NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

-->This semester I am teaching Chamorro Language at UOG for the first team ever. I've taught classes for years in the community, but these are my first official college level classes. I am having lots of fun, even though it is alot of work since I am starting from scratch in many ways. Each week I put together my own handouts with vocab lists and grammar lessons. This past week we went through opposites such as "dikike'" and "dangkolu" or "taianao" and "dangge" and also occupations such as the Chamorro words for judge, runner, lover, thief and soldier. Chamorro occupations is an interest mix because it breaks down to certain words that are borrowed from the Spanish, such as "hues" or "peskadot" that means "judge" and "hunter." There are also older Chamorro terms such as "fafalagu" and "a'afulo'" which means "runner" and "wrestler." Then there ar

Last year the group TASI or Traditions About Seafaring Islands organized a Sakman Summit, or an event where experts on Chamorro culture, language, history and Micronesian traditional navigation gathered together to discuss various aspects about the recreation of the Chamorro sakman, or open-ocean large canoe. Central to the gathering was developing a standardized vocabulary for all of the terms which you would need for navigation in Chamorro, such as parts of the canoe, tools, sea-birds, names for the different parts of the day, etc. I've written before about how critical in today's Guam the work of TASI is. They are decolonizing. They are not returning to a previous era, but rather showing us how it is entirely possible that things which were lost or prohibited long ago, such as the seafaring skills and technology of Chamorros can find a place in today's world. Decolonization is not about preserving, because preserving assumes that something is dead or on the verge of de

In December of last year I started a new feature on this blog titled "Learning Chamorro With Sumahi and Youtube," where I would pick a favorite video of i hagga-hu Sumahi from Youtube, and then list the Chamorro words which she usually uses to narrate the video as she watches it. In recent months my time has become very scarce because of work and family obligations and so I don't get to spend as much time with Sumahi as I'd like. There isn't much time to go to the beach or take a walk in a park or do any sort of normal bonding activities, and so often times, late at night, watching Youtube videos as our way of connecting. She usually sits on my lap, bouncing up and down as she gets excited at what she sees on my laptop screen. Its hysterical, because some videos she's already watched probably hundreds of times, and so even whens he watches it time #101, she'll still laugh and scream at the exact same moment. Unfortuantely, Sumahi's love of Youtube me

I started a Youtube account in late 2006, just so I could rate Guam videos. I never even had any intention of ever uploading a video, since at the time I was using my infamous disposable cameras to capture everything and couldn't imagine buying myself a digital one. The first video that I ever uploaded wasn't even one of mine, it was something I had found on the internet on a Department of Defense information website. The video was meant to be a sort of press release on a round of public meetings that the DOD was having with regards to the military buildup, which at that point had been announced only a year earlier. After that I uploaded some videos which had been posted on the website of Guam's Congresswoman Madeleine Bordallo. In fact the most watched video that I have is a video of her being introduced in the House by a fellow Congressman, who pronounces her name last name as if it were "bordello." Eventually after my mom bought me a digital camera during a

Gof ya-ña Si Sumåhi umegga’ Youtube. Sa’ maseha hafa malago-ña para u egga’, siempre guaha mubi giya Youtube. Although her love for Youtube can be debilitating at times, since when I’m working on my computer Sumåhi can suddenly appear at my side, requesting that I put her on my lap and that she be allowed to watch something on my laptop. I don’t know how many times, I’ll be responding to student emails, and Sumåhi will suddenly appear and ask that I show her “kaballo” or horses. But what I really do like about Youtube, is that the videos there have been a great way of helping me teach Sumåhi Chamorro and expand her vocabulary. As she watches a video, I constantly point out things on the screen and tell her what’s going on. This is particularly important with verbs and actions, so she can see what is entailed in the word I am using and therefore better associate it with what she sees around her. So what I’ve decided to do is pick one of Sumåhi favorite Youtube videos, and then paste

Ti bai hu bailanaihon ni' fino'-hu pa'go: President Obama's health care reform is weak. I don't know if he's shrinking the public option down to a footnote in order to get the thing passed or not, but even at the level of his rhetoric it seems more and more like he's becoming less of a leader or a reformer, and just another political hack who wants to give a little bit the many (who don't have much) and a whole lot more to the few (who of course have the most). Just because the leaders of the Democratic party are less in bed with the Health Care lobby and industry does not sadly translate into any real reform. It just means that Democrats (not all, but the one's who make the key party decisions) will find more liberal convoluted ways of giving large corporations means of making massive profits. What I hear coming out of the White House lately is so weak, i hagga'-hu Sumahi could probably come up with a better health care reform plan. I'm sur

Recently, i hagga-hu Sumahi started talking so much, and not just words, but sometimes even short sentences. Usually these sentences deal with demands, for liquids, foods, items, demanding to leave someplace, demanding to go to another place, etc. One of the cutest sentences that she's started using that is not a demand, is when if you say "I love you" to her, she'll respond to you back (if she loves you) with "I Wow You." I've tried to get her to respond to me when I say "Hu guaiya hao," but no such luck. Although she does respond when I say to her "Hu Wow Hao Nene," and when I respond to her saying it with "Hu Wow Hao Lokkue'." One of the ways in which you can tell whether or not Sumahi does indeed "wow" you, is if she'll play with you when you speak to her in Chamorro. Slowly over the past couple months I've taught her a half dozen words, and taught her a corresponding action to each of those words.

For the past two years now I've been speaking to i hagga-hu Sumåhi , almost entirely in Chamorro. For a long time I wasn't sure if this was paying off, and if she was retaining anything, as more and more of the words she started using or started understanding were either English or Cantonese. Fihu estaba annai hu kuentusi gui' gi fino' Chamoru, ha atan yu' kulang langga' yan taikinemprende. In order to make sure she understood me sometimes, I would even resort to using certain Cantonese words. In the past few weeks however all of this has changed, and at last she is starting to both use and understand some basic Chamorro words. At this age, learning words for Sumåhi is actually an exciting activity, because while all around her live to see her face light up and smile, she is actually always on the search as well for ways that she can make our faces light up. Using certain words is one of the ways that Sumåhi can get everyone around her laughing or happy. Which

Last month I started yet another regular post thread which brought together my love for anime and the Chamorro language. I named it " Sakigake Chamorro " which translates to "Charge ahead Chamorro!" and is taken from the manga/anime Sakigake! Cromartie High School! What this thread amounts to is the theme songs for anime translated into Chamorro in more fun, less precise fashion. I named it "Sakigake Chamorro" because the first song I chose to translate was from Cromartie High School. This evening, as I was trying to unwind from a long, stressful week of teaching I decided to translate another anime song. I decided to pick one that would be a lot of fun to translate, this meaning one which is really catchy, but also completely nonsensical and insane. The one that immediately popped into my mind from those on my computer was "Ride on Shooting Star" from the anime FLCL. I've never really liked this one, but i che'lu-hu Jack really does,

When I first started voyaging out into the internet full force several years ago, meaning I started using Google and Yahoo to search for random crap, interesting things would always pop up when I was looking for stuff related to Guam and Chamorros. For instance, if you do just general Guam searches you will find a surprisingly alot of Gay community website. I never imagined Guam as some gay oasis in the Pacific, but apparently around the Pacific alot of people do think of Guam as just that. Also, if you do just general searches for Chamorro, you will receive a bunch of sites for Chamorros in Nicaragua. These aren't ethnic Chamorros but people with the last name Chamorro, such as Edgar Chamorro , a contra fighter and former ambassador to the United Nations, or Violet a Chamorro , a President of Nicaragua in the 1990's. When I would do searches for Chamorro language however, a certain type of page would constantly show up, "I Love You Pages." I'm sure that most