Jay Castro: 0:05

For as long as I can remember, I heard a whisper speaking to me. I could never understand it. It was only a few words, but I heard it everywhere. I heard it in the bird song. I heard it in the wind. I heard it when I rubbed Elder's hard-working, rough and beautiful hands with lotion.

Jay Castro: 0:33

I want to understand you, I'd scream with my fist clenched and my head dunked in the ocean. Then one day the whisper said Come back and let me melt through the Guam seal, stitches on your hoodie and warm the mahålang in your heart. Then, like I'd been snagged by a hook and a gentle call, the whisper pulled me to the Marianas, vibrating my temples like a drag of a Newport menthol. I flowed with the current to the deep West Pacific. I threw a Hafa Adai to Tamatoa along the way, we kept it shiny. He gave me a Hima, a giant clam, perfect for my Sanahi. And then we met

Jay Castro: 1:25

your cool island breeze and your warm lagoons, your red flower trees like honey to the bees. I found my place, my soul renewed. You're the island paradise I always knew.

Jay Castro: 1:36

I feel so lucky that you picked me and a sense of responsibility. You pulled me home to show me I'm not alone. And so now it's up to me to

Jay Castro: 1:47

Embrace the Che'lu that the others don't see, to live the culture with my family, to honor myself familia history Inherit a soulful wayfinding To navigate the ocean of mind and will To open a sea lane, native skill. The voyage was a battle, yes, uphill. Salt pierced my soul refill. Sea

Jay Castro: 2:08

Si Yu'us ma'åse to our navigating crew, and big props to the Wa'a canoe, for a safe passage across the deep blue. Yeah, thank you. And a shout out is due to the University of Guam, guampedia and Island Wisdom, Saina ma'åse from the Che'lu in the Bay for bringing me home and showing me the way. Showing me the way, yeah, showing me the way. Saina ma'åse for showing me the way. You brought me home and showed me the way. Saina ma'åse from the Che'lu in the Bay.

Jay Castro: 2:45

The chants, the stars, the waves, the rhythm Everywhere we go we bring the island with them. Your cool island breeze and your warm lagoons, your red flower trees like honey to the bees.

Jay Castro: 2:55

I found my place, my soul renewed. You're the island paradise I always knew. I found my place, my soul renewed. I always knew I found my place, my soul renewed. You're the island paradise I always knew. The voyage back to the Marianas helped me to understand that I'm not alone. It showed me that my culture has been looking for me just as much as I've been looking for my culture. It's no longer a whisper now, because the island speaks to me, it pulls me, the culture marinates within me and I welcome the embrace of my people. I heard the whisper from the ocean in the canoe and I responded what would you do if it spoke to you? Hafa adai, my name is Jay Castro. I'm your host. This episode is titled On the Island and it's the conclusion of Tao Tao Tåsi, a series dedicated to focusing on the incredible art of Micronesian navigation and seafaring with Palu Larry Raigetal

Jay Castro: 4:41

Greetings and hello to my siblings and elders.

Jay Castro: 4:47

I appreciate you all for all that you have done for the culture.

Dr. Melissa Taitano: 4:57

I am Dr Melissa Taitano.

Dr. Melissa Taitano: 5:01

I'm a professor at the University of Guam and an ordained Weriyang Pwo Navigator through the estate of Haboilor in Polowat, maitaupo and Rapiniwug Casper Mark. I work in close collaboration with Professor Larry Raigetal to develop and promote the traditional navigation program at the University of Guam as part of the Center of Island Wisdom, a project founded and made possible by our current Madam President, Dr Anita Borja-Enriquez, and all the members of the Island Wisdom Council, namely Dr Gina Rojas, Dr Monique Storie Dr Mike Clement, and Dr Lisa Natividad.

Dr. Melissa Taitano: 5:44

Traditional navigation has an important role in connecting our island communities throughout Micronesia, as well as with our brothers and sisters living abroad, in Hawaii and the continental United States of America. Through the UOG Micronesian Traditional Navigation Certificate Program, we teach and promote our sustainable cultural values of fa'taota, inadahi yan inagofli'e, or tirow, loosely translated as respect, compassion and community, which are also the institutional values of the University of Guam. We teach basic knowledge of canoe house building, lashing, weaving, canoe carving and celestial navigation through hands-on skills development and instruction, storytelling and chant that reveal knowledge of our shared past not captured necessarily in our documentary or written heritage.

Larry Raigetal: 6:44

So, on a daily basis for the class, we offer three courses throughout the year One in canoe house building, so actual physical structure building like a local hut. The other course is in canoe building, so constructing and learning about trees and how to carve out a canoe from it and the application of that technology, such as sailing it. And then the final course is in traditional celestial navigation, so we take our students out on the canoe and apply what they've learned in navigation. And apply what they've learned in navigation such as okay, what are the stars that we use

Dr. Melissa Taitano: 7:37

We teach Micronesian traditional navigation as a component of cultural preservation but also cultural on. into the future, partnering with disciplines, people and organizations on 3D mapping, land tenureship, apprenticeship and fisheries projects, towards sustainability, which is particularly important in light of the current climate crisis and its global effect, which is pronounced in our lower-lying Micronesian islands and atolls in our lower-lying Micronesian islands and atolls.

Larry Raigetal: 8:03

You know we can be sure that whatever science and math is being taught now from a Western perspective through these institutions of higher learning, we have to appreciate that even our ancestors, through their technologies whether it's canoe building or celestial navigation, wayfinding, all of that were applied math and science too. So my feeling about the traditional seafaring courses that I'm teaching give them the opportunity to understand that our ways of knowing and learning, as passed down by generation to the other, as passed down by generation to the other, is equally important as what we're being taught in the setting of a university classroom or otherwise.

Dr. Melissa Taitano: 8:52

Our aim is to impart these skills to our students and provide access to elements of our shared heritage of traditional navigation, and also to the greater understanding of our connectedness to the ocean, the land and the sky.

Larry Raigetal: 9:07

It's important also for us to realize and understand that long before institutions of higher learning here within the Pacific come to existence, our classrooms were those of the canoe houses. Our classrooms did not have confinement into corners of walls within a concrete building. Our classrooms was really from up in the mountains, down to the seas and up in the skies. The boundaries and settings for us to learn was from the land and from the ocean and from all other elements and plans one has to offer. So in that sense to me that's important, because we live on islands surrounded by ocean, with greeneries. Then it's imperative on us to also know it to know the surrounding environment, to cherish and use those resources the best we know how.

Dr. Melissa Taitano: 10:28

The university of guam traditional navigation certificate program today, was made possible because of relationship forged over decades. And truly in the spirit of cooperation and love for the region, between pwo

Dr. Melissa Taitano: 10:28

To those who heard the whispers of the ocean and the canoe and had the courage to respond. respond To these people, I would like to say...

Larry Raigetal: 10:47

I know that my grandfather, my teachers and my father and those who passed on into another world, this is their wish, this is their desire to share. share The the person that I am today and the things I speak of and the knowledge that I acquired. I'm just a guardian of it, I'm just protecting it for those who came before me and asking Pass it on Pasaron to Jay, pass it on pasaron to Jay's son, pass it on pasaron. But I'm grateful.

Jay Castro: 11:54

will you respond when you hear the whisper of the ocean and the canoe? Credits

Jay Castro: 12:09

. very grateful and appreciative Thank you to all the people who are bringing this navigation story to life as part of an eight part series right here on the red rice infinity and fina'denne' podcast. To Palo Alto Larry Raigetal for sitting down to interview me after the 2023 chetlu che'lu festival in san diego. I fiercely admire and respect you. Thank you for becoming my friend. To the people from the carolinian islands. Thank you for preserving a skill set and the way of life that inspires me. To guampediacom guampedia. com especially tanrita tan Rita nauta Nauta for welcoming me home. The people behind guampedia's projects and the connections they make were the seeds that made this possible for me. Thank you . To Dr Melissa Taitsuno Taitano tansandra tan Sandra Okada Okada, and the others who helped tell these stories. Thank you for your contributions to the series and to preserving traditions.

Jay Castro: 13:02

To Sabyu for providing the music. Lots of what you heard throughout this series is found on Sabyu's EP titled Navigator. You can find it everywhere. To the homie martin sanchez from seismic sound for the sound production and mastering of the entire series. Thank you for sharing your expertise and your craft. This series was created, written, edited, scored and told by me, jay castro, from my home on the Alameda Island in the San Francisco Bay Area. Si' Yu'u s ma'àsi for listening.