Woke up thinking about how the pandemic got so much worse so quickly in some Caribbean countries and much of it is the result of Northerners thinking they can escape down here and not be subject to our rules. I don’t know how many times I have to say this: real people live here.

I have lived in three Caribbean countries in the past seven years, and have witnessed governments trying to negotiate one disaster or another against bringing back tourism. It's always "let's hurry up and get ourselves together so they can come back. We need them."

One hotelier took out a full page ad in the NY Times after Hurricane Maria to announce we were back to normal. Who is "we"? Cuz I'm still not. COVID has made these negotiations more abusive. But with the way Global North has them by their necks, what's the alternative.

I'm not an economist and it's complicated but in the years I've been alive, tourism has done more harm than good. And I can sit and write ten essays but I don't have the patience. For some of us, this is our only home. This is not an intellectual exercise.