I’m presenting “The Evolution of Merlyna’s a Critical Monkey’s Intellectual Freedom” (bottom) 
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It was part of my last public lecture which basically attempted to provide an alternative imagination of possible career/life pathways. It’s my take vis-a-vis a (valid) critic of the state of intellectual freedom in academia by a brilliant Jorge Cham/PhD comic in 2011 (top). I think Cham’s is on point, but luckily his comic doesn’t apply to me.
~ eh, ini beneran lho dari slide kuliah umumku ~
I believe in (trying my best in) being curious, having fun, and staying critical. Also “naughty” — and becoming naughtier as I get older 
. And never stop to be really bothered by injustice–hey, a critical monkey can be really angry, too 
. No, never follow the “money” or the “safest” pathway. No, it’s not easy or smooth; sometimes you fail and/or people/institutions failed you, but speaking for myself and myself alone, I never and will never regret this choice. FYI, I am one of the lucky ones who survived academia and became a tenured professor several years ago by fully exercising my own freedom, doing research that I believed in. I hope to swing up-side-down while holding a banana when I am an emerita professor (if I ever become one someday) and grin satisfactorily when I RIP 
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~ aku katanya kelakuan mirip monyet, tapi ngga suka pisang sih ~
I made an initial drawing, then my talented artist-friend Rivi Rian 
decorated it with beautiful viney leaves.
p.s. some grad students who took my class probably had seen this critical monkey appeared in their assignments 
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