ARENAL Something more than a Volcano
Arenal is the name of a volcano in Costa Rica, but also it is an electronic
mail list in the Internet,intended for Ibero-american gays and lesbians.
In order to know what is cooking in the crater of this volcano of information
and debate, the cyber-reporters of the CGC contacted Daniel Soto
Mayorga, one of those responsables for Arenal
CGC- What is "Arenal" and when did it come into
existence?
D.S.- "Arenal" is an electronic mail list by which its
members communicate via Internet. "Infogay", the
other electronic mail list, is a means of sending and
receiving news concerning the lesbitgay world in
several languages.
CGC- Why did "Arenal" come about? What was the
motivation to start it?
D.S.- It was born from the necessity of having a forum where lesbitgay
people could interchange ideas. The motives were that in 1992, my cousin
Anibal Mayorga and I decided to come out of the closet in an electronic
mail list of Costa Ricans outside of Costa Rica and for this, I decided
to post a notice about police abuse of a transvestite in Costa Rica. Of
course, the notice caused a whole series of comments, in their majority,
homophobic. Of course, we didn't stay quiet, and other members of the list
came out in defense of lesbitgay rights. The discussion lasted about five
months. Many members of the list "Irazu" (the electronic mail
list of the Costa Ricans) wrote to me privately and told me that they were
lesbians or gays and appreciated what I was doing, but they, out of fear,
never could leave the closet. Well, at one moment, the administrator of
the list threatened me with expulsion from the list and it was then that
it occurred to me that we should have our own list. My cousin had a University
companion who ran a server in Finland. He spoke with him about the possibility
and therefore the first home of "ARENAL" was in Europe. Then,
that friend moved to New York and with him, "Arenal". "Infogay"
was an idea which came up later, and I invented the name.
CGC- Why is it called "ARENAL"?
D.S.- Well, the thing about the name was a little bit about being
contrary. The Costa Rican list that I talked about above is called "Irazu"
which is an active Costa Rican volcano, and this was the reason for calling
the list "Arenal". In the first place, Arenal is a more active
volcano and has a perfect conical formation (possibly it is the volcano
with the most perfect conical shape in the world). It had spent more than
100 years asleep and one day it made such an explosion that it registered
in Colorado (USA) and since then, you can hear it thunder and sometimes
see its lava run. At night, the spectacle is phenomenal. Well, our list
can be described in a similar way a frightening beauty for some. "Infogay"
was born from the necessity of having a list in which mostly information
is offered, differentiating news from what
can be considered 'joking around'.
CGC- What is it that "Arenal" offers?
D.S.- Well, "Arenal" offers a home to those who feel a
necessity to talk and show their ideas. It has been and is for many the
only place where they can openly discuss their sexuality, ask questions
and teach others.
CGC- How many people are subscribed to "Arenal"? And specifically,
how many from Galicia?
D.S.- Well, we are about 275 people in "Arenal" of which only
a few participate regularly. From Galicia it is difficult to say. Although
only one openly writes to the list, I know of several other Galicians who
subscribe and who are located in other parts of Spain and the world.
CGC- What is the profile of an 'arenalino/a'?
D.S.- Hum. Difficult question. I know many and I think that we are like
fingers of a hand, all are indispensable, but very different among ourselves.
In general, we are people who like people we talk, blurt out, and fight
and little by little we get to know each other better.
CGC- From where are the people who connect to ARENAL?
D.S.- Well, they come from everywhere. The majority are in Latin America,
but Spain has a good representation. Also there are those of us who live
in the USA or those who live in Australia. As you know, ARENAL more than
being an electronic mail list, also has a web page. Well, this page is
visited by people from the whole world, even from countries where one would
think there would be no one interested in visiting it, such as the Arab
countries. This page is a way of providing a service to those people who
prefer for many reasons to remain anonymous. If anyone is interested, this
is the address on the Web
http//www.indiana.edu/~arenal/
http//ww.gw.com/lists/arenal/
As for the motives by which people come to Arenal,
we have to say that each person has one reason or many of
them. Some come thinking about meeting or finding
boy/girl friends, others because they like to meet people,
also we have intelectuales who inspire and entertain us
with their thesis-like messages. Those who do not like
the relationships that are established in ARENAL go to
Infogay in order to receive only news.
CGC- What kind of themes do Arenal subscribers deal with?
D.S.- The variety would enclose a library. HIV, AIDS, partners,
sex, oppressed groups, Amnesty International, and human
rights are topics discussed. There is talk about coffee
or different language uses that exist in our respective
countries, for example, what the word 'polla' means in
countries like Mexico or Argentina.
CGC- Do you believe that this kind of impersonal contact
like electronic mail contribute to dehumanize even more the
relationships among people?
D.S.- Gays and lesbians many times live hidden in a world in
which their way of life cannot be demonstrated or accepted.
In this aspect, ARENAL opens the window to many so that
they can express themselves, and in many cases, so that
they can be more human than before. I know the story
of a girl in Mexico whose parents put her in a high school
of nuns so that she wouldn't continue to go out with
her girlfriend. She was connected to Internet. So,
during the night, she used to write to us, telling us
about her things, crying sometimes and one of us called
her girlfriend in Mexico and kept her informed about her.
For me, all of this is humanity, and ARENAL contributed
a lot so that we see our own humanity in a different way.
The difference exists in that instead of speaking, we
write, although some of us also use the telephone.
CGC- As a result of the contacts, have any friendships or
partner-relationships resulted?
D.S.- hehehehehe. Well, yes, a few. For example, there is the story of a
Galician girl who studied in the university that the Opus has in Navarra.
She entered the list because she knew that she was different and though
she wasn't sure what she wanted, she knew that she wanted to experiment.
So, she slowly started talking with me and then she got the urge to write
to the list. The first time that a lesbian wrote her, was through me (electronically,
of course) and she said to me, "Papi (that's the way many in Arenal
call me) that girl wrote to me." I answered her, urging her to respond.
She told me, no, because that girl was a lesbian. I said to her, "so
what? She also is a friend". Well, they began to write to each other
and after a few months, they got together. The Galician girl came to California
to meet her pen-pal, who is Cuban. So, between goings and comings, they
have been maintaining a stable relationship during these past few years.
There is an example of another Galician, but I will drop it here because
if not, he will kill me. It seems that the Galicians fall in love a lot
by Internet.
CGC- Do you believe that the future of our relationships is in
cyber-space?
D.S.- I hope not. But I find that cyberspace is yet another
medium of communication and in order to learn to know
someone, first how he/she writes and then the physical
look. It is something different than what we are accustomed
to up to now.
CGC- Would you mention 5 positive things and 5 negative
things about ARENAL?
D.S.- Positivefriendship/support/solidarity/leaving the closet/ falling
in love. Negative Sometimes we are very vulnerable/ misunderstandings which
usually come about because we speak differently in each country/ falling
out-resentments/ spending more time reading electronic mail than with your
partner/ I can't think of another one.
CGC- What future plans do you have for ARENAL?
D.S.- Well, that is grows more and more and that one day
we all communicate from the Old World to the New
World, that sexual liberty is more accepted and a
reality and that ARENAL contributes to the change in
every corner of the hispanic-speaking worldCGC- How many people are
subscribed to "Arenal"? And specifically, how many from Galicia?
D.S.- Well, we are about 275 people in "Arenal" of which
only a few participate regularly. From Galicia it is difficult to say. Although
only one openly writes to the list, I know of several other Galicians who
subscribe and who are located in other parts of Spain and the world.
CGC- What is the profile of an 'arenalino/a'?
D.S.- Hum. Difficult question. I know many and I think that we are
like fingers of a hand, all are indispensable, but very different among
ourselves. In general, we are people who like people we talk, blurt out,
and fight and little by little we get to know each other better.
CGC- From where are the people who connect to ARENAL?
D.S.- Well, they come from everywhere. The majority are in Latin
America, but Spain has a good representation. Also there are those of
us who live in the USA or those who live in Australia. As you know, ARENAL
more than being an electronic mail list, also has a web page. Well, this
page is visited by people from the whole world, even from countries where
one would think there would be no one interested in visiting it, such as
the Arab countries. This page is a way of providing a service to those
people who prefer for many reasons to remain anonymous. If anyone is interested,
this is the address on the
web
http//www.indiana.edu/~arenal/
http//ww.gw.com/lists/arenal/
As for the motives by which people come to Arenal,
we have to say that each person has one reason or many of
them. Some come thinking about meeting or finding
boy/girl friends, others because they like to meet people,
also we have intelectuales who inspire and entertain us
with their thesis-like messages. Those who do not like
the relationships that are established in ARENAL go to
Infogay in order to receive only news.
CGC- What kind of themes do Arenal subscribers deal with?
D.S.- The variety would enclose a library. HIV, AIDS, partners,
sex, oppressed groups, Amnesty International, and human
rights are topics discussed. There is talk about coffee
or different language uses that exist in our respective
countries, for example, what the word 'polla' means in
countries like Mexico or Argentina.
CGC- Do you believe that this kind of impersonal contact
like electronic mail contribute to dehumanize even more the
relationships among people?
D.S.- Gays and lesbians many times live hidden in a world in
which their way of life cannot be demonstrated or accepted.
In this aspect, ARENAL opens the window to many so that
they can express themselves, and in many cases, so that
they can be more human than before. I know the story
of a girl in Mexico whose parents put her in a high school
of nuns so that she wouldn't continue to go out with
her girlfriend. She was connected to Internet. So,
during the night, she used to write to us, telling us
about her things, crying sometimes and one of us called
her girlfriend in Mexico and kept her informed about her.
For me, all of this is humanity, and ARENAL contributed
a lot so that we see our own humanity in a different way.
The difference exists in that instead of speaking, we
write, although some of us also use the telephone.
CGC- As a result of the contacts, have any friendships or
partner-relationships resulted?
D.S.- hehehehehe. Well, yes, a few. For example, there is the story
of a Galician girl who studied in the university that the Opus has in Navarra.
She entered the list because she knew that she was different and though
she wasn't sure what she wanted, she knew that she wanted to experiment.
So, she slowly started talking with me and then she got the urge to write
to the list. The first time that a lesbian wrote her, was through me (electronically,
of course) and she said to me, "Papi (that's the way many in Arenal
call me) that girl wrote to me." I answered her, urging her to respond.
She told me, no, because that girl was a lesbian. I said to her, "so
what? She also is a friend". Well, they began to write to each other
and after a few months, they got together. The Galician girl came to California
to meet her pen-pal, who is Cuban. So, between goings and comings, they
have been maintaining a stable relationship during these past few years.
There is an example of another Galician, but I will drop it here because
if not, he will kill me. It seems that the Galicians fall in love a lot
by Internet.
CGC- Do you believe that the future of our relationships is in
cyber-space?
D.S.- I hope not. But I find that cyberspace is yet another
medium of communication and in order to learn to know
someone, first how he/she writes and then the physical
look. It is something different than what we are accustomed
to up to now.
CGC- Would you mention 5 positive things and 5 negative
things about ARENAL?
D.S.- Positivefriendship/support/solidarity/leaving the closet/ falling
in love. Negative Sometimes we are very vulnerable/ misunderstandings which
usually come about because we speak differently in each country/ falling
out-resentments/ spending more time reading electronic mail than with your
partner/ I can't think of another one.
CGC- What future plans do you have for ARENAL?
D.S.- Well, that is grows more and more and that one day
we all communicate from the Old World to the New
World, that sexual liberty is more accepted and a
reality and that ARENAL contributes to the change in
every corner of the hispanic-speaking world