Informator uniwersytecki

Academic life in images

As every November (see Mental stimulations & Awareness stress), I celebrate the dia de muertos (day of the dead) with some drawings. According to Mexican tradition, we are reunited, for one day a year, with those who already departed for remembrance of the good old times. It is also a day when we can make fun of the Dead itself.

You might be wondering why to celebrate dead. Well, as the Mexican writer and poet Octavio Paz wrote:
The cult of life, if it is truly profound and total, is also the cult of death. The two are inseparable. A civilization that denies death ends up denying life.

Since the skeletons are excellent material to describe the situations of the living. Here, a pictogram of academic life:

1) collaborator / funding agency / databases / scientific community / repositories / friendly competitor / constructive critic (reviewer) / administrative support

2) enemy / unfair competitor / time / reduced funds / academic ladder / performance evaluations

3) a lowlife masquerading as friend or collaborator / reviewer #3 / slackers / nepotist & cronyism

4) bureaucracy / Ministry of mumpsimi / administration & regulations / undedicated students and scientists