NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

It has become common to say and hear lately that Puerto Rico, a fellow colony of the United State is in crisis. Numbers I have come across cite more than $70 billion in debt, with the island suffering with an unemployment rate of 11.4% and a poverty rate of 45%. Basic public services in health care and education have been dramatically affected and the island is experiencing a rapid brain drain as those who have the means to leave, seem to be doing so. But what type of crisis this is or the causes of it are almost always lost in the discussion. The usual colonial or developing nation narratives ties problems like this to why islanders can’t take care of themselves. In this way, the problems Puerto Rico is having are about local corruption, political immaturity and a cultural unwillingness to become more civilized. All of these things lead to the notion that Puerto Rico must therefore be saved by those who are politically or economically better than it. Curiously enough, through

It has become common to say and hear lately that Puerto Rico, a fellow colony of the United State is in crisis. Numbers I have come across cite more than $70 billion in debt, with the island suffering with an unemployment rate of 11.4% and a poverty rate of 45%. Basic public services in health care and education have been dramatically affected and the island is experiencing a rapid brain drain as those who have the means to leave, seem to be doing so. But what type of crisis this is or the causes of it are almost always lost in the discussion. The usual colonial or developing nation narratives ties problems like this to why islanders can’t take care of themselves. In this way, the problems Puerto Rico is having are about local corruption, political immaturity and a cultural unwillingness to become more civilized. All of these things lead to the notion that Puerto Rico must therefore be saved by those who are politically or economically better than it. Curiously enough, through

I need to get used to the fact that I am both unemployed and underemployed now. I don't have a full time job right now, and the job I do have is just as an adjunct professor at UOG with no benefits and very little money. For most people who know me, but don't really know me, they assumed that the moment I returned to Guam I immediately got a job at UOG being a professor. It always comes to a shock when they hear that I might have any trouble finding a job there. Its not a matter that I hate these sorts of assumptions, gi minagahet, I wish they were true and I wish that universities did work like that, especially the university here. But even though I know these assumptions to be false, sometimes they help sustain my own fantasy of myself. For instance, this past year has basically made clear to me that if my wish is to stay on Guam, then I might not be able to support myself here by being an academic, at least not as my job. The climate at the University of Guam is such that I