Last week we learned that James and the Pick Axe gang had stolen grave goods from a 2,000 year old American Indian grave site. The materials from this site are protect by both federal and tribal legislation. the grave goods consisted of pottery, projectile points, and preserved cloth fragments! The items of cultural heritage are irreplaceable and now in possession of the criminal masterminds. James and the Pick Axe gang are planning to resell these items to people who do not understand the laws concerning cultural heritage items.
Archaeologist and political activist Dr. Allen took to the streets to track down these criminals! As he was doing online research trying to find the bandits he came across a craigslist ad that listed some of the many items stolen. He contacted the men who were selling the items and arranged to meet them at a remote warehouse.
Dr. Allen had finally found the materials he had been searching for, but he was powerless to detain the bandits without help from the local authorities. He decided to wait in the shadows and document the items, so that he may file an official report to the police. From afar he took videos and photographs to document evidence of their criminal activity. The material was stored in a large safe centered in a warehouse. One bright light that hung from the ceiling was concentrated on the safe. Four guards circled the safe constantly. They were big men with tough looking exteriors. One of the men wore a ragged and stained shirt. He face was covered by a black eye patch and his facial expression was fixed in an angered position and another sported a large scar from his left temple down to his ear lobe. The Pick Axe gang was a nearly bunch of dudes!
Dr. Allen presented the evidence to official and the next day they launched an investigation to recover the stolen items. A hoard of public officials, news anchors, archaeologist and supporting citizens showed up to the warehouse the following day. The grave goods were recovered and returned to the rightful owners!
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| Hanuman and Sita |
Author’s Note: This story is based on the assemblage of stories, but mostly The Ashoka Grove story. This story is who Hanuman, the monkey king, and how he found and rescued Sita in Lanka. It begins with Hanuman going to Lanka in search of Sita, Rama’s wife. After searching he finally finds her at her captor Ravana’s palace. She had been hidden away outside in his palace surrounded and guarded by demons. Humana hides in the shadows and watches as scary looking demons guard her religiously. Eventually, Hanuman is able to get close enough to Sita to rescue her and free her from Ravana’s capture, but Sita does not believe Hanuman is there to save her at first. Sita thought Hanuman is just a ploy by Ravana to try to convince her to marry Ravana. After much conviencing Hanuman is able to successfully release Sita from her captor and return her to her husband. While escaping Hanuman grows as large as a mountain and sets all of Lanka on fire! In my story I used the grave goods, inanimate material of great importance culturally, to represent Sita and the robber to represent Ravana. The archaeologist could be representative as Rama or Hanuman. I chose to use the story of archaeologist because it is my profession and a problem that is very close to me. I also wanted to type my name as Dr. Allen (fictional, but not for long).
This was a very interesting re-imagination of the original story. The setting is very unique, and I think using the archaeological materials to stand in for Sita was a smart thing to do. As I was reading through it, I saw a couple of typos, so you might want to consider doing a more thorough proofreading because it would really help make the story easier to read. I liked that you included a very clear moral and added in a lot about the cultural importance of archaeological materials, but I think there were places where it might have hindered the story more than helped it; it was kinda hard to see the underlying tale about Hanuman and Sita. Working in the message is very important to you, so I don’t think you should take it out, but you could make it a bit more subtle. Inserting yourself into the story was a fun little touch.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your personal play on some of the Indian Epic stories that we have read. I absolutely love reading these stories in a more modern way, and in some cases, a totally different perspective on the stories. I liked the way you progressed through the story and hid characters in the story through symbols (such as Sita). I will say that I did have some issues with the assignment, however. The first is a few typos, such as the word “nearly” instead of what I expect you meant as “gnarly”. Second, the layout you chose for your blog, although very appealing, does not showcase your links very well. I only noticed where they were when I happened to scroll over the top of one and it changed colors. Overall I enjoyed reading your piece and I look forward to many more adventures of “Superheroes and the Stolen Goods”.
ReplyDeleteThis story was an interesting take on the Ashoka Grove story. I liked how you modernized this story and gave it an archeological spin. I also like how the story was very descriptive and how everything was clearly explained. One thing that bothered me was that spelling and grammar errors were present and it detracted from the reading. Overall, it was a good story with unique spin.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your story. I like how you changed the story from the search for Sita to the search of grave goods and gave it the archeological theme. I also liked the fact that you added yourself into the story line. Your story flowed together very well and it was told in a unique style. Overall, I think you did a really good job.
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