NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

I have spent untold hours in the collection of the Micronesian Area Research center going through stacks upon stacks of newspapers looking at ads of those running for political office in Guam. Although I don't mention it much, when I began my masters thesis at the University of Guam in Micronesian Studies, my initial topics was actually political campaigns in Guam and analyzing Chamoru discourse in campaigns. I conducted around 50 interviews over several months, with a wide range of people. My intent was to reveal what role Chamoru "culture" or "language" or "identity" played in the organizing of political campaigns, the outreach, the strategizing or rationale. My own motivation for taking on this project was tied to the 2002 Guam gubernatorial campaign. I was a young Chamoru grad student, who had started learning speaking Chamoru the year prior and was functionally, albeit awkwardly fluent in Chamoru. I was spending most of my free time in MARC

Meggai hinasso-ku put i One Guam Debate gi nigapña. Hu kekepula' todu gi halom i ilu-hu, ya siempre bai hu fånnge' mås guini gi tiempo. Lao på'go, hu keke huchom este na simester gi UOG! Ai adai! Dimasiao meggai cho'cho' gi meggai i ora yan i minaigo'!

Third parties or alternative political parties are such strange creatures in the United States. I have identified as a Democrat for much of my life, although a very progressive Democrat in almost every way, to the point where often times somebody such as Ralph Nader or Jill Stein seems to speak for me more clearer than a Barack Obama or a Hillary Clinton. Part of my weirdness for them is simply the fact that I live in a colony of the United States, and my affinity for one party over the other is pretty irrelevant. Although we can participate in the primary process for Democrats and Republicans, we are barred, like other territories from participating in the general election. So, while I may want a certain candidate to win, may feel " este i gayu-hu hunggan, ha gof kuentusiyi yu'" a lot of it is made pointless by the colonial difference, the political gap between Guam and its colonizer. But each time there is an election in the United States for President, I always fee

I may have only been in Japan for a little less than a month, but it seems to me that Japan enjoys a heavy emphasis on instructions, signs and communicating properly. Perhaps because I can't read most of these signs as they are in Japanese and so because of that they are more visible and noticeable to me, whereas for others they simply fade into the background like visual cicadas. When walking by a construction site, signs are everywhere warning people to be safe, to not enter and even to apologize profusely for the inconvenience. Everywhere you go helpful and usually colorful mascots offer everything from advice, advertising and even just cheery, "hang in there!" messages. I'm used to walking into stores where I exchange less than ten words with a clerk, but here each employee is their own tenderu techa and every purchase offers their their own rosary or two about what I am buying, the money I am giving them and the importance of having a good day as I leave. Even

I've been so busy this week with writing Chamorro language curriculum for the I Ma'adahen Fino' Chamorro that I haven't been able to post much or even complete my Guam Political Sign Awards. I wrote up most of the winners in my Marianas Variety column last week, but haven't been able to get the full text together and edit the images of the winning signs. I promise to get to this either over the weekend or next week. ChaNoWriMo hasn't been helping with this much either.

Lumiliko' yu' pa'go gi i sanhaya' na bandan Guahan. Hu tufong todu i tapblerun pultikat ni' hu li'e. Hu tuge' papa' hayi umusa Fino' Chamoru gi i tapblerun-niha (ti meggai) yan hu atan lokkue' hayi umusa i banderan Amerikanu pat i banderan Guahan gi i mensahin-niha. Meggai na kandidatu siha gi i dos patida ma u'usa i agaga', i asut yan i apa'ka gi i tapblerun-niha. Meggai lokkue' umu'usa i bandera Guahan yan i Guam seal, lao mas mau'usa i banderan Amerikanu. Malago' yu' sumangani i manmalalagu siha na guaha otro kulot siha (fuera di ayu na tres), ya guaha otro manera ni sina un usa para u representa i isla-ta. Bai hu tuge' gi otro simana i Guam Political Sign Awards. Hu litratu todu lin'e'-hu, ya para Guahu este kalang un gof mata'pang na sakkan botasion para tapbleru, guaha interesante.

Bota Fino’ Chamoru! Michael Lujan Bevacqua The Marianas Variety 10/29/14 During the summer, the Hurao Language Camp at the Chamorro Village in Hagatna held several waves along Marine Drive. This is un såkkan botasion, an election year and so waves are about as common as Japanese tourists, with candidates sometimes standing in the early morning and the twilight hours, hoping to make eye contact with you as you speed by. Hurao’s wave was somewhat different. It wasn’t for any particular candidate, instead it was for “Fino’ Chamoru” or the Chamorro language. Children held up signs with “Håyi hao?” and “Hu tungo’ håyi yu’” on them, and shouted out “Bota Fino’ Chamoru!” to those driving by. Johnny’s Sablan’s immortal classic “Mungga Yu’ Mafino’ Inglesi” or “Don’t Speak English to Me” blared in the background. It is that time of the year, when young 18, 19 and 20 year old in my classes, who will be voting for the first time start to wonder about this new ri

Driving around the past few days was surreal. It wasn’t because of the change in the air due to the storm. It wasn’t because of the eerie clouds that have been hanging around lately. It was because of something that for a day or two largely disappeared from the island’s landscape, political signs. Si Yu’us Ma’ase to all the candidates who pulled their signs down during the most recent storm warning. It is one thing to have people use your signs as plywood after an election is over, it is another entirely to have your signs appear on Facebook or Instagram after one of them was thrown into someone’s windshield by wannabe-typhoon-force-winds. After months of watching these signs multiple faster than rhino beetles and brown tree snakes put together. After months of watching these signs, like gladiators bravely clash at street corners, in neighborhoods and in empty fields, using cut up American flags, partially hidden Guam seals and plenty of platitudes as their

"The Road to Nowhere" Michael Lujan Bevacqua Marianas Variety 6/12/13 Last week I wrote about “decolonization stagnation” on Guam and how for a variety of reasons the quest for decolonization, at the level of the world, the UN and the United States isn’t moving very quickly. This week I wanted to discuss more about the role of the United Nations and the United States in decolonizing Guam. Despite the fact that most people have become accustomed to speaking in universals, and speaking about this world that we inhabit, most on earth see themselves in a national framework, as attached first and foremost not to this planet, but to an imagined territory upon its surface. Because of this the United Nations can have great power symbolically, representing the world’s international potential, but has little practical value. Nowhere is this more true than for those 17 territories that the UN recognizes as still being colonized and still requiring a process of decoloniz

I'm writing up my 2012 Guam Political Sign Awards. For those who need a reminder about what this entails, I thought I would post below my awards for the last election, in 2010. ******************* 2010 Guam political sign awards Wednesday, 10 Nov 2010 01:22am by Michael Bevacqua |  Marianas Variety News Staff The political signs are slowly getting taken down around island and so before we forget that for close to a year our island was covered in a sea of slogans, promises, and smiling faces, Id like to hand out my 2010 Guam Political Sign Awards. These awards are decided by me and me alone, there is no panel of judges who have debated or voted on them. The categories are neither fair, nor uniform, and they change for each election depending on what signs are out there. These awards are meant to be fun and funny, and rarely serious. These are not meant to attack any candidates, but are instead given to celebrate how invested our island

A familiar creature has returned to the roadsides of Guam. For some, as they see the beasts lurking beside the road they may feel as if it is too soon. It was not too long ago that these beasts came to blight the land, and it cannot already be time for their return! But for others these creatures are things of beauty; who stand like quiet sentinels and brighten the days of those who pass by. These creatures come in many forms, their plumes multicolored, and their shrieks filled with familiar refrains and friendly sound bytes. The creatures I am of course referring to as the political signs for this year’s election season. In times past, for most of the island, the next few months would be the highlight of everyone’s year. Families and friends would band together for months under the banner of Popular or Territorial, Democrat or Republican and waste the weeks away at pocket meetings and fundraisers. Naturally there was always a lot of bitterness and animosity during this

One of the stupidest things I hear far too often on Guam is that the Chamorro language, its essence is a certain way and so changing that essence, not following it means not authentically using or preserving the language. The most common context in which I hear this is that the Chamorro language is primarily a spoken language and so therefore issues such as writing and orthography are either of secondary importance or of no importance than the actual speaking of the language. Or some people will say that so many of the problems with people not speaking the language today or it not being as healthy as we would want, are because we are transgressing and not being faithful to that essence, but trying to (by giving it standard spelling system, for instance) make it do what it isn’t supposed to do. About three years ago, I recall getting some particularly taitiningo’ na comments on this blog from the owner of the Chamorro Language and Culture blog. I don’t know who makes that blog, her

Despensa yu'. Mangontrata yu' na bai hu na'fanhuyong i 2010 Guam Political Sign Awards gi i ma'pos na mes, lao ti hu na'funhayan. Gof tinane' yu' gi i ma'pos na mes ya tinane' yu' lokkue' gi este na simana esta ki agupa'na. Put fin na esta mafatto i finakpo' i "semester." Esta nina'yafai yu' nu i che'cho'-hu pa'go. Hu fana'gue sais na klas gi este na "semester," yan esta listo para bai hu deskansanaihon. Achokka' i kabales na listan i manggana para iyo-ku "Awards" ti munhayan tribiha, esta hu na'fanagi i publio gi iyo-ku column gi i Marianas Variety, gi i ma'pos na mes. Espiha guatu yanggen ya-mu mas. Lao gigon na makpo' i che'cho'-hu agupa', bai hu kekena'funhayan siha. Depensa yu' ta'lo.

Just finished up at the Realizing Our Destiny Rally held at Adelup today and organized by We Are Guahan. Mampos yafai yu', lao mampos malulok yu' lokkue'. It was tiring, stressful, chaotic, lao sen gaibali, absolutely worth it. At least 500 people showed up (by my quick counts) to hear the music of Biggah and Bettah and Rockbottom, to take literature from the Guahan Coalition for Peace and Justice, and also sign up for the decolonization registry. The highlight of the rally was when we formed a human chain around the Adelup field, with more than 300 people, and screamed at the top of our lungs that we would defend this island and that the DOD must hear and pay attention to and act according to what the people of Guam want. Hunggan, esta ma fitme i ROD, lao taya' guaha. Esta hu tuge' gi este na blog, na achokka' ma sangan na makpo' este, a'annok ha' na ti makpo'. Ma diseseha i militat, na yanggen ma fitma este, fitma ayu, fitma enao, para ta f