Narrative of Objective

At the crossroads of the Pacific, where East and West merge cultures, languages, and patterns; and at the confluence of northern and southern currents, where island nations, thousands of years old, dot the blueness of the largest water mass on earth, lies Micronesia; at its rim, a beacon of educational opportunity, where the very same cultures, languages, and peoples mingle, stands Guam.
What legacy, what tokens of success, what pervading and abiding heritage will the we leave behind, in order to continue to advance the educational journey of the people of Micronesia? Certainly, influences of Asia, Europe and the Americas cannot and should not be discounted. But Micronesia, with its age-old customs, mores and traditions should share an equal role in the process we attempt to confine to classrooms, libraries and textbooks.
In order to convey the message that Micronesia, with her islands, peoples, and traditions, is as much a part of the heritage of this university as is any other part of the world, the poetry of photographs should be crafted then shared with the students, parents, teachers, and visitors who make up the Guam community and all those it touches. Pictures depicting life as people know it today and have known it for centuries; pictures capturing the daily dance of routines involving child raising, crop growing, fishing, music, marriages, praying, playing; pictures encapsulating for generations to come the way things are and the way they were - these are means by which to save the precious and the proud, the passing and the permanent.
How fleeting is the speck of history, which man claims! How fleeting as well, are the means and manner of living out a certain life! We can count on CNN, CNBC, and the BBC to capture fragments of a culture whose prominence is unquestioned, such as those of China and Great Britain. But the saga of Micronesia, chanted through the ages and secured in the memories of its children, is at the cusp of the technology age. It may not be long before all the old ways are lost in a murky past that many will believe is only legend. This has happened before.
In order to salvage what remains, while at the same time, showing through visual arts, the treasure surrounding and permeating Micronesia, we must photograph the people and islands of this region. Technology cannot as yet make time stand still; technology can, however, capture, record and safeguard those aspects of this space and time which most assuredly will never return.