Melek Ortabasi
@mortabasi.bsky.social
Mother, scholar, voter. Unsinkable. Expertise in World lit, Japanese lit, children’s lit, translation studies, and general saltiness. Contributor to @roganslist.bsky.social since 2017 🤯
Pinned
Melek Ortabasi
@mortabasi.bsky.social
· Dec 12
Mentoring in Meiji: Tsubouchi Shôyô and Translations of Children’s Literature
YouTube video by Trinity Centre for Literary & Cultural Translation
www.youtube.com
I'm sure everyone is dying to watch my recent and scintillating presentation on Tsubouchi Shōyō. Don't walk, RUN to this link, kindly posted by the folks at @tcddublin.bsky.social. Lots of other talks posted there too! #translation #kidlit
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4idw...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4idw...
Reposted by Melek Ortabasi
Bloomberg says we've spent $3B on Trump's invasion of Venezuela.
Which is 6X more than the cancer, Alzheimer, diabetes, and heart disease cures they've cut to pay for it.
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Which is 6X more than the cancer, Alzheimer, diabetes, and heart disease cures they've cut to pay for it.
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Trump's Caribbean Surge Nears $3 Billion Price Tag So Far
The operations around Venezuela that eventually led to the capture of its president pulled in nearly a fifth of the US Navy’s surface fleet at a cost of more than $20 million a day.
www.bloomberg.com
February 17, 2026 at 11:26 PM
Bloomberg says we've spent $3B on Trump's invasion of Venezuela.
Which is 6X more than the cancer, Alzheimer, diabetes, and heart disease cures they've cut to pay for it.
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Which is 6X more than the cancer, Alzheimer, diabetes, and heart disease cures they've cut to pay for it.
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Reposted by Melek Ortabasi
Excited that Palantir got protested out of Denver? That didn’t happen by accident. It happened b/c people organized
If you want to be part of the next fight, join DSA Denver, one of the groups that helped lead the protests and organizing!
A better society is possible.
denverdsa.org/join
If you want to be part of the next fight, join DSA Denver, one of the groups that helped lead the protests and organizing!
A better society is possible.
denverdsa.org/join
February 18, 2026 at 3:34 AM
Excited that Palantir got protested out of Denver? That didn’t happen by accident. It happened b/c people organized
If you want to be part of the next fight, join DSA Denver, one of the groups that helped lead the protests and organizing!
A better society is possible.
denverdsa.org/join
If you want to be part of the next fight, join DSA Denver, one of the groups that helped lead the protests and organizing!
A better society is possible.
denverdsa.org/join
Reposted by Melek Ortabasi
This was a great conversation - @matthew.flux.community really gets it. Please take a look!
Financially struggling Americans have no interest in participating in a political system that’s failed them
Sociologist @daniellaurison.bsky.social discusses new research on why many low-income don't vote
Sociologist @daniellaurison.bsky.social discusses new research on why many low-income don't vote
Financially struggling Americans have no interest in participating in a political system that’s failed them
Sociologist Daniel Laurison discusses new research on low-income non-voters
plus.flux.community
February 18, 2026 at 12:24 AM
This was a great conversation - @matthew.flux.community really gets it. Please take a look!
Reposted by Melek Ortabasi
Congratulations to Professor Peter Hall, whose book, "Gateways to Trade", was just published yesterday. He co-wrote the text with Dorval Brunelle, Claudia De Fuentes, and Jean Michel Montsion.
Learn more: www.ubcpress.ca/gateways-to-...
#sfuurb @sfufass.bsky.social
Learn more: www.ubcpress.ca/gateways-to-...
#sfuurb @sfufass.bsky.social
February 17, 2026 at 6:32 PM
Congratulations to Professor Peter Hall, whose book, "Gateways to Trade", was just published yesterday. He co-wrote the text with Dorval Brunelle, Claudia De Fuentes, and Jean Michel Montsion.
Learn more: www.ubcpress.ca/gateways-to-...
#sfuurb @sfufass.bsky.social
Learn more: www.ubcpress.ca/gateways-to-...
#sfuurb @sfufass.bsky.social
Reposted by Melek Ortabasi
Thing is, even if basket-weaving courses were the problem (they are not), it still makes zero sense to make it way more expensive for poor students to take them, but leave net prices basically intact for wealthier students to do so.
Zero sense, that is, until you remember Ford hates poor people.
Zero sense, that is, until you remember Ford hates poor people.
“You’re picking basket-weaving courses, and there’s not too many baskets being sold out there.” The hell?? www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
Ford tells students to not pick 'basket-weaving courses' in wake of OSAP cuts | CBC News
Premier Doug Ford had choice words for students expressing concerns over cuts to OSAP grants Tuesday, telling them to "not pick basket-weaving courses" and to invest in education that gives students i...
www.cbc.ca
February 17, 2026 at 10:16 PM
Thing is, even if basket-weaving courses were the problem (they are not), it still makes zero sense to make it way more expensive for poor students to take them, but leave net prices basically intact for wealthier students to do so.
Zero sense, that is, until you remember Ford hates poor people.
Zero sense, that is, until you remember Ford hates poor people.
For the heck of it, here’s what I made for dinner: pickled daikon and cucumber, purple rice, and pork stir fry with eggplant and tofu skin
February 17, 2026 at 6:10 AM
For the heck of it, here’s what I made for dinner: pickled daikon and cucumber, purple rice, and pork stir fry with eggplant and tofu skin
Reposted by Melek Ortabasi
They KNOW what a hassle and expense it can be to attain your birth certificate.
They KNOW this is designed to suppress voters.
They KNOW that women are more likely to vote for democrats.
They KNOW this is designed to suppress voters.
They KNOW that women are more likely to vote for democrats.
February 16, 2026 at 10:24 PM
They KNOW what a hassle and expense it can be to attain your birth certificate.
They KNOW this is designed to suppress voters.
They KNOW that women are more likely to vote for democrats.
They KNOW this is designed to suppress voters.
They KNOW that women are more likely to vote for democrats.
I am a very simple creature in certain respects. I want these so bad. For obvious reasons 😭
February 17, 2026 at 12:04 AM
I am a very simple creature in certain respects. I want these so bad. For obvious reasons 😭
Reposted by Melek Ortabasi
A child dying of cancer spent her final days fighting to free her wrongfully detained father from ICE custody.
This comes just weeks after a mother from Maryland was denied the right to be at her son’s side as he died from cancer.
Not one dime for this cruelty.
www.cbsnews.com/amp/chicago/...
This comes just weeks after a mother from Maryland was denied the right to be at her son’s side as he died from cancer.
Not one dime for this cruelty.
www.cbsnews.com/amp/chicago/...
Ofelia Torres, teen who fought to have her father released from ICE custody, dies from rare cancer
Ofelia Torres, 16, died on Friday from Stage 4 alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare and aggressive form of cancer, her father's lawyer confirmed.
www.cbsnews.com
February 15, 2026 at 9:20 PM
A child dying of cancer spent her final days fighting to free her wrongfully detained father from ICE custody.
This comes just weeks after a mother from Maryland was denied the right to be at her son’s side as he died from cancer.
Not one dime for this cruelty.
www.cbsnews.com/amp/chicago/...
This comes just weeks after a mother from Maryland was denied the right to be at her son’s side as he died from cancer.
Not one dime for this cruelty.
www.cbsnews.com/amp/chicago/...
I can’t really do anything but crochet in a straight line but the blanket thing I’ve been working on one row at a time is finally COMPLETED and now with its rightful owner
February 16, 2026 at 9:56 PM
I can’t really do anything but crochet in a straight line but the blanket thing I’ve been working on one row at a time is finally COMPLETED and now with its rightful owner
Reposted by Melek Ortabasi
ProPublica received eight handwritten letters from children who have been held at the detention center that 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos was recently released from.
We'll let their words speak for themselves.
We'll let their words speak for themselves.
“I Have Been Here Too Long”: Read Letters from the Children Detained at ICE’s Dilley Facility
Hundreds of children are currently being held with their parents at an immigration detention center in Dilley, Texas. In letters and drawings, eight kids convey the pain of feeling trapped with no end...
www.propublica.org
February 16, 2026 at 2:00 AM
ProPublica received eight handwritten letters from children who have been held at the detention center that 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos was recently released from.
We'll let their words speak for themselves.
We'll let their words speak for themselves.
Reposted by Melek Ortabasi
We should not fund a Department of Homeland Security that terrorizes children and forces them to spend their dying days trying to see their father one last time.
February 16, 2026 at 6:00 PM
We should not fund a Department of Homeland Security that terrorizes children and forces them to spend their dying days trying to see their father one last time.
Reposted by Melek Ortabasi
I love this review! Grace is a brilliant scholar of contemporary women's literature in Japanese, so I was so excited that she turned her attention to Yamamoto 🥰
“Fumio Yamamoto’s understated stories are a reminder that the English-speaking world is only just beginning to encounter the diverse range of feminist literary worlds long existing in Japan.” – Grace Ting
worldliteraturetoday.org/2026/january...
worldliteraturetoday.org/2026/january...
February 16, 2026 at 2:56 PM
I love this review! Grace is a brilliant scholar of contemporary women's literature in Japanese, so I was so excited that she turned her attention to Yamamoto 🥰
With Oma on the seawall 💜
February 16, 2026 at 4:25 AM
With Oma on the seawall 💜
Reposted by Melek Ortabasi
I recently visited Maria in the Tacoma detention center. She is a loving mom, pays her taxes, and has no criminal history -- not even a parking ticket. She deserves to come home to her two children and her husband, who is recovering from surgery. I will not stop fighting until she is home.
Oregon woman headed to buy socks for teen son. She’s now stuck in ICE detention
U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici has pushed ICE to release Maria Trinidad Loya Medina so she can care for her seriously ill husband and their two children. Medina has lived in the U.S. for more than 20 year...
www.oregonlive.com
February 15, 2026 at 5:04 AM
I recently visited Maria in the Tacoma detention center. She is a loving mom, pays her taxes, and has no criminal history -- not even a parking ticket. She deserves to come home to her two children and her husband, who is recovering from surgery. I will not stop fighting until she is home.
Reposted by Melek Ortabasi
After taking 7 years to write and draw, my new graphic novel, Speaking in Pictures, about language, cognition, comics, and visual communication is out in less than a week! At long last! www.visuallanguagelab.com/sip
February 13, 2026 at 11:10 AM
After taking 7 years to write and draw, my new graphic novel, Speaking in Pictures, about language, cognition, comics, and visual communication is out in less than a week! At long last! www.visuallanguagelab.com/sip
My mom was my Valentine today and I took her out to dinner 💕 (and yes, that IS Bruno Feldeisen and yes he DID cook for us 😌)
February 15, 2026 at 4:35 AM
My mom was my Valentine today and I took her out to dinner 💕 (and yes, that IS Bruno Feldeisen and yes he DID cook for us 😌)
One GOAT meets another
February 14, 2026 at 11:07 PM
One GOAT meets another
Reposted by Melek Ortabasi
The public deserves a clear explanation for the FBI’s unprecedented raid of Fulton County’s election offices. And we should all demand an end to the Trump administration’s campaign to interfere with elections.
bit.ly/45KDIKw
bit.ly/45KDIKw
Trump Administration Escalates Election Meddling by Seizing 2020 Voting Records in Georgia
All who care about election integrity should demand answers about the FBI’s unprecedented raid of Fulton County election offices.
www.brennancenter.org
February 14, 2026 at 8:14 PM
The public deserves a clear explanation for the FBI’s unprecedented raid of Fulton County’s election offices. And we should all demand an end to the Trump administration’s campaign to interfere with elections.
bit.ly/45KDIKw
bit.ly/45KDIKw
Reposted by Melek Ortabasi
“This is a grave threat to the educational liberty of students, faculty, staff + the people of Texas and an attempt to appease the state’s right-wing elected officials and Board of Regents,” leaders for the TX conference of the American Association of University Professors wrote.
UT Austin Folds Gender, Ethnic Studies Into Single Department
The University of Texas at Austin will fold its gender studies and ethnic studies programs into a new department this September, The Austin American-Statesman reported. The newly established Departmen...
www.insidehighered.com
February 14, 2026 at 3:55 AM
“This is a grave threat to the educational liberty of students, faculty, staff + the people of Texas and an attempt to appease the state’s right-wing elected officials and Board of Regents,” leaders for the TX conference of the American Association of University Professors wrote.
Reposted by Melek Ortabasi
NEW: Denver appears to be breaking ties with Flock, asking other companies to come run the city's network of surveillance cameras
February 14, 2026 at 3:34 AM
NEW: Denver appears to be breaking ties with Flock, asking other companies to come run the city's network of surveillance cameras
Protest @hootsuite.com until they get the message that we want them to drop their ICE contract @democracyrisingnow.bsky.social
February 14, 2026 at 12:44 AM
Protest @hootsuite.com until they get the message that we want them to drop their ICE contract @democracyrisingnow.bsky.social