Matt Ortile
Matt Ortile: A Life of Storytelling and Connection
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Full Name and Common Aliases
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Matt Ortile is a Filipino-American writer, editor, and cultural critic. He is commonly known for his insightful and engaging essays on love, relationships, identity, and culture.
Birth and Death Dates
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Born in 1989, Matt Ortile's life and work are still unfolding, making him an active and influential voice in contemporary literature.
Nationality and Profession(s)
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Ortile holds dual citizenship of the Philippines and the United States. He is a writer, editor, and cultural critic by profession, with a passion for storytelling that transcends his professional roles.
Early Life and Background
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Growing up in the Philippines and later moving to the United States, Ortile's experiences as an immigrant and a person of color have significantly shaped his writing and perspectives. His early life was marked by a love for words and stories, which he attributes to his parents' influence and encouragement.
Major Accomplishments
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Ortile has made significant strides in his career as a writer and editor. He is the founder and editor-in-chief of The Rumpus, an online literary magazine that showcases diverse voices and perspectives. His work has been featured in various publications, including _The New Yorker_, _The Paris Review_, and _Tin House_. Ortile has also received several awards for his writing, including a Pushcart Prize.
Notable Works or Actions
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One of Ortile's most notable works is his essay collection "A Faithful Existence," which explores themes of love, relationships, and identity. This book has been widely praised for its nuanced and thoughtful portrayal of Filipino-American experiences. Additionally, Ortile has been an advocate for diversity and inclusion in the literary world, using his platform to amplify marginalized voices and promote equity.
Impact and Legacy
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Ortile's work has had a profound impact on readers and writers alike. His essays have resonated with people from diverse backgrounds, who appreciate his unflinching exploration of complex emotions and experiences. As an editor and publisher, Ortile continues to shape the literary landscape by championing underrepresented voices and perspectives.
Why They Are Widely Quoted or Remembered
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Ortile's unique voice and perspective have made him a sought-after commentator on love, relationships, identity, and culture. His essays are widely quoted for their insight, empathy, and nuance. Readers and writers remember Ortile for his ability to craft stories that feel both deeply personal and universally relatable. As a cultural critic, he continues to shape the conversation around diversity, inclusion, and representation in literature.
Through his writing, editing, and advocacy, Matt Ortile has left an indelible mark on the literary world. His commitment to storytelling, connection, and inclusivity ensures that his work will continue to resonate with readers for years to come.
Quotes by Matt Ortile
Matt Ortile's insights on:
In this schema, as in today's, your lot in life is determined by the circumstances of your birth, by the color of your skin. So the current use of 'mestizo' isn't so far off from the original...To dismiss the world's current popular usage is to deny the racism, classism, and colorism in this country's past, as well as their continued prevalence today.
Immigrants and people of color are forged in such fires, shaped by heat and pressure. But in my four years at Vassar, I was chosen to be privileged. As a model student and Asian American, I never risked getting burned.
The term 'mestizo,' in the Philippines today, refers to mixed race filipinos, often those who have a white parent. the term, and the beauty standards that follow, were passed down to us over three centuries of Spanish colonization. Mestizos dominate the media landscape...In short, Filipinos, myself included, look to lightness to know what to desire.
Our clothing, our bodies, and even our names were reframed as inferior to those of our colonizers.
As Las Islas Filipinas, Spain placed us into castes based on how Spanish one's blood was, colorism by DNA. It's why Filipino pop culture today still puts light-skinned celebrities on a pedestal (just look at our Miss Universe winners.)
Colonization works by cutting off peoples from their own heritage-be it traditions or languages, orthographies or names...They taught us Spanish for the same reason Americans taught us English: to homogenize colonial subjects under one tongue, one fist. ("You're in America," we're told-not only as immigrants to the US but as erstwhile property of the American empire. "Speak English.")
Unlearning the colonialism I was taught, the stories I've been told and I've told myself, is a daily practice, like learning a new language. You learn it by watching films, listening to the radio, reading books. Your ear gets attuned to it. You pick up the vocabulary, learn the system's grammar and mechanics. From there, you can understand and deconstruct it. Sure, learning a language is a solo task, but it helps to have conversation partners.
To counter that 'all lives matter' is to dismiss the specificity of antiblack racism, how the gradations of violence inflicted on nonwhite bodies is dependent on the darkness or lightness of our skin.
Loneliness can feel like what's private has been made public, as if your belly button has come undone and your liver, lungs, and beating heart have spilled onto the sidewalk.