GONE TO GUAM (and back again...)

sumahi:

Kamyo sin bangko. Using a kamyo without a bench.

I really could have used one of these in Hawai’i last week; an ice cream scooper is NOT effective!

sumahi:

I’ll be working on this mural for the next month in Umatac. If you are interested in joining the contact info is on the flyer.

If I were still on island, I’d lend what measly artistic “talents” I have to this awesome effort…

sumahi:

I feel afraid every time Fox News mentions Guam.

I am glad I didn’t have to process this. Thanks, Sumahi!

sumahi:

Latten Magas giya Haputo.

A latte from the Ma’gas house in Haputo, Guam.

sumahi:

Tools made by my grandfather and me. On display at the Lunar Calendar Festival at the Guam Fishermen’s Co-op.

My knife with the carabao horn handle will always be my favorite…

It’s hard to imagine this amount of violence on island, but it’s harder to imagine what the victims’ families are going through. Peace to all on island and on the islands of Japan. 

sumahi:

When I lived in the states I always got asked if I was Mexican, Middle Eastern or Southern European. I like traveling in Asia instead where people ask if I’m Okinawan, Ainu or Mongolian.

sumahi:

2012 Guam Political Sign Awards

The Two Wrongs and One Right Don’t Make a Right Award: Javier Atalig

I heard so many people complain about the first round of signs created for Javier Atalig and the fact that he used the term “Mangachongs” in his sign. The use of the “s” in order to pluralize the word for buddy or pal “gachong” is what offended most people. But it was so much more complicated and interesting then that. It is common today to hear people use the term “gachongs” when referring to their friends. In Chamorro you don’t pluralize with an “s” you either add the prefix “man-“ or follow it up with the word “siha” afterwards. Atalig pluralized it correctly left the “s.” He later created signs that removed the s, but the only problem was that the word still remained misspelled. Although many Chamorros still don’t use it this mark ‘ or the glota, it is necessary in order to indicate how a word is properly pronounced. The correct way of spelling the intended term is “Manga’chong”and then you have the option of including the correct pronoun “hit.”

Ooh, and this one’s a nerdy linguist issue! Thanks, Sumahi!

sumahi:

2012 Guam Political Sign Awards:

Best Family Award - Adolpho Palacios

 It’s becoming more and more common to include family members in political signs. It is only a matter of time until political signs start to look like the stock family photos that come in your picture frames. This election the Best Family Award goes to Senator Adolpho Palacios. His family of five is dressed in beautiful red, white and blue Hawaiian print shirts. They are smiling and warm and appear to not just be a Senator’s family, but also perhaps a musical family from the 70’s that drive around Guam in a red, white and blue van and perform at village fiestas! In their spare time I imagine them solving mysteries as well.