NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

  When I first listened to this song more than 20 years ago, gi hinasso-ku gof na'chalek, lao ti hu komprende i tinahdong-ña gi kostumbren Chamoru. I was not aware when I first listened and translated to it, how much deeper the meaning is beyond the silly things described in the lyrics.   This song "Aye na Påtgon" from Johnny Sablan's album "My Marianas" describes a father taking his son to the ranch to try to teach him some basic life skills.  But for everything that he tells his son to do, his son does something different and sometimes nonsensically, as well as all around gago'.   For instance he tells his son to boil the papaya and the coconut and instead his son goes to pick berries.   He tells his son to go collect firewood but he doesn't actually come back until all the cooking is done.  The lyrics are silly and more about sounding fun or funny than actually depicting something real. But when I was younger I never connected this song to earlier

My two columns from earlier this year published in the Pacific Daily News on the ban of cockfighting in the US territories. I've been slowly working towards an article on this topic, targeting two main aspects.  First, the debate over whether or not we can consider cockfighting to be part of Chamoru culture or whether it is really Chamoru or not. This is deployed in very interesting ways in this debate, as people seem to feel that if it isn't really Chamoru then it is ok and right to ban it. Whereas others tie to a strong, grounded sense of authenticity in contrast to perceived sort of softness of Americanized life.  Very interesting sort of discursive dancing around authenticity.  Second, the role that Guam's political status plays in the cockfighting ban. Some people argue that we don't necessarily see Guam's colonial status at play here, since this is just another way that big government in Washington, the elites impose things on the little man. This way of

The other day Independent Guåhan's held it's April teach-in at UOG, this time with a focus on "democratizing the media." The discussion focused on Guam's media landscape and ways that community members can create alternative means of educating or informing people on island about pertinent issues. For years I ran a number of different forms of alternative media, such as blogs, websites, podcasts and even a zine called Minagahet. From 2003-2010 I, and sometimes others ed ited a zine which focused on Chamorro issues from a critical and largely progressive perspective. You can still find it online, although the last issue was released during the DEIS comment period in early 2010. The name Minagahet which means "truth" came from a comment that a friend of mine had written on a message board many many years ago. It was an exchange with some Chamorros who felt that decolonization was stupid and impossible. My friend had written a long response see

--> Public hearings on the medical marijuana regulations are taking place this week. Please try to attend them if you are able. Here is the information on them: --> July 29, 9 – 11 am at the Legislature’s Public Hearing Room July 30, 9 – 11 am at the Legislature’s Public Hearing Room July 31, 3 – 6 pm at the Castle Mall, Mangilao, Division of Senior Citizens Conference Room. Here are some recent articles about the issue. ******************* Marijuana meeting touches on farmers, tourism Apr. 11, 2015 by Maria Hernandez Pacific Daily News Draft rules and regulations for the island's medicinal marijuana program are expected to be approved and open to public comment by late April, said James Gillan, director of Guam's public health department. In November, voters approved legalizing the use of marijuana for the treatment of certain medical conditions, making Guam the first U.S. territory to legalize medical marijuana. The

Gi este na tinige' para ta bisita iya Kansas ta'lo ya faisen hafa i prublema-na? Gof matungo' Si Thomas Frank put este na finaisen. Gi este ha bisita lokkue' i orihinat na hinasso-na put i pulitikat "conservative" yan "liberal" giya Kansas, ya hafa i otro na estados siha sina ma eyak put i kosas pulitikat giya i US pa'go. ******************* Sunday, Nov 2, 2014 10:00 PM CST Righteous rage, impotent fury: Thomas Frank returns to Kansas to hunt the last days of Sam Brownback and Pat Roberts On eve of a possible GOP rout, Frank goes home to rediscover the matter with Kansas and all American politics Thomas Frank Salon.com   PRAIRIE VILLAGE, KANSAS – One of the treasured vanities of my home state of Kansas is the idea that, although we are the nation’s laggards and

--> I would love to do a research project on Yokoi. His name always comes up in the most random places. The connection that he felt to Guam is so unique and so interesting, and his actually gets in the way of us understanding it. He returned to Japan a hero, but seemed to chafe against that characterization. In his mind he had failed in so many ways, and the hero status he received missed everything he was and every value he cherished. The quiet jungles of Guam seemed to understand him more than the country he returned to. There was more meaning to that spartan existence than the flashy and fake Japan that he returned to. You could argue that his soul remained in Guam while the rest of him returned hooe. Here is an interview that a UOG student conducted with her grandfather Jesus Duenas, one of the two Chamorros who discovered Yokoi in 1972. I came across this in the most random way earlier today on a very old version of UOG's website. ***********************

In my Guam History classes this last month we read the poem below written by my pare' Julian Aguon, titled "The Mango Trees Already Know." The poem is written in the shadow of the impending military buildup to Guam, and is about how the warning signs, the possible dangers to our island and to the Chamorro people are all around us, but we seem to be incapable of doing anything to protect ourselves. Julian even discusses the death of his father to cancer, and forces an important connection between how Guam has become modernized and militarized since World War II and the alarming rates of cancer and disease. I asked my students this past week "What is it that the mango trees know, that we don't?" or "What is it that they know, that we refuse to recognize?" For me, in answering that questions, my mind quickly turns to the film The Happening, by M. Night Shamalayan. For those unfamiliar with the movie, people in the East Coast of the United States s