Thoughts

Five years of sharing what I have been learning

Recently, I found myself thinking about what I am going to do after my PhD. At first, I treated it as a practical problem to solve. Should I stay in academia?

I grew up in a place where dreams were not something people chased. They were something people learned to live without. My childhood was shaped by routines that revolved around staying afloat, keeping up in school, and helping my family manage whatever came next.

For years, discussions about mangrove restoration along the Indonesian coastline have been guided more by intuition than investigation. We hear familiar claims repeated almost with ritual certainty: mangroves protect our villages, guard our shores, and must be planted everywhere before coastal damage becomes irreversible.

Setiap kali ada pembahasan soal literasi, kita sering disuguhi kalimat klise yang menyebuth bahwa minat baca orang Indonesia itu rendah. Narasi ini berulang kali muncul, kadang sampai ada yang menyebut peringkat 60 dari 61 dunia.

Di banyak organisasi sosial dan komunitas pendidikan, kata “pengabdian” sering banget diangkat sebagai nilai utama. Kesan yang muncul itu positif, penuh semangat kebaikan, dan bikin kita pengen ikut terlibat. Tapi kenyataannya, kata ini juga sering dipakai buat nutupin sesuatu yang gak sehat, yaitu kerja keras tanpa penghargaan yang layak.

So here’s something that’s been bugging me for a while. I grew up in Indonesia, and like many of us, I got used to events nwver starting on time. Family gatherings, meetings, hangouts with friends, there’s almost always a delay.

Small talk is a common social practice that helps us break the ice, connect with others, and create a sense of familiarity. It serves as a tool to establish deeper conversation, especially in social settings or when meeting new people.

Have you ever bought cheap things, but the goods did not last long, then it becomes easily damaged and eventually you have to buy new things again? I’ve been there, done that.