iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Wendy C. Ortiz @wendyortiz.com · 1h

If you’re around Pomona, CA later this month, I’m reading at Pomona College on Thursday, October 22.

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Wendy C. Ortiz @wendyortiz.com · 21/09/2026

All the names I answer to now

A refrigerator magnet that says Mama Mommy Mom Bruh

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Wendy C. Ortiz @wendyortiz.com · 19/09/2026

Unearthed in my stack of recent mail 🌿 Thank you @eireannmor.bsky.social 💚

A copy of the zine abundant number sits atop a large blue pot with succulents and other plants inside

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Wendy C. Ortiz @wendyortiz.com · 16/09/2026

Annie Dillard made a small appearance in my book Bruja: A Dreamoir. Even in my dreams I recognized something that related to one of her unforgettable essays. 🌹🕯️

Page 115 of the book BRUJA by Wendy C. Ortiz:

JULY

THERE WAS SOMETHING about the light of the moon.
As the something was happening, I realized it was just like the essay in which Annie Dillard writes about the total eclipse she witnessed.
The people around me were just as unsure as I was. We looked at the sky with a profound shared feeling of dread mixed with excitement. I knew it was the moon, it had to do with its light, but that was all I understood-that, and that huge sweeping changes would arrive in mere minutes, and no one was prepared.
The colors changed. Everything took on an otherworldly gloss. I felt myself grinning involuntarily because the rush of not knowing, of dread, of being thrilled to my marrow, was so strong.
Two unfamiliar men began chasing me. Finally, one of them, a tall blond, made peace with me. I still did not trust him.
I could tell they were untrustworthy, especially together.

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Wendy C. Ortiz @wendyortiz.com · 10/09/2026

I don't know about you, but I check recent followers and block them if they have info labels that look like this 🤓

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Wendy C. Ortiz @wendyortiz.com · 10/09/2026

If you zoom in to this map on the Watch Duty app you can see there are numerous power outages all over LA. Is it because these are all pockets and it’s not an all-over outage that keeps it from being newsworthy? On an extreme heat warning day, this many folks have no power?

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Wendy C. Ortiz @wendyortiz.com · 04/09/2026

Alienated Majesty Books in Austin, TX. Photo by Fernando A. Flores 💚💚💚

A display of books in a bookstore. Pictured are Bruja, Excavation, and Hollywood Notebook by Wendy C. Ortiz, on standing display. Laying in front, foreground: wrong is not my name by Erica N. Cardwell, The History of the Vertebrae by Mar Garcia Puig, and Meaning A Life by Marry Oppen.

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Wendy C. Ortiz @wendyortiz.com · 27/08/2026

me seeing what’s up on bluesky for a minute before I go away again (with alt text) 👋🏽 ✌🏽

a possum is poking its head out of a carpeted cat condo

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Wendy C. Ortiz @wendyortiz.com · 25/07/2026

We don’t remember having seen an oriole in our backyard, but we did this morning 💛

A yellow oriole (hooded?) on a wire facing viewer

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Wendy C. Ortiz @wendyortiz.com · 21/07/2026

Thank you to @nupress.bsky.social for the care package of books ❤️‍🩹 screaming and crying over C. Russell Price and Elizabeth Crane 💙🩵💙

5 books from Northwestern University Press fanned out on a wood table

The cover of Bisquick An American Seance by C. Russell Price

Cover of When the Messenger Is Hot by Elizabeth Crane

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Wendy C. Ortiz @wendyortiz.com · 19/07/2026

My hand + the hands of my @mccormackwc.bsky.social workshop group, who on trivia night named themselves the Memwawas. Yes we literally put our hands together and said 1-2-3 GRIEF! when we first met. One of our participants gave us all the finger fidget that also hits acupressure points? ☺️

9 hands of various shades reaching into the center, on top of a McCormack Writing Center totes. Every hand has a finger with a little coily fidget toy on it.

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Wendy C. Ortiz @wendyortiz.com · 14/07/2026

When I migrated to Buttondown from Substack in 2024 and asked Substack about removing their fee from subscriptions, they told me the fees would be removed. They were not. As I recall, even getting these replies from them was a hassle.

Hi Wendy,

We have disconnected your Stripe account.

This also removes Substack fees from your Stripe subscriptions and revokes Substack access to your publication's Stripe account.
Kindly,

Heidi
Substack Support

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Wendy C. Ortiz @wendyortiz.com · 14/07/2026

I’m reading outdoors tonight in Portland 💚 hoping an otter will cruise by in the lake behind us 🦦

MWC PRESENTS
l Oregon Summer Writers Workshop
READING SCHEDULE
Tuesday, July 14
Melissa Lozada-Oliva
Wendy C. Ortiz
Danielle Evans
Leila Chatti
REED COLLEGE CERF AMPHITHEATER • WITH ASL
INTERPRETER
NIGHTLY • 7:30 PM PST

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Wendy C. Ortiz @wendyortiz.com · 13/07/2026

My commute this week looks like this ☺️💚

A pedestrian bridge that leads into the distance, with gorgeous leafy trees on either side

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Wendy C. Ortiz @wendyortiz.com · 10/07/2026

hahaha whacked-out daddy’s home! I loved the details of the games so much!

A screenshot from a nyt article about the tv show Widow’s Bay. A photo of a hand holding the board game “Daddy’s Home.” Text reads: To achieve the immediate goose-bump effect, however, it was all about the visuals. The show's creator, Katie Dippold, and director, Hiro Murai, provided detailed descriptions of how they wanted the games to look; production design took over from there. Mr. Arnold said that "we went through a bunch of versions of the daddy's face and how whacked-out he needed to be." He attributed much of the fine-tuning to the graphic designer, Ellen Lampl.

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Wendy C. Ortiz @wendyortiz.com · 09/07/2026

Hey Portland, see you next week 🌞

MWC PRESENTS
Oregon Summer Writers Workshop
READING SCHEDULE
Sunday, July 12
Eliana Ramage
Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya
m. mick powell
Monday, July 13
Kelli Jo Ford
Joseph Earl Thomas
Sam Sax
Daniel Saldaña Paris
Tuesday, July 14
Melissa Lozada-Oliva
Wendy C. Ortiz
Danielle Evans
Leila Chatti
Thursday, July 16
Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore
Denne Michele Norris
Emma Copley Eisenberg
Safia Elhillo
Friday, July 17
Dur e Aziz Amna
Megan Fernandes
Catherine Lacey
Sarah Aziza
Saturday, July 18
Jamel Brinkley
Torrey Peters
Paul Tran
REED COLLEGE CERF AMPHITHEATER • WITH ASL
INTERPRETER
NIGHTLY • 7:30 PM PST

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Wendy C. Ortiz @wendyortiz.com · 06/07/2026

I missed the game tonight for Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass

Daylight at the Hollywood Bowl before Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass & Other Delights

Nighttime at the Hollywood Bowl with Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass & Other Delights

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Wendy C. Ortiz @wendyortiz.com · 02/07/2026

This thurible the conductor ecstatically dancing the music ahhhhhhh

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Wendy C. Ortiz @wendyortiz.com · 02/07/2026

The audience vibe was much like Lady Gaga’s—people beautifully decked out, lots of love, sweetness, high spirits.

A photo from last night’s ROSALÍA concert at the Forum in Los Angeles. Two screens are projecting the image of ROSALÍA in a white shroud, head covered, while she stands tiny on the stage.

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Wendy C. Ortiz @wendyortiz.com · 23/06/2026

Buy my books, *with not only a small discount*, but *free shipping* through 6/26 🚨 AND support independent bookstores all at the same time

EXCAVATION, HOLLYWOOD NOTEBOOK, and BRUJA, three books by Wendy C. Ortiz on a wood table. Buy them at bookshop.org.

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Wendy C. Ortiz @wendyortiz.com · 19/06/2026

Just crying while reading Residual by Tisa Bryant

Text from Tisa Bryant’s RESIDUAL (Nightboat Books)

She who wishes may know
A mother as an inventory of traces
As card file
As private collection
As speculation
As catalogue
As residue
As inheritance
As artifice
As imaginary
As trespass
She who wishes may know
How an archive begins at home.
How the researcher is born into it.

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Wendy C. Ortiz @wendyortiz.com · 17/06/2026

post the best picture you have ever taken of your pet (if you feel like it)

A brown and tan min pin/chihuahua mix, reclined on tummy with her legs crossed. She is smiling and has bottom gap tooth.

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Wendy C. Ortiz @wendyortiz.com · 17/06/2026

Been contemplating this for the last six years or so (via Yumi Sakugawa’s instagram)

Text on a background of greenish/yellowish/pinkish gradations:

WHO ARE YOU WITHOUT YOUR MOST IMPRESSIVE
ACHIEVEMENTS, PROFESSIONAL ACCOLADES, OR PUBLIC-FACING PERSONA?
WOULD YOU BE OKAY WITH BEING AN ANONYMOUS SENTIENT
BLOB WHO IS NOT STRIVING TOWARDS ANYTHING?
YUMI SAKUGAWA

Illustrations by Yumi of a black rabbit-like figure with outstretched arms, squiggles, and little designs.

Text on a background of greenish/yellowish/pinkish gradations:

WHEN YOUR DEEPEST
ATTACHMENT TO YOUR MOST IMPORTANT LABEL OR IDENTITY OR ASPIRATIONAL GOAL IS RELEASED, WHO REMAINS?
AND WHAT DOES THAT PERSON DESIRE IN THE SPACIOUS STILLNESS THAT FOLLOWS?
YUMI SAKUGAWA

Illustrations include a rabbit-like head, a short vine, dotted lines, squiggles.

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Wendy C. Ortiz @wendyortiz.com · 05/06/2026

I mapped visiting my father’s grave, then my mother’s grave, then my maternal grandmother’s, then my maternal great- grandmother’s and weirdly, where I live makes it a (wonky) rectangle.

An Apple map of Los Angeles and part of Orange County. Map routes join where I live (a blue dot in Los Angeles), up to Mission Hills Catholic Mortuary in the north western part of San Fernando Valley, down to Pierce Brothers Valhalla Memorial Park and Mortuary on the north east side of the SFV, east/across/then south across to Rose Hills in Whittier, and then west to Calvary Cemetery and Mortuary in Los Angeles.

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Wendy C. Ortiz @wendyortiz.com · 03/06/2026

I’m still this person (1990, high school journalism class, scissors and tape because we literally cut and pasted, a psychology book and a history book nearby, queer, left-handed, writing).

A photo of me in 1990 high school journalism class, a psychology and history book near me, writing left-handed, tape and scissors because we literally cut and pasted. I have a short side braid and a blue and white printed sweater. I’m looking at the camera.

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Wendy C. Ortiz @wendyortiz.com · 01/06/2026

Some great book mail arrived today 💫💫

A book on a wood table: RESIDUAL by Tisa Bryant

A book on a scratched-up wood table: PINK ELEPHANT by Rachel Camacho

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Wendy C. Ortiz @wendyortiz.com · 27/05/2026

the subject of my newsletter, uncharacteristically appearing on a Tuesday

A gold matchbook with G G printed in bold black font on a diagonal, matchbook on light blue canvas

A gold matchbook cover that reads
THE
GOLDEN GAVEL
MOTOR HOTEL
909 CAPITOL WAY
OLYMPIA, WA 98502

RESERVATIONS
(206) 352-8533

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Wendy C. Ortiz @wendyortiz.com · 24/05/2026

It’s time for a new pinned post (now that I’m using the repo cleaner for old posts). Hi, I wrote three books, all of which were reprinted by Northwestern University Press in 2025. Links to purchase from Bookshop are in my bio 💚🧩🐊

Three books on a wood table: EXCAVATION, HOLLYWOOD NOTEBOOK, and BRUJA by Wendy C. Ortiz.

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Wendy C. Ortiz @wendyortiz.com · 15/05/2026

Well, it’s tomorrow, anyway. And my wish is that you buy my books, share that you’ve read them with people you know, let me know if you’ve taught them or been in classes where they were taught…I used to receive selfies of women in bathtubs reading my books and I’m not asking for that but you do you.

A woman holding a sign that says it’s my birthday bitches. A caption reads Taurus.

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Wendy C. Ortiz @wendyortiz.com · 14/05/2026

Just hanging out, very close, must be my mom.

A close-up of a crow perched on a white handrail. Potted plants, dead grass, and decomposed granite are in the background.

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Wendy C. Ortiz @wendyortiz.com · 13/05/2026

Since they like to hang out on my front porch, why not converse with them 🖤

A crow is perched on a small spiky plant, surrounded by other plants, on a porch ledge. A trellis covers much of the left side with a few pops of pink flowers. In the background some yellow flowers on a young palo verde tree are blooming.

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Wendy C. Ortiz @wendyortiz.com · 13/05/2026

My grandmother’s phone from when she lived in Boyle Heights, Los Angeles, and one of the phone numbers I knew by heart as a child.

An old black rotary phone that belonged to my grandmother, with her old phone number in the middle.

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Wendy C. Ortiz @wendyortiz.com · 06/05/2026

I found the *favorite* of all the mixtapes one friend made for me ~1993.

A mixtape cassette cover. The paper has been crayon-colored with reds, oranges, and yellows, resembling a sun surrounded by halos of red and orange. The playlists are handwritten. If you want to know the contents send me a dm and I’ll send you a link to the apple playlist I made with all the songs listed.

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Wendy C. Ortiz @wendyortiz.com · 05/05/2026

Of all people to happen upon this in the world, the 15yo sent this to me ☺️

A display of books at Chevalier’s. On the table a framed graphic that says Los Angeles, along with a display of books, including Hollywood Notebook (by me).

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Wendy C. Ortiz @wendyortiz.com · 30/04/2026

and finally, me judging you for judging me

Wendy C. Ortiz with an unlit cigarette in her mouth, 2016

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Wendy C. Ortiz @wendyortiz.com · 26/04/2026

last night with friends🍷

An empty bottle of wine on a wooden counter. The label is bronze and reads KITTIES.

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Wendy C. Ortiz @wendyortiz.com · 26/04/2026

Today my partner brought home the second to last load of stuff we had stored in my late mother’s garage. She is finally offloading her collection of unusual ashtrays.

A variety of ashtrays on a wooden picnic table.

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