Do we ever really leave home?

Weekender #44

You’re reading The Husk's Weekender, a countdown/roundup of miscellanea from Micronesia, Guam, and Earth.

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stories featuring people from the Micronesian region

• Of all the things that have happened in a Walmart, I think this might be my favorite.

kuamnews

A post shared by @kuamnews

• What do honey bees on Guam eat? The more I learn about bees, the more I like them. A University of Guam student researched food sources of Guam honeybees and tångantångan topped the list.

• Palau president on considering nuclear power as an energy option. From the Pacific Island Times, President Surangel Whipps Jr. was quoted saying:

"If there are safe, small nuclear reactors that are in the development stage, it's something we have to consider because solar panels and batteries are not the only solution," Whipps said.

“We shouldn't be closed to (the nuclear) option, not as a weapon, but as a power source," the president said.

Whipps said this at the 15th Conference on Island Sustainability hosted by the University of Guam at Hyatt Regency Guam on April 11, where Whipps was the keynote speaker.

stories from Yap

• Yap will hold a special election for Yapese citizens in the islands and abroad to vote on this question: Shall the state of Yap commence a review of its political status? The election is May 31. ¹

• The Micronesian Seminar fundraiser was a success, according to a post by Habele, the nonprofit that was working with Father Fran to match donations.

• new episode of the One Micronesia podcast featuring President Whipps and Elizabeth Rutun.

I was so excited to watch Elizabeth Rutun, who is Yapese, on the One Micronesia podcast hosted by Victorious Falan. I spoke with Elizabeth for a separate project and found her to be incredibly insightful. She has this way of elucidating big-picture concepts of culture and identity with ease. An example, Professor Rutun in the podcast speaks about her teeth, stained from betel nut chewing and comments she gets from others about how she doesn’t look like someone who teaches at UOG:

“It’s a point of pride for me that I’m existing in this space and I’m still tethered to the space that I came from. I have no shame in my betel nut chewing habits,” Professor Rutun said. “It’s those really small things, the things that we choose to keep with us from our homelands.”

Watch the whole episode on YouTube and subscribe to One Micronesia podcast on all your podcast apps (Apple, Spotify, etc. etc.).

Every week (that the Weekender comes out) we’ll leave you with a send-off song (not necessarily from a Micronesian artist) curated by my brother, Henry, whose musical tastes have left a lifelong impression on me and, now hopefully, you.

This week’s send-off song is “Every Night Every Morning” by Maoli.

We’re building a send-off song playlist on Spotify that includes the songs mentioned in past Weekender posts. Check it out.

Thank you for reading! Have a great weekend,

Jasmine

1. I’ve been trying to find more information about Yap’s referendum. It’s an interesting development. What I’ve gathered so far from the Yap government-issued press releases:

Yap proposed to put this question to residents in a referendum: “Shall the state of Yap commence a review of its political status?”

Votes were to be held in January this year but the special election has since been pushed back to May 31. The executive order states that polling sites are to be set up in Guam, Hawaii and the CNMI to capture the votes of Yap citizens living outside Yap.

It looks like Yap lawmakers passed the law to have the governor organize a special election for the referendum question. Here’s a PDF of the law: https://www.yapstate.gov.fm/_files/ugd/25abe6_16055c9a100e4e8b87c6608ec079ac0e.pdf

The government issued this three-page public information pamphlet about the referendum and they make it clear that the vote will not be one that seeks to change the political status but rather one that asks to review the political status.

Also, I cannot ignore that this proposal to review the political status is happening when the U.S. is ready to inject millions into upgrading Yap’s airport. To be very fair, I don’t know if the two are related but for me personally, I’m interested in the timing of it all. If you know anyone covering the referendum issue, I’d like to read the reporting on it so feel free to reply with links. I’d appreciate it.