Jacinta Ortiz- Dominican ancestry; Mia Vasquez-Rivera's beloved English teacher, Mrs. Ortiz is a very kindly woman with a fiery spirit whom is often found in a good mood, expressing passion for the subject that she teaches and going great lengths to keep her students motivated in her course. She is also known to have a warm, enthusiastic demeanor that usually tends to lighten up the mood inside of her classroom. Generally level-headed and sympathetic to her students, she often chooses to advise them earnestly with firm guidance. She is openly bisexual and is currently committed to her wife Keishnel Sanchez, with whom she had daughter named Willow through artificial insemination, as well as a son named Hunter. Mrs. Ortiz was actually born in Connecticut but came from a tough, abusive upbringing in a low-income household in the Bronx, leading her to consider herself a self-made woman. She was often misunderstood as a child due to her unusual interests, such as her love of fantasy novels and comic books, which her mother openly disapproved of. She motivated herself to want to belong to and achieve something bigger than herself by using her love of English literature to teach and inspire a younger generation. A graduate of Barnard College, she is just and fair in terms of educating her pupils and grading their assignments and often encourages a form of tough love to push her students to maximize their potential in their work. Mrs. Ortiz absolutely adores Mia and took her under her wing during her freshman year of high school, as she was experiencing a difficult time of transition. She saw potential in her writing after noticing her exceptional skills when crafting a personal narrative that was assigned for each student. She enjoys students who are intellectually curious and bright, encouraging a love of learning in the adolescents she teaches, and she has also advocated for the usage of braille.
She is also surprisingly fond of dark humor and enjoys charming her students with her sharp wit, living by the motto that "you are who you think you are". Artsy, creative, and soulful, Mrs. Ortiz is a fan of Rent and has formidable skills when it comes to poetry, with dreams of working as a writer in the city and being a playwright. She hopes to have one of her pieces produced for Broadway, as she has many Gershwin posters in her office and loves Masterpiece Theatre. She was previously married to Gage, a white man who taught philosophy at a university, but divorced him due to differing passions, claiming that "she wanted her own freedom". For a time, she had been content as a single, uncommitted woman who dated men fleetingly and was viewed as being independent and self-sufficient. Mrs. Ortiz tends to wear peplum tops, pairing them with loose or wide-leg denim and tailored trousers, although she used to have shutter shades and overly tattered low-rise jeans. Her best friend is Itzel, a librarian of Mexican and Filipino descent who bonded with her over shared trends like fake mustaches and glasses, Limewire music downloads, and avocado toast. She is rather close to her husband, Ignacio, an art director from Williamsburg with Mexican and Dominican ancestry, and their son, Earl, who has Down syndrome and is nicknamed "Gordito". She is also a strong advocate for supporting young people with disabilities and regularly posts educational videos on YouTube encouraging others to be more accepting of them. Mrs. Ortiz previously received death threats as a teenager when posting fan art innocently "shipping" and pairing off different characters romantically from her favorite cartoon series'. She is critical of doggospeak and over-abbreviating, but she used AIM and MySpace and regularly contributed to Tumblr, where she found rabid fans who disapproved of her views.
She struggled with binge-drinking as well during a period in which she fell into a vicious pattern of self-loathing and self-victimization following a bad breakup that was only resolved once she received treatment. Her younger half-brother Hidalgo, who is Chinese-Dominican and resides in Washington Heights is extremely protective of her and shows concern for her well-being due to her intense past, although she insists that is capable of taking care of herself on her own. A notable attribute of Mrs. Ortiz is her optimism and zest for life, which many of her family and friends find contagious, as she is seldom seen without a smile on her face. She is very compassionate and understanding and tries to be receptive to those around her, causing her to be perceived as wise, as well as a good listener and confidant. She loves to travel and is very interested in visiting Lisbon one day, as well as the city of Prague, which she considers to be truly magical. She also tends to have a goofy sense of humor at times and is seen as laidback and relaxed during her encounters, seeing the best in others and making the most of every moment. Mrs. Ortiz loves to eat mangu with "los tres golpes", dulce de lechosa, morcilla, and rum cake, although she also admits that she can never resist fast food either and regularly drives through McDonald's to order an ice cream Sundae and a Big Mac. She similarly has a special fondness for Jazz music and is a fan of various music artists, such Norah Jones, Joss Stone, and Sarah McLachlan. She takes solidcore classes in her spare time along with Keishnel and will sometimes plan a backyard picnic for the two of them after work if the weather is good enough. She still keeps a necklace with the initial of her first name that was given to her by her father before he passed away from a brain hemorrhage when she was 6 years old.
A New York native, Mrs. Ortiz had never visited the Dominican Republic as a child, making her first trip to her parents' homeland when she was 16 years old. She vividly remembers the beautiful beaches in Punta Cana and plans to one day own property in a coastal city, where she would like to settle down with her wife in order to raise her family. Her brother likes surfing in the summer but does not consider himself to be the type of person who naturally tans, as he inherited a slightly fairer complexion. She enjoys picking out classic stories from her book club, such as Paddington and Where the Wild Things Are so that she can read them to her young children. Mrs. Ortiz once exchanged a red flannel nightgown with a high neck and a white ruffle on the collar and cuffs, which her brother got her from Nordstrom, for a pair of red silk pajamas. Her wife has long, naturally black hair in a brunette balayage, dark, sultry eyes, high cheekbones, a medium complexion, and a piercing on her lower lip. A "Nuyorican", she sometimes wears gray contacts and used to work part-time as a server at a local Thai restaurant while pursuing her master's in counseling at Fordham University. The two live in a historic row house with their children and two dogs, a bullmastiff named River and poodle named Barbie, as well as a "big fat cat" named Cashew. Mrs. Ortiz admits that she sometimes has trouble looking before she leaps, although she always manages to somehow land on her feet. Regardless, she was shown to have a sense of responsibility that was surprisingly mature for someone her age, as she freely acknowledged that she was responsible for her own actions. It is indicated that many of her faults come from her not knowing how to express her negative emotions in healthy ways, to the point where she tries hiding them instead of being open about them.
She is also clever, intuitive, and a quick thinker, capable of coming up with solutions to problems on the fly, but if she has too much on her mind, she can be oblivious to things, such as the principal's romantic feelings for her. Mrs. Ortiz also likes to volunteer and help out in her community in her spare time, engaging in upcycling in order to benefit the environment in her own way. She has a rooftop garden that she tends to, watering her flowers regularly and planting a series of sunflowers in order to bring positive vibes to her home. Despite her past, she has since managed to forgive and reconcile with her mother, visiting her periodically at the nursing home and bringing her photo albums to help trigger her memories. She also seems to have a wide circle of friends and is seen as being extroverted, being a people person who likes to share quality conversation even with strangers. Mrs. Ortiz sometimes tends to utter phrases like "I did a thing" or talk in Spanish whenever she finds herself experiencing certain bouts of emotion, and she has a vibrator in a little box. She is determined to be who she wants to be regardless of the opposition she receives, although her remarkably headstrong personality has landed her in trouble on a number of occasions. Despite this, she can be very intelligent, as well as surprisingly introspective when she allows herself the room to breathe. She is exceptionally brave as well, frequently risking her career security and confronting intense institutional backlash to protect others, especially her students and those she loves. Another factor that weighs heavily on Mrs. Ortiz mind is the loss of her father, whom she still continues to grieve for years after his passing. It has also been implied that much of her creativity, eccentricity, optimism, and vivid imagination are the final gifts her father gave her, which she uses as a means of coping with his loss.
Her devotion to her loved ones serves as her greatest weakness, as she is constantly placing their burdens on her shoulders and blaming herself whenever she believes that her actions have hurt them. She becomes more self-possessed as she ages however and uses her past as a means of growth, inspiring her to engage on her endless quest to understand others and be understood. Mrs. Ortiz personality begins to heal following a heart-to-heart talk with her mother, in which she apologized to her for attempting to change her into someone she wasn't and voiced her acceptance for who her truly is. She later becomes somewhat of an expert on global subcultures, even though her armchair theories about people are often hilariously off-mark. This has led her to become very welcoming towards newcomers since she can easily understand and empathize with people in the same situation as herself. Despite waiting her whole life for her "Big Break", she is ultimately promoted to the district board, allowing her to supervise all the other English teachers. Mrs. Ortiz has dark brown eyes and a curvy figure, along with kinky-curly dark brown hair that reaches her upper back and is often dyed a chocolate brown shade, although she formerly kept it short. She has a pecan-tan complexion and normally wears business casual attire while teaching at the school, in addition to having noticeably high cheekbones, slightly curved eyebrows, and a heart-shaped face that tapers to a pointed chin. Although she previously relaxed her hair to fit in, she now chooses to let her hair curl in its natural state, and her Halloween costume is a long gown made of the want-ads section. She leaves a meaningful message in Mia's yearbook shortly before she graduates from high school urging her to shoot for her dreams and embrace her unique talents. ENFP 7w6
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What's in a Name?
De TodoThese are the lives and stories of a series of young people and their experiences as they mature and evolve in the outskirts of Valley Stream, Long Island. Although each comes from a distinctive background and place in life, they learn about the fab...
