‘Guam IS part of the Marianas’

To Roselle Calvo: In your letter to the editor and Matt Phillips, published Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2006, you made the following statement: “….we allowed Guam to advertise itself as part of the NMI chain in the “Bisita Marianas” tourism campaign. Guam is, in fact, amongst the Pacific islands, but it is not a part of the Marianas.”

Guam may not be a part of the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas, but it is technically and geographically part of the overall Marianas Islands chain. I don’t know how you can claim to be “both of Guam descent and NMI (Chamorro/Carolinian) descent” and “a daughter of the NMI” and not even know your geography and that of your neighboring islands. There are plenty of globes and maps at every school on the island and tons of atlases and maps at the public library. Or go online and do a Wikipedia or Google search on “Mariana Islands”. Let me know what you find out.

Rick Vaughn
Chicago, Illinois