Category: Chamorro Voices

The Heat of the Road: Exploring Spiritual Energy and Sickness in Chamorro Life

On By Schyuler LujanIn Chamorro VoicesLeave a comment

Prefer to listen? Hear this essay narrated below on Spotify:

For the past two weeks, our Saturday morning practice group has been reading an interview with the suruhåna Tan Maria Palacios Crisostomo, featured in the Directory of Traditional Healers & Medicinal Plants in the CNMI. I chose this text because she discusses a concept called Minaipen Chålan—literally “the heat of the road,” but more accurately describing the harmful spiritual energy that one can pick up while traveling.

Since I would need Tan Maria’s written permission to share the full interview here, I instead wanted to write about the rich discussion her words inspired in our group. In this post, I’ll share some of our reflections on how heat, spiritual energy, and spiritual sickness are understood in Chamorro culture, as well as the practices we engage in—or have seen in our families and communities—around these ideas.

Continue reading “The Heat of the Road: Exploring Spiritual Energy and Sickness in Chamorro Life” →

Fanékungok yan si Dabit: Alicia Aguigui Dart

On By Schyuler LujanIn Chamorro VoicesLeave a comment

This is the third interview on the podcast Fanékungok yan si Dabit, where we hear from Alicia Aguigui Dart, a Chamorro language learner living in Washington State. In this conversation, Alicia shares her story: how Chamorro wasn’t part of her life growing up, and how she began reclaiming it as an adult. Alicia and I have been studying Chamorro together since the beginning, and she was the one who originally started our Saturday evening practice group. I remember appreciating her willingness to struggle – together – through learning how to learn Chamorro. It wasn’t long before I began admiring her tenacity, creativity, and clarity of thought in framing concepts, as well as her resilience.

One moment that especially stood out to me in her interview is when she reflects on how life’s challenges can sometimes take up more of our energy than we’d like, making it harder to show up to our learning in the ways we hope to. In those moments, or even entire seasons of life, our learning community becomes even more crucial. They will be the ones who inspire us and help keep us going. Alicia is definitely one of those people for me😊.

This episode was transcribed by Alicia Aguigui Dart and recorded and edited by Dabit Taitingfong. To support her amazing transcription work, consider visiting Alicia’s online tip jar! And to support the podcast, please consider visiting Dabit’s online tip jar! Happy listening!

Continue reading “Fanékungok yan si Dabit: Alicia Aguigui Dart” →

Fanékungok yan si Dabit: Jorell Meno

On By Schyuler LujanIn Chamorro VoicesLeave a comment

In this second interview on the podcast Fanékungok yan si Dabit, we get to hear from Jorell Meno, a Chamorro language learner from Guam and currently stationed in South Korea. Jorell and I originally connected on the Chamoru language subreddit a couple of years ago, and soon after he joined our practice groups, quickly becoming a core regular. In this interview we get to hear more of his story about how he learned Chamorro, including how he would seek out elders at parties to listen to them speak. But one of my favorite parts of the interview was his advice to anyone wanting to learn. He urges us to remember that life is short, so if you want to learn Chamorro, do it. Swallow your pride, ask for help, and remember that there are many people and resources to learn from.

This episode was transcribed by Alicia Aguigui Dart and recorded and edited by Dabit Taitingfong. To support her amazing transcription work, consider visiting Alicia’s online tip jar! And to support the podcast, please consider visiting Dabit’s online tip jar!

Continue reading “Fanékungok yan si Dabit: Jorell Meno” →

Fanékungok yan si Dabit: Jesus Lujan

On By Schyuler LujanIn Chamorro VoicesLeave a comment

Here is the transcript for the first interview on the podcast Fanékungok yan si Dabit. In this episode, Dabit interviews Jesus Lujan. Not only is Jesus an integral part of our study group and the project manager who keeps us all on task, he is also a Chamorro language teacher offering virtual private lessons for adult learners who are serious about advancing their ability. In this episode we get to hear about his language learning journey, what inspired him, who he learned from, and his advice to people who want to learn.

This episode was transcribed by Alicia Aguigui Dart and recorded and edited by Dabit Taitingfong. To support her amazing transcription work, consider visiting Alicia’s online tip jar! And to support the podcast, please consider visiting Dabit’s online tip jar!

Continue reading “Fanékungok yan si Dabit: Jesus Lujan” →

Fanékungok yan si Dabit: I Tinituhon

On By Schyuler LujanIn Chamorro VoicesLeave a comment

My friend Dabit Taitingfong just launched a new podcast, Fanékungok yan si Dabit, where he chats with different guests entirely in Chamorro. He created this podcast to make more Chamorro conversations accessible online, and in the first few episodes, he speaks with second-language learners. To support this podcast, consider visiting his online tip jar!

This post includes a Chamorro transcription of the first episode, I Tinituhon, which was done by our friend Alicia Aguigui Dart. She was the one who started our original Saturday evening study groups at the end of 2020, and for years, when I had to pause my own learning, she kept the online space thriving—keeping my learning going too. Whenever she can, she’ll be transcribing episodes and has generously allowed me to share them here on the blog. To support her amazing work, please visit her online tip jar!

Continue reading “Fanékungok yan si Dabit: I Tinituhon” →