Week 11 Storytelling: Buddha and Archaeology

Once upon a time thee lived a graduate student that had just received their PhD in Anthropology. This PhD’s name was Buddha and he was so happy because he had just attained perfect knowledge. He was so happy that he wanted to tell the world so he did a live feed on Twitter for one whole week. The second week after his got his PhD Buddha wanted to travel the world with his new knowledge. The third week Buddha, PhD again did a live feed on Social Media, but this time on Facebook so he could reach even more people.

“Wow,” exclaimed an onlooker, “You are so brave for getting all this knowledge. You should go an be an archaeologist.

“No,” Buddha said, “First, I must teach everyone in the world about the knowledge of archaeology. I cannot go on to work full time as an archaeologist, because people will not know about this knowledge if I do not show them.”

Buddha set out on his adventure to educate the world about his knowledge, but he encountered some problems along the way.

First, he went to a small town in western Oklahoma. It was here that he discovered problem number one.

“People of this fine small town. Listen to my story as I tell you the truth about archaeology. Let me educate you on the wisdom I have to offer,” Buddha exclaimed.

Buddha’s words fell on death ears. The people of the small town were too busy doing their daily chores to listen to the words Buddha had to offer.

Archaeology Mammoth (Image Source)

“What am I going to do,” thought Buddha, “how am I going to get people to listen?”

Buddha moved to a larger city. He thought, “Maybe if people aren’t busy farming they will have time to listen.” Again Buddha, PhD attempted to have people listen.

“People of Dallas, I am here to tell you about my ultimate knowledge. Archaeology is awesome and has a lot to teach us about life,” but again the knowledge of Buddha fell on deaf ears as the people of Dallas could not afford to spend time to listening to crazy people on the side of the road.

Buddha went back to his alma mater, not educating anyone. He was sad in his heart, but he discovered that in his heart he was truly passionate about doing archaeology.

Authors Note:
I based this story off of the Life of Buddha. In the original story, buddha attains ultimate knowledge and finds himself unable to convince people of his teachings. He refuses to enter nirvana, in my story nirvana is being an archaeologist, until he persuades people of his teachings. In the end of the story he finally does convince two people of his teachings, but in my story I thought that modern people may have been less willing to hear the story of Buddha. So mine has a sadder ending.

Jessica’s Big Chance Storytelling Week 10

Curling Image (Source) 

It was the night of the big game and Jessica was excited to be with her friends. This was the last game of her college career! Jessica played for the University of Oklahoma's curling team (i’m not sure if we actually have one of those). Her teammates cheered her on as she stepped up to the starting line. In her head Jessica knew she would make or break the winning shot for the last game of the season. All of her teammates had already gone and she would have to do hers perfectly.

“Okay,” she thought to herself, “just be calm. Just be calm. It’s gonna be okay. You got this.”

Before she knew it she was standing at the end of the long iced runway looking down at the opposite end. Her knees began to shake. There was so much pressure on her to get this last shot. 

She took the starting position and was just about to release when a fan blew an airhorn. He grip slipped and the “puck” went in the other direction. They had lost the game. 

Afterwards, the team went to Fuzzy’s Taco Shop to celebrate the end of their season. Even if they didn’t win the game. Jessica felt awful for losing the game. 

On elf her team members came up behind her. “Hows it going?” He asked. 

“Fine.” She replied. 

“Oh, well good.” He said. 

“Look, I know I sucked tonight. You don’t have to rub it in.” She exclaimed.

“What are you talking about? You did fine tonight. We have all messed up before, no one blames you for not making that shot. 

Jessica thought for a moment. “So your not mad at me?” She asked. 

“No. You did your best that is all we can do, right?” He said. 

“Yeah.” I guess it is. 

Author’s Note: I am retelling the ending of the Mahabharata as Yudhisthira climbs the mountain to enter the gates of paradise. Yudhisthira explains that while coming up the mountain he brothers and wife fell into an abyss. Arjuna, the Twins and even Draupadi all gone. Now Yudhisthira and his dog are the only ones left and they wish to enter the gates of paradise. The voice that comes from the heavens tells Yudhisthira to leave his dog and he can enter paradise. Yudhisthira is outraged that he cannot bring this dog into paradise. A creature that had been through so much with him. Yudhisthira says he would rather stay in the freezing cold and die than go without him. The ultimate sacrifice. Finally Yudhisthira is told that the dog is a reincarnation of his father and he passed the test to enter into paradise, where he found his foes! He did not understand where his family was led. Eventually he was led to his family in ‘hell’ a horrible place. When I finished this part of the movie it made me think about what it is like to go through ‘hazing’ at a fraternity. I wanted my story to be whimsical and not too dragged down, so I made the ending a happy one compared to the sadder version presented by the Mahabharata video.

Storytelling Week 9: The Red and Purple Yummy Berries

Once upon a time, in a land far far away lived a handsome young man named James. He and his partner lived in the woods just outside of town. One day James decided that he wanted red and purple yummy berries, but they were hard to find and he did not feel well that day. 

James called his partner over to him. “Babe, would you please, please, please get the red and purple yummy berries for me? You know they are my favorite and I am not feeling well today.”

“Of course I will do this for you my love.” His partner replied. “I would do anything for you!”

James’s partner was out the door and James stayed in bed for most of the day. 

"Maybe I should do some housecleaning.” James thought to himself. “That would be my partner very happy when they return home.” James started washing the piled dishes and cleaning the rest of their home. 

James’s partner was having a difficult time finding the red and purple yummy berries. “If only I wasn’t color blind!” James’s partner thought to their self. “Then I could pick the red and purple yummy berries and be home by now.” James’s partner decided to pick all the berries they could find for the next three hours. Their plan was to bring them home so James could determine which berries were the red and purple yummy berries. For the next three hours James’s partner pick berries. They picked and picked until the sun started to set. They headed home with a gigantic basket full of various berries. 

When James’s partner return home they found an emptied, but tidy, house. “Hello! Jame’s are you there?” James’s partner echoed in the home. “If you try to scare me I will not talk to you anymore!” They herd no reply. Wondering around the house James’s partner found a note that detailed instructions on the kidnapping of James. 

Kidnapping Note: Source

The note read, “If you ever with to see James again, bring the red and purple yummy berries to the bridge near the abandoned barn.” 

James’s partner quickly grabbed the basket and ran to the location where the exchange was to take place. “James! James! Where are you? James!” They called out. 

Creeping from the shadows James and a covered person appear. “Hand over the basket.” The mysterious person demanded. 

“Okay.” James’s partner said, “Just let James go.” 

The exchange was made and the mysterious person vanished with the basket of various berries. James and his partner returned to their home after filing a police report. The next day, Victoria Brown, was found poisoned. She sat on her living room floor, face smothered in berry juices. 

“I guess we know who kidnapped you now.” James Partner said.

“What berries did you pick yesterday?” James asked. 

“All of the ones south of our home. In the meadow next to the energy factory.”

"Oh, that explains it. Don’t you know that field has poisonous berries due to the waste dumping from the factory. It has been banned for consumption for years! Animals don’t even eat it anymore.” James said. 

“Oh, yeah. I forgot.” James’s partner said. 

And James and his partner lived happily ever after!

Author’s Note: 

I decided to rewrite the story of Rama and Sita and the golden deer. In the original story, Sita tells Rama she wants a golden deer so Rama sets out to get the deer for her. When he returns he finds that Sita has be stolen away. I thought this would be a fun story to practice my ability to create a gender numeral character. It was difficult to do this, but I had a good time. I actually based this story off of real life events. Not that a murder occurred, but this is a situation I could see my partner and myself getting into. I pretty much cracked up the entire time writing it, so I hope everyone enjoys it. 

Bibliography:

Sita Sings the Blues by Nina Paley. Question Copyright.Public Domain Version http://www.sitasingstheblues.com/

Storytelling Week 7: The List of Things

Jimmy had grown up alongside his four best friends ever since he can remember. When they graduated from high school they all decided that they would all go to the University of Oklahoma together! Jimmy had herd from his older brother that he should join a fraternity to go to parties and meet new people, so he set out to convince his friends to join too. Jimmy was excitedly awaiting his move to a fraternity where he would meet many new lifelong friends. Soon after the start of their Freshman year Jimmy and all of his friends were initiated into a fraternity, but before they could become official members they had to undergo an initiation ceremony. The initiation ceremony had to be completed by all new members and included a lost of fifty strange things the friends had to do. The list, while light-hearted in nature, was meant to make the new initiates feel uncomfortable. One item on the list was to blow an airhorn in the great reading room. As a freshmen who did not know the rules about how to act on campus they were scared they would get into trouble.

One-by-one, the items on the list were knocked off. By the time they reached number thirty-four two of Jimmy’s friends had quit. They could not handle the stress of this initiation. At number forty-three another one of Jimmy’s friends had quit and decided that he did not want to cause anymore trouble to other people on campus. Now it was only Jimmy and his last friend left to complete the challenges. When they reached the end of the challenges Jimmy went back to the fraternity house and proclaim their victory. He was very pleased with himself, but the older fraternity members had a look of dismay.

Dear Frat Boys Article: The Odyssey Online

"You have not yet completed the challenge Jimmy..." one of the members said, "We need you to tell your other friend that he cannot join. We do not like him because he smells weird!"

I don’t understand Jimmy thought. He couldn’t say that to his friend. I would rather not join than alienate my friend!

With amazement the house members applauded... “you did it Jimmy! That was the final test. We wanted to see if you would leave a brother behind. You have proven yourself worth!”

That night Jimmy, happy as could be, discovered that the list of task was just a trick to see how far the initiates were willing to go for the house. All of Jimmy’s friends were at the frat party that night and they stayed friends for the rest of their lives!

THE END


Author’s Note: I am retelling the ending of the Mahabharata as Yudhisthira climbs the mountain to enter the gates of paradise. Yudhisthira explains that while coming up the mountain he brothers and wife fell into an abyss. Arjuna, the Twins and even Draupadi all gone. Now Yudhisthira and his dog are the only ones left and they wish to enter the gates of paradise. The voice that comes from the heavens tells Yudhisthira to leave his dog and he can enter paradise. Yudhisthira is outraged that he cannot bring this dog into paradise. A creature that had been through so much with him. Yudhisthira says he would rather stay in the freezing cold and die than go without him. The ultimate sacrifice. Finally Yudhisthira is told that the dog is a reincarnation of his father and he passed the test to enter into paradise, where he found his foes! He did not understand where his family was led. Eventually he was led to his family in ‘hell’ a horrible place. When I finished this part of the movie it made me think about what it is like to go through ‘hazing’ at a fraternity. I wanted my story to be whimsical and not too dragged down, so I made the ending a happy one compared to the sadder version presented by the Mahabharata video. I think fraternities often get a bad wrap and of course in some cases it may be true, but obviously it is not at all what some make it out to be and that is why I did not want to create a sad ending.

Week 5 Storytelling: The Fight for the Win

Once upon a time, in a city far far away lived a family in the low socioeconomic income bracket. The family was made up of three brother, two sisters and a mother. The mother grew up in the streets as a beggar and she has lived with chronic health problems her whole life. Her children were all young, except for Anastasia who was thirteen. Anastasia, like most teenagers, was very temperamental, but she loved her family and helped take care of her brothers and sister. One day after coming home from school Anastasia ran to her room she shared with her mother and sister and cried.

“What is wrong my dear?”, her mother questioned.

“Nothing mom... you wouldn’t understand.”, she responded with sobbing eyes.

Anastasia was troubled at school by a great bully. Her bully was an older girl in school who always picked on Anastasia for her used clothes and un-kept hair. Anastasia began to grow courage throughout the year, but she still found the bully hard to deal with. Life went on and the school year was coming to an end. It was the last week of school and Anastasia’s bully again began to pick on her.

Looking directly at Anastasia the bully says, “Someone needs a bath!”

“Leave me alone.” Anastasia pleads.

“I think you need to be taught a lesson in talking back.” She spat at Anastasia.

The Bully and The Girl

Anastasia’s expression changed, “I’m not scared of you!”, she shouted. “I am not afraid.”

The Bully advanced towards Anastasia. An Anastasia trembled ever so slightly. She was tired of running away. The bully continued toward Anastasia, but when she was mere steps away from Anastasia she quickly stopped in her tracks. All of the students were now circled around the girls. Behind Anastasia, her sister and brothers popped out of the crowd. Small though they were, the siblings moved in front of their big sister. The bully now trembled nervously in her new shoes. She decided it was not worth the fight to deal with the siblings. The family had won. Anastasia learned that she did not have to face her problems by herself, because she always had her family.


Author’s Note: Story 1: Hidimba Story 2: Bhima and Hidimba

For this storytelling post I decided to retell the story of Bhima and Hidimba in my own words. In the original stories (linked above) the Pandava brothers and their mother Kunti were living in the forest after their escaped from the burning house. The group was very tired for their travel and decided to find a place to sleep, while Bhima kept watch. Living in the forest was a very fierce rakshasa, named Hidimba. "He was described as a terrible and grim monster. His eyes were red, and he was red-haired and red-bearded; his cheeks were of cloud color and his mouth was large, with long, sharp-pointed teeth (Hidimba).” The monster was very hungry that night and smelled the delicious food of the Randava brothers. Hidimba ordered his sister to go and bring the Pandava brothers and bring them to him. The rakshasa women instantly fell in love with Bhima and she decides she does not want to kill the handsome man, Bhima. The rakshsas women transformed herself into a beautiful women and warned Bhima and the brothers of the rakshsas’s plan to kill them. When she told Bhima of the plan he said that he was not scared of Hidimba and he soon fought Hidimba. They wrestled violently and Bhima dragged Hidimba into the forest and killed him. The sister of Hidimba, still in love with Bhima weds him and she made him very happy.

Storytelling Week 4: Strong Women

"I'm so cold and lost." Jessica weeped. She thought to herself if only she hadn't left Jimmy's side she wouldn't be in this mess.

On the evening of December 24th, Jessica and her fiancé Jimmy were headed to the grocery store to pick-up a Christmas ham. Jessica, not wanting to face the bitter cold, waited in their worn-down suburban as her husband braved the night to retrieve the ham. Sitting in the lonely lit parking lot Jessica power locked the doors. She felt unnerving to be alone.

The next thing Jessica remembers is waking up in a speeding white van with three large men surrounding her. Kicking and screaming for her husband and her life Jessica did not understand what was happening. She had been kidnapped! Snatched right out of her own car, while her husband was inside grocery shopping. For thirty days and thirty nights Jimmy search for his wife. He put her image on every street corner and every television station. Everyone told Jimmy to give up, she was gone.

On the thirty-first day Jessica escaped from her captors and ran screaming for help. She found herself in the arms of warm and loving people who quickly notified authorities. "We've seen you on T.V. you know?" They said, "your husband is all over the news search for you." Jessica's heart swelled with hope. During her imprisonment she never once doubted her husband had sought after her. She prayed to him, that she would return to him and now it looked as though everything would work out!

Jessica was taken to the Police Headquarters and given warm blankets and hot coffee. A young police woman took her into her office and questioned her about the circumstance. The questions started very informatively. "Where were you abducted? How many people were in the van?" The policewoman asked. Jessica supplied the best answers she could, but her memory was weak from the whole experience. Not satisfied with her answers, the policewoman started pressing harder for answers, "Why did you not fight harder? Why did you let this happen?" Perplexed Jessica began to cry, why was she being treated this way! They are making it seem like it is her fault!

Mother and Twins Monument (Saunders 1857)

By the time Jimmy arrived to the station Jessica was drenched in tears. Her hair was frazzled and her eyes were bloodshot. When she saw Jimmy she was instantaneously relieved. Her tears dried and they embraced each other for what felt like a lifetime. Jessica and Jimmy returned home and tried not to talk about what had happened. Six months after her initial abduction Jessica, not feeling well, went to her physician. After testing the doctor reported that Jessica was pregnant with twins! Jessica was so happy her and her fiancé were going to have children, but the smiling face was cast aside when Jessica realized that her child could also be that of her captors. When Jimmy discovered his future wife's possible infidelity he was reluctant to accept her back into his life. He would eventually cast her onto the streets before she could further disgrace his families name.

"I'm so cold and lost." Jessica weeped. She thought to herself if only she hadn't left Jimmy's side she wouldn't be in this mess.



Author's Note:
My story was based on a series of Ramayana episodes. Once Sita is rescued from Lanka she is accused of consorting with Ravana, her captor. Even though we as the audience know that she kept her purity, Rama cannot be certain. When they return to Ahyodiah and Rama becomes king he quickly rids himself of Sita, because Rama's subjects think that she is impure and thus they do not respect him. Rama chooses to gain public approval rather than be by his wife's side. When I was writing my story I kept this anger inside. I was very angry at Rama for the decision he made. He basically ruined Sita's life and all the while she kept praising him. I wanted the story I wrote to reflect a modern version of the Ramayana. In my version, Jessica (Sita) was captured and her captors were not as nice as Ravana. They did not ask for Jessica's permission to have sexual intercourse with her. I think the Ramayana is strange in that the character Ravana is a evil character, but he does not do many evil things (other than steal Sita and lock her away). When Jessica returns home she is battered by questions from the police and from her husband and soon she finds herself without anyone. I hope Jessica will not continue to praise Jimmy... he is an ass. Instead, I hope that Jessica can find her own way and raise two children that will be better than their father was. Again, we see this strange thing in the Ramayana where Sita continues to praise the man who banished her and sent her to the forest... pregnant!

Bibliography:
Sita Sings the Blues by Nina Paley. Question Copyright.Public Domain Version http://www.sitasingstheblues.com/

Storytelling: Week 3

In this weeks episode of Superheroes and the Stolen Goods:

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!

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). 

James: the Unfortunate Sewer Creature - Storytelling Week 2

Rama Fights Maricha and Subahu

James lived alone in the repugnant sewers beneath London. His face was scarred by a lifetime of acne and his heart was scarred by a lifetime of sadness. His Monday started out like every other day he had experienced for the last twelve years... alone. James lived on the outcast of society and longed for a sense of belonging and fitting in. When he felt particularly lost he would look through grated sewer drains at candy shops, while children filled their pockets with sweets. He would also watch old man Bentley as he mowed his lawn every Sunday morning. James had never caused harm to anyone, in fact he had never touched a human before. 

One day while traveling his sewer James herd someone’s footsteps grow closer and closer until they stopped just around the corner. The footsteps were small and steady. It had been twelve years since he had met someone and he was a bit scared! A plump little girl in a pink outfit appeared behind the corner. Upon seeing James she immediately pulled out her magical pepper spray and began to assault James with her weapon. With eyes burning James frightfully ran away from the monster that had entered his sewer. The plump little girl followed closely using her magnified death screams to pierce James’s ears.

James ran as fast as he could down the hollowed sewer lines, but blinded and deaf he tripped over a boulder and was killed instantly when he ran into the hard concrete wall. The little girl returned to the surface to be rewarded by the community for her defeat of the scary monster that lurked in the sewers.

Author’s Note:
This week I chose to write in a style of storytelling that allowed me to reverse the roles of the characters in the original story. I also chose to keep some characteristics from the original story that I thought would help connect the stories. My main goal for this story was to make the character roles reversed so the character they was perceived as evil or bad, would in reality be a genuinely good character, even though his appearance may suggest otherwise. The original story is about two princes that go into a forest and kill a witch. The brothers are then reward for their actions with magical weapons that they latter use to kill more witches. I changed the story by making the witch character “James” a morally good character and undeserving of death. However, the ending for both the witches and James were the same. For this storytelling post I chose to use the image posted with the original story I read. It not only depicts the actions of Rama, but it is also really well illustrated to the ‘bad’ witches. Even though my story is different from the original and reverses the rolls of the characters I think the image help illustrate that 'the other’ is almost always viewed in a negative light, usually without given a chance to show humanity.

Bibliography
Donald A. Mackenzie, Thataka, 1913.

Storytelling Week 1: The Boy and The Toy

Timothy was a very young lad and had a fruitful mind. He knew exactly what he wanted and he was very careful about planning out how to get what he wanted. For two whole weeks Timothy had his eye on a brand new toy car that had just come out. During this time he had created a plan to get what he wanted. He asked his mother if he could clean the house for some allowance. She was hesitant at first because the family did not have much money to spare on frivolous items such as toys.

"Why don't you help me set the table, and then go and play with your friends? You don't need a toy to be happy" She said.


“Oh, please mom, the whoooole house,” he begged.

She could not say no to her precious boy and he was soon at work cleaning the house. While his friends played outside he found himself sweeping and mopping, dusting and scrubbing and worst of all changing the cat's litter! All the while he cleaned he could only think about the brand new toy he would get, but first he had to come up with a plan to make enough money for even cleaning the house was not going to be near enough to afford the new toy.

He planned to buy an apple from the grocery store and plant the seeds in the into the garden of his backyard. When his apple tree was grown he would then sell the apples and make a very large profit, enough to buy many toys.


“Soon,” he exclaimed “I will have that toy.”


He was given his allowance, as promised by his mother, and ran as fast as possible to the grocery store. As he walked into the entrance he was stopped by a beautiful gum ball machine. With money in his hand he wasted no time and was soon happily chomping on a bubblegum flavored gum ball. Continuing on his journey to buy an apple his dream of owing this brand new toy was unknowingly cut short when the cashier said, “That will be thirty-eight cents please.” Panicked Timothy had just learnt of his mistake, he had spent all but a nickel of his allowance. With the purchase of the gum ball vanished his apple seed, tree and all hopes of every owning that new car toy.

A Boy with a Hoop (Public Domain Wiki)

Authors Note: Don’t count your chickens before they hatch!
This story was about a milkmaid who planned to use her milk to make butter to sell to then buy eggs and hatch chickens and then sell to buy a dress and look good for potential suitors. Unfortunately for her, the milk spilled and he dreams and plans were washed away and she could no longer find a suitor.


Bibliography:
The Aesop for Children. Aesop. N.d. The Project Gutenberg. Rand McNally & Company, 2 Dec. 2002. Web. 13 Aug. 2014.