ALISA VALDES-RODRIGUEZ
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SFR: You've taken a cue from your novel, The Dirty Girls Social Club, and created a Latina haven in cyberspace called Sucias, or Dirty Girls. What is it?
AVR:
It's an online community, a Yahoo group, a place for ongoing conversations. People subscribe to it, like a mail list, and have the option to post and view messages and get them via email or go to Yahoo's Web site and look at them in a message board format. Basically people were sending me email through my Web site because they felt they identified with the women in my book. They sort of wanted to be penpals and were asking me about everything from writing to babies. I really wanted that personal contact but, I mean, I think the first book has sold around 400,000 copies so I couldn't really maintain that. I didn't want to send people generic replies and so many of the ideas and concerns people were writing me with were similar that I started wondering how I could put them all in touch with each other. So now there's this online group and it has close to 300 members and more than 10,000 messages have been posted and it's only been a couple of months.
You've arranged a face-to-face meeting a the end of May with some of the Sucias members from all around the country at the Tamaya Resort at Santa Ana Pueblo. Why?
Well, the Internet is useful but I really wanted this dynamic group to meet in person. Some of it is self-promotional-I'd like it to be an annual event and maybe introduce new books there-but from a strictly selfish point of view it's just that I really want to get away to a spa for a weekend with a bunch of girlfriends. It's more like a pajama party for adults.
It doesn't sound like it's just the Valdes-Rodriguez show, there's networking and promotional opportunities for everybody, plus you're bringing several other notable Latinas.
Oh yeah. The most notable is probably Nely Galan, the television producer-she has more energy than any other human I've met. When she walks into a room, things start to happen. She's going to deliver sort of a keynote and then there will be several other authors including some Latinas from Albuquerque like Teresa de la Caridad Doval who wrote
A Girl Like Che Guevara
. There's a lot going on. Some of the people who post online have already started meeting each other in Chicago and Miami, there are people in Australia and the Netherlands.
So your Internet experiment has created a real, vibrant community.
Absolutely. I love the fact that they are posting so often. I mean, I'm sort of a presence because it's my Yahoo group, you know, but in practice it's really become theirs. The conversations are amazing and it ranges from frivolous dating stuff to people sharing knowledge and experience with going through chemotherapy. It's a real resource. As a writer it's useful for my novels because I have this window into what's important, what people are talking about.
You maintain a regular blog-has it helped to keep you on the public's radar?
I have the blog and the Sucias group and also a regular Web site, which I think is important. I'm redoing the Web site right now. Actually I have a great local designer from Santa Fe working on it. Publishing in general has a ways to go in terms of realizing how important an online presence is. Jennifer Weiner who wrote
Good in Bed
and
In Her Shoes
, which is now a movie project, says that having a way for people to reach her and identify with her has been important from a marketing point of view. It's a way to put something out there for your readers in between books, a way to keep in touch.
There's an expanding digital culture in New Mexico, but it doesn't appear to include a strong presence from Native or Hispanic populations-why do you think that is?
I really don't know. On a national level I think there's a lot of involvement. I think there are statistics showing an above average level of engagement with the Internet by Hispanics, but I haven't looked into it here in New Mexico.
Do you feel it's important for that technology to be available and to be used by all of our communities or is it only really useful for a few?
No, no it's super critical for everyone. I just got back from Salinas, CA, where they were scheduled to close all their libraries. In Albuquerque they're cutting back on library hours. I'm an activist in terms of reading and information. Our communities need books and we need accessible Internet as well. It's almost impossible to do any kind of work or research or school and be competitive without it these days.
Clearly the Sucias group has found a community online. Is ubiquitous service and free public wireless a factor for the women of Sucias when choosing a city to live, work and raise families in?
Oh yeah. And I think if you posted the question to the group you'd find a lot of reasons for that. One woman from Sucias is a regular blogger and writer. She's a stay-at-home mom with three kids and her husband works in a factory. By being online and connecting she has an outlet that just wouldn't be there without that technology. There are all kinds of reasons why someone might be isolated. If Sucias helps, that's extraordinary to me.
To join Sucias visit
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sucias
. To register for the Sucias gathering, call the Tamaya Resort and ask to sign up for the Sucias Gathering Retreat, (505) 867-1234.
