BIOGRAPHICAL
INFORMATION - Wendy Ortiz
BIOGRAPHICAL
INFORMATION - Wendy Ortiz
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Born in the San Fernando Valley, CA, I've been writing from the time I was six years old. My first story was a ghost story. I made my first zine in the second grade. My 400 page novel, written between the ages of twelve and fourteen, is to date, incomplete.
After years of private school and Catholic school, I completely ignored the "scholarly" advice that writing was not a viable choice, that it should remain a hobby. Instead, I enrolled in a creative writing class at my community college and won an award. Not my first award for writing, but the one that made me go "Hmmmm......" I took my second creative writing class at Evergreen. Not a huge life-changing event, but one that propelled me further into the world of writing with fellow writers. I graduated from TESC in 1995, with a BA in, of all things, political economy. At least that was the lens through which much of my work at TESC was filtered. Currently, I am writing zines and journalistic pieces. My zines are about my life experiences. My hope is that the zines will be useful to young women making choices - sticky choices that women of my generation and younger confront more and more. These zines are not cute. Neither is my poetry.
My journalistic journey is not my favorite path, but has taught me about article-writing, and furthers my revolutionary agenda in itty-bitty ways.
I work in the Evergreen library, a place where I spent much time in the two years I spent studying at TESC. Working part-time provides me with time to write and read voraciously. I'm also a community activist with lots of projects on my plate. I consider Sherman Alexie and Ana Castillo my dream mentors. Sandra Cisneros is the imaginary mentor and muse who looks over my shoulder when I write about things that make me wanna run away from the page. Frida Kahlo, Annie Sprinkle, and Coco Fusco serve as my risk-taking divas, the ones that dare me to write it or perform it. Lois-Ann Yamanaka inspires me to consider the good, the bad, the ugly and love 'em all passionately. I am hopeless when it comes to classic authors, though I reread "A Moveable Feast" (Hemingway) every year! And count me among feminists that actually like (some of) Charles Bukowski's stuff.
I'm an evolving writer. I'd like to think that some of these words will change as my life progresses. Certainly the way I express my (auto)biography will change. I hope to spark the interest of many along the way. Ideally: catch fire in other people's heads.
A fresh-out-of-L.A. community-college chick hits the road. She lands in Olympia, WA. Trees? What are trees? The moss is incredible and so is her appetite for learning.
Political economy and social change stole the show for a while. To get back to her creative roots, she began a fiction-writing class. Later there was film theory, American Sign Language, research in Latina literature, Spanish, and the wordy "political economy of public libraries in the U.S." Her B.A., granted in the summer of '95, was mighty crafty. Mostly, though, college was the reprieve from working too much at low-paying jobs. She never had time for "student activities." (Was that when students ate? Slept? Studied?) Mostly, she went at a breakneck speed for the degree. Where is that darn thing, anyway? Evergreen challenged her to write in a place other than the city.
Completely out of her element, she was forced to breathe clean air and drink tasty water. The jury is out on whether or not that has improved her writing.
More often than not, she is kinda gleeful about her experiences at TESC. She met many loons, crazies and sweeties. They taught her a lot, and still do. Sorta like being in the city.