Reporter's Notebook: Puerto Rico's Paradox

When Hurricane Maria blew the leaves off Puerto Rico's trees, it exposed an island of contradictions to Puerto Ricans and to the world. The U.S. territory is at once American and Caribbean, impoverished and cosmopolitan, resilient and resigned. And in the hurricane's aftermath, some Puerto Ricans are asking: What will our island become?

WNYC's Alana Casanova-Burgess spent a month in Puerto Rico, where residents have grown acostumbrado - accustomed - to the new limbo. Many say that after 100 years of colonial rule, they're used to not expecting much from the U.S. government, and it's up to them to define the recovery.

• Yarimar Bonilla is a professor at Rutgers University and creator the website Puerto Rico Syllabus, which offers information about the situation on the island.
• Alfredo Carrasquillo is a psychoanalyst and the director of the Institute for Leadership, Entrepreneurship and Citizenship at the University of the Sacred Heart in San Juan.
• Sandra Rodriguez Cotto is a journalist and blogger in Puerto Rico who hosts a nightly call-in show on WAPA Radio.

Support for WNYC’s coverage of Puerto Rico has been provided in part by The Jacob & Valeria Langeloth Foundation.