Wendy C. Ortiz

@wendyortiz

Excavation: A Memoir Hollywood Notebook: Essays Bruja: A Dreamoir Northwestern University Press, 2025 Mommy’s El Camino is my weekly newsletter. she/her. Los Angeles.

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Wendy C. Ortiz@wendyortiz· 28d

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

Wendy C. Ortiz@wendyortiz· 28d

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

Wendy C. Ortiz@wendyortiz· 29d

My office ceiling

Looking up into trees like a canopy over the viewer

Wendy C. Ortiz@wendyortiz· 29d

My commute this week looks like this ☺️💚

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

Wendy C. Ortiz@wendyortiz· Jul 10

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.

Wendy C. Ortiz@wendyortiz· Jul 9

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

Wendy C. Ortiz@wendyortiz· Jul 6

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

Wendy C. Ortiz@wendyortiz· Jul 2

This thurible the conductor ecstatically dancing the music ahhhhhhh

Wendy C. Ortiz@wendyortiz· Jul 2

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.

Wendy C. Ortiz@wendyortiz· Jun 23

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.

Wendy C. Ortiz@wendyortiz· Jun 19

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.

Wendy C. Ortiz@wendyortiz· Jun 17

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.

Wendy C. Ortiz@wendyortiz· Jun 17

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.

Wendy C. Ortiz@wendyortiz· Jun 5

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.

Wendy C. Ortiz@wendyortiz· Jun 3

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.

Wendy C. Ortiz@wendyortiz· Jun 1

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

Wendy C. Ortiz@wendyortiz· May 29

good morning?

A street sign that shows a person doing a yoga pose.

Wendy C. Ortiz@wendyortiz· May 27

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

Wendy C. Ortiz@wendyortiz· May 26

good morning

A tiny air plant with two purple shoots and some reddish spears in a small wooden rainbow-shaped planter that has yellow trim. In the background is a screened window, bougainvillea, and two blue houses.

Wendy C. Ortiz@wendyortiz· May 26

This beauty

A Madagascar palm looking great, with some white flowers on top. Blue sky, some desert landscaping, and a turquoise metal door. Mountain in the near distance.

Wendy C. Ortiz@wendyortiz· May 21

Time for some cat

A close-up of a sleeping tuxedo cat with one white paw in foreground, her head resting on it, and a white back leg in the background. She lies on a white blanket.

Wendy C. Ortiz@wendyortiz· May 15

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.