TEMPORAL

By Ramón Serrano — Diógenes Ballester is one of Puerto Rico's hidden treasures. His paintings have graced the walls of the most prestigious art galleries in the world. From Paris to Japan, from Bulgaria to Brazil he has raised the Puerto Rican flag with accompanying accolades and awards. He is presently the Artist in Residence in Ponce's famed Museum of Art. I first met Diógenes in the early eighties when i was learning acupuncture. I was called by a friend who told me that one of our great artists was suffering from intense pain and could not get up out of bed. I had never heard of Diógenes but was convinced to go to his aid. When I arrived at his house/gallery in El Barrio I immediately informed him that I was not qualified to treat his condition. He insisted that I proceed. When I returned the following week he was walking around pain free. No one was more surprised than I. We would not see each other again for another 35 years. When we finally reunited he told me that the...

Clinic #3 Peñuelas By Ramón Serrano February 1, 2020 - It's when the sun goes down that the terror begins. Another sleepless night for the 171 people still living under tarps in the makeshift community inside the towns' athletic stadium. The tremors continue every night and now can be calculated by the uncontrollable shiver, almost to the exact degree, by what is now a collective human Richter scale. Of course, many have their smart phones dialed directly into the seismic activity but take a reluctant pride in being able to identify the source of their nightmares in such a precise manner. "El de anoche midio 5.4" Sra. Ramirez is a 34 year old Social Worker, native of the town, who when the Earth convulsed on January 7th, took the lead in the relief effort. She begins her work every morning, seven days per week at 6 a.m. in the camp's ground zero. She herself admits that because of her own personal trauma, she is only able to sleep 2 hours per night. She s...

By Ramón Serrano January 18, 2020 - Our second venture into the earthquake zone coincided with a health fair directed at those refuged outside of Yauco's baseball stadium. Once again, it was a displaced community of entire families housed under personal tents and tarps. It seemed that the inside of the stadium proper was reserved for a contingent of National Guard troops assigned to help with the logistics. The health fair itself, which had been well advertised, included all manner of medical expertise and professionals. It consisted of MDs specializing in everything from Gynecology to Internal Medicine. It also attempted to address the emotional scars caused by the stress and included Psychologists and Social Workers as well as other mental health professionals. The effort was augmented by the continuation of the support of the community at large who organize sessions of play therapy for the children, while also continuing to provide supplies of day-to-day necessities. Acupunc...

Updated July 16, 2020 By Ramón Serrano On my way to Guayanilla at 8 a.m. another tremor measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale shook the already traumatized inhabitants of La Isla del Encanto . Fortunately I did not feel it on the road. Since Dec. 28th when the first major one struck there have been at least 900 detectable episodes. Because the epicenter of the seismic shifts lies directly to the south of the Island, it is the southern towns where most of the structural damage has taken place and as a result where the physical, mental and emotional dislocation is most evident. Puerto Ricans are still recovering from the P.T.S.D. associated with Hurricane Maria two years ago, so that the fear and panic being experienced by an already fragile psyche is quite understandable. Part of the underlying insecurity lies in the distrust of a local government that failed them miserably during the last disaster and a Federal Government led by a narcissist who withholds badly needed aid while insu...