheer and shopping for souvenirs. Even the protesters can join in. What Exactly is the DNC? Christopher Hayes An extended party for big shots...an extended campaign commercial...a big fundraiser...a media boondoggle. Tailgating in Denver Ari Melber A backstage look at the DNC's kickoff. The Myth of Foreign-Policy Experience Katrina vanden Heuvel Just because Joe Biden has experience doesn't mean that he has the right answers on US-Russia relations.

I often get hateful emails and hateful comments through my blog and other web media that I run. But this morning I received my first official 2008 Democratic National Convention piece of hate-mail! I'll leave off the person's name, but as is obvious from the email he is not a very intelligent or respectful person. He was directed to my blog from the Pacific Daily News web article and comments on my trip to Denver as Guam's blogger. Here's his comment, a warning though, its not very well thought out: i learned about your blog from today's pdn article: http://www.guampdn.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080825/NEWS01/808250301/1002 i was impressed that one of my island brothers was going to the DNC to represent us Guam folk so i visited your blog. your blog was way too radical for my tastes, but at least you were a guam islander is what i thought. then i went back to the article at PDN and a commenter posted that you don't even live in guam and is a california

Guest blogged by Rashne Limki ... In the time Miget and I have been in Denver thus far, I’ve picked up one invaluable possession – a badge with a beautiful image of Michelle Obama that states “America’s Next First Lady: Michelle Obama” Other than the fact that it’s pink, I absolutely love it. I’m a massive fan of Michelle Obama, much more so than Barack. Tonight, thanks to Miget’s magnanimity in sharing press credentials, I stood approximately 10 feet away from her. It was beautiful. If you didn’t watch her speech, you can do so here. (omg…I was so close, I’m one of those heads in the third row, a little to her left!!) It had some delegates sobbing... all sniffly and red-eyed. One of the lines of attack used against Michelle Obama has been the labeling of her as “an angry black woman.” Quelle surprise! If smart white women are viewed as emasculating , imagine how a woman of color who speaks the truth would make male genitalia quiver. But as far as I’m concerned, if Michelle Oba

Problems with internet at the Colorado Convention Center means no liveblogging. The Pepsi Center is supposed to be fully wired and high tech and very blogger friendly, but the same can't be said for the Colorado Convention Center where Caucus events take place each day. I just finished running around for close to an hour asking for a media room where I could connect to the internet to blog, or at least connect to a wireless network. No such luck, and so I'm right now using the Convention's Center business center and paying to use the internet. Ai lana, kalang ti honge'on este. Dipotsi na ma ayuda i "press." Debi di ma na'kabales i sinisedi-hu guini, osino bai hu tuge' baba put i dinana'-niha...Mungga chathinasso, kase' ha'. I've got a full slate of Asian American and Pacific Islander events today to report on.