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October is CNMI Humanities Month
Gov. Eloy S. Inos and Lt. Gov. Jude U. Hofschneider pose with members of the Northern Marianas Humanities Council, a couple of lawmakers, and other supporters on Sept. 30 on Capital Hill after signing the proclamation that declares October as CNMI Humanities Month. (Mark Rabago)
Members of the Northern Marianas Humanities Council and a couple of lawmakers from the House of Representatives attended the Sept. 30 event on Capital Hill.
In signing the proclamation, Inos and Hofschneider said the Governor’s Office and the council, through the 2014 Governor’s Humanities Awards, will jointly recognize outstanding individual contributions in the humanities, as well as contributions made by donors, partners, and former members of the council’s board of directors that have sustained and strengthened humanities programming in the past 23 years.
Besides the Governor’s Humanities Awards, the council will also be holding a bevy of other activities this month. These include the launching of a Pagan Island website, which presents the translated memoirs of Japanese settlers who were residents on the island in the 1930s and 1940s.
This month will also see launch of the late Ruth Tighe’s columns on the council’s website as well as the staging of the annual Sengebau Poetry Competition.
Local historian and council member Don Farrell also reminded Inos and Hofschneider that they are doing all of these sans appropriation from the local government.
Inos said he is grateful how the council has been promoting the islands’ culture and history with minimal help from the local government. He then requested the House, specifically Rep. Janet U. Maratita (Ind-Saipan), to appropriate a “couple of thousand” dollars to the council the next fiscal year, which elicited a response from Farrell that, “$200,000 would be great but $2,000 is more than welcome.”
“You folks are doing a great job keeping things alive from the old days. I always enjoy Don’s writings. I don’t even have to read your books; I just listen you talk,” Inos said in his comeback that drew laughter from everyone in attendance.
The council is still accepting nominations for the Governor’s Humanities Award, which will be given out on Oct. 23, 2014.
