What This Blog Is, and What It’s Not

I’ve spent much of my personal and professional life thinking deeply about communication: how it works, who gets heard, and what is left unsaid. I’ve also spent years unpacking systems of inequity and misrepresentation, especially where race, gender, class, sexuality and other identities intersect.

This blog is where I hope to bring all of that together.

It’s a space for reflection, critique, and storytelling. A space to pull apart the words we use — and the systems we’ve inherited — and ask: Who does this serve? Who does it silence? What might we build instead?

I have not created this space to perform expertise. I’m here to share what I’ve seen, learned, questioned, and unlearned. I suspect some posts might read like essays and others will feel more like conversations. I’ll draw from classrooms, communities, books, headlines, and lived experiences to explore race, equity, media, representation, and what it means to belong.

This blog will likely be as diverse as my interests so it feels hard to sum that all up here. But, I know what this blog is not:

  • It’s not neutral, and that’s intentional.
  • It’s not a polished lecture, but rather a living conversation.
  • It’s not trying to go viral, but it is trying to get deep.

If you’re looking for a space that honors complexity, centers marginalized voices and isn’t afraid to ask (and answer) hard questions…Welcome! I’m glad you’re here.

Picture of Elizabeth R. Ortiz, Ph.D.

Elizabeth R. Ortiz, Ph.D.

Media Scholar, Educator & Speaker on a mission to use media literacy as a tool for equity, empowerment, and justice.

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