Views from the trench

When I arrived on Guam in 1984 to work as a reporter for the now-defunct Guam Cable TV, one of the various issues I reported on was the sorry state of Guam Memorial Hospital. I did stories about the lack of equipment and accreditation, no air conditioning in parts of the hospital, and about GMH not paying its share of retirement contributions for its employees. In 2006, when I became news director for the Pacific News Center,...

Google search: Dr. Thomas Krise

• Former president, Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, Washington (2012-2017). April 2017 article in The News Tribune reports he stepped down with no explanation. Despite some financial difficulties, Krise reportedly made important strides there.  

• Two master’s degrees, Ph.D. in English, founding president of the Early Caribbean Society; past president of the Society of Early Americanist...

The radio commercial goes something like this: A young woman says, “I parked on C-3, C-3, C-3. I’ll never remember that.” Then the announcer chimes in: “Have your Google Assistant remember it.” So, the woman obliges: “Google, remember where I parked.” Then Google’s velvety, robotic female voice chimes: “You parked on C-3.”

 When I heard that, I thought, “We’re really in trouble now.” Seriously. Trying to remember where we parke...

  I never want to hear the sound of an AR-15 going off inside a building again. Or a shotgun. Or any gun, for that matter.

   Just the reverberation emanated evil as the shooters walked through the first floor of the Administration Building at Guam Community College, calmly firing off shots. The explosion of each bullet penetrates to your very core, violating not only your eardrums, but your entire being. The shooters tried to...

In the wake of the latest massacre in our country by a severely troubled male wielding a semi-automatic rifle, it is clear that we need further regulation of that sacrosanct 2nd amendment right of the people to keep and bear arms.

But that’s not all we need. Americans need to step up their level of commitment on two fronts. One of them is commitment to another person in a relationship, namely marriage; and more importantly, the...

 Catherine Flores McCollum (Photos: Kia Feliciano)

   When I think about the candlelight protest that happened at Litekyan on a recent Sunday, I am at once heartened and disappointed. Heartened to see more than a few people (several media reports count about 100 attendees) care about some of our island’s last pristine lands, and about not wanting to allow bullets to rain down upon these lands from the military firing range plan...

I am excited. A new generation of Guam journalists is breathing life into the Micronesia Chapter of the Society of Journalists. In 1989, this western Pacific chapter of the national Society of Journalists was chartered by a core group of Guam journalists, yours truly included.

We held some vibrant gubernatorial debates, brought in off island professionals for workshops, and served as the vanguard of freedom of information at le...

With all of the allegations of sexual misconduct from decades past bubbling to the surface for politicians, priests, actors, movie moguls, comedians, and others, two things stand to the fore: First, the gig is up. Now people of all ages – both females and males – know that they no longer have to suffer through this despicable behavior in silence. It is now, finally, publicly unacceptable behavior (except maybe in Alabama – we...

  Naperville, IL.— When I first came to Guam back in 1984, I distinctly remember my first time going to mass at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Toto. I sat in the back, and it dawned on me, watching the sea of dark-haired, brown-skinned people that filled the pews, that for the first time in my life, I was a minority. I think there may have been one other person in the church with light hair and light skin. It was a new per...