NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

Next Friday,  February  21st, from 4:00 - 5:30 pm, Senators Kelly Marsh-Taitano and Jose "Pedo" Terlaje will be holding the first of their public safety roundtable series called "Håle' Kumunidåt: Social Science Solutions to Drugs, Crime and Other Problems."  Over the past year, the senators have attended many public safety forums and hearings and there has always been a consistent theme from police officers, social workers and others; these issues are complex and have deep roots. To tackle them the island has to use multi-prong well-informed approaches, and the Håle' Kumunidåt roundtable series hopes to provide a space for developing somme of those ideas.  The first roundtable will focus the questions, "How did we get here? What what can we do next?" and we'll be hearing from historians, social workers, political scientists and mental health specialists. The public is invited to attend at the Public Hearing Room of the Guam Congress Buil

When I am writing or working, I like to have MSNBC playing in the background. Although definitely not on weekends, as I don't find their barrage of prison reality TV shows very appealing. On weekends I watch clips on Youtube and recently they started a new show with longtime foreign affairs and war correspondent Richard Engel called On Assignment with Richard Engel.  I've enjoyed the first few pieces released on Youtube on his show. They've both been critical of Trump and talked about the international dimensions to his business connections. This is one of the things that makes Trump different from previous Presidents, even those who were also wealthy, his international business empire that he is absolutely using the powers and privileges of the off to enrich and enhance. Here's a few of the clips from On Assignment:  

The issue of Governor Calvo "deporting" people (primarily) from the FSM has been one of those issues that I wish I was following more closely, but haven't been able to. I've collected some articles here offering basic timelines and info over the past few months. I look forward at some point in the future writing more about this, as it goes right to the heart of Guam's status as a continuing colony, whereas the other islands in Micronesia have been able to move towards a greater sense of self-government. This exasperates and complexifies the long-standing problem of whether or not Chamorros and others on Guam identify as being Micronesian, being part of Micronesia or being anything other than Pacific Islander Americans. Gaige iya Guahan giya Micronesia. Lao atan i sinangån-ta yan i kustumbre-ta? Kao ta na'magågahet este na ideha? Lao achokka' siña ta sångan na gaige hit gi halom este na hinekkan isla, ti mamparehu hit gi pulitikat na bånda. Manggaipodet s

I was in Okinawa last week, during which time a US Navy sailor was arrested and charged with the raping of a Japanese woman in a hotel in Naha, the capital city of the island. As violence against women has been one of the most significant rallying cries for opposition to the US bases in the island, I expected this issue to dominate most of my discussions as I met with dozens of demilitarization and decolonization activists. My previous trip to Okinawa (gi ma'pos na sakkan) coincided with the anniversary of the most famous rape case in recent Okinawan history, where in 1995 a 12 year old girl was brutalized three US servicemen. That incident spurned on an island-wide protest movement, where close to 100,000 gathered on one occasion. But this most recent case didn't penetrate the conversations I was in, as much as I had anticipated. It was broached, it was invoked, but few expressed rich outrage at it. Few made the broader connections, that I often witnessed in the past. I wond

Articles on the current clash between UOG and Adelup, Calvo and Underwood. ****************** Calvo, Underwood clash over UOG case by John O'Connor Guam Daily Post 1/23/16 In light of Gov. Eddie Calvo’s claims that University of Guam leadership stood up for indicted professor Michael Ehlert, UOG President Robert Underwood held a press conference yesterday describing these statements as “incomplete and misinformed.” In the press conference, Underwood addressed several concerns outlined in a statement released by the governor. Namely, that two women involved in a case against Ehlert were mistreated and that the university acted in his favor. “In the news and in email I’ve seen, UOG leadership has stood up for the alleged predator … and hasn’t said a thing about the victims,” Calvo said. “Silence is wrong. Institutionalized silence should be criminal.” Underwood said actions against Ehlert were made based on information available at the time. In November 20

The film American Sniper has been gaining so much attention lately, because of its new blockbuster status, the ethnic and racial hatred that it is stimulating and also the way it is leading to both a challenging and also a lionizing of the American soldier through the figure of sniper Chris Kyle. Bradley Cooper, who plays Kyle in the film recently came out in defense of the film, noting that if you have problems with the political aspects of war, blame the politicians, the ones who make the decisions to send troops into war. Don't blame the troops who suffer because of those fights. This of course makes sense to most people. The politicians are corrupt, they are the ones you can blame, but the soldier, the self-sacrificing warrior should remain untouchable. They didn't choose to go to war, they just obeyed orders and did what their country told them to do. But this defense of the film leads to the natural problem of dealing with the morality of conduct if a war is not justi

Ti katoliko yu', gof ti katoliko yu'. Lao hu komprende na hagas gof tahdong i hinenggen katoliko gi kutturan Chamoru. Put este, ti hu despresia i Chamorro siha ni' manmanhohongge gi i gima'yu'us katoliko. Para meggai na Chamorro siha, yan-niha i gima'yu'us katoliko ti put i pinayon-niha ha', lao yan-niha sa' ti gof mappot luma'la katoliko giya Guahan. Guaha meggai na areklamento gi i gima'yu'us, lao ti manstriku. Guaha misa, gupot yan dinana' siha, ya este i Chamorro ma gof gogosa. Achokka' mumosmisa hao un biahi kada sakkan, katotoliko ha'. Ya gaigaige ha' i kustumbre siha achokka' tataigue ha' hao gi i gima'yu'us. I halacha' na yinaoyao gi gima'yu'us put i tinilaika siha desde un nuebu na gurupu umannok gi halom i gima'yu'us. Ti hu gof komprende i chi-na siha este na mimu. Lao hu tungo' na meggai manlinayo' put i bidada-na i Maga'obispo. Ti ha fa'taotaotao hun i taota