The Reader's Digest published a series of articles years ago that were titled, "I Am Joe's..." followed by a part of the body. Occasionally, it was appropriate to title the articles, "I Am Jane's..." because there are just some parts that aren't going to show up in a guy named Joe. The articles were typically written following exhaustive research and interviews with doctors who specialized in the particular body part in question. They were written to give information without scaring the reading public.

These articles were always written from the perspective of Joe or Jane's body part. They would begin something like this:

"I’m certainly no beauty. I weigh 12 ounces, am red-brown in color, and have an unimpressive shape. I am the dedicated slave of —well, let’s call him Joe. Joe is 45, ruggedly good-looking, has a pretty wife, three children and an excellent job. Joe has made it.

Me? I’m Joe’s heart."

The entire article would continue along in that style, written in the first person voice. Joe's pancreas or salivary glands, duodenum or corpus callosum would divulge all manner of secrets about its existence as an integral part of Joe (or Jane's) anatomy. We're updating the series for the 21st century.

As a student of human anatomy, you are to compose an essay written in the first person narrative style of these articles. For the details of what you should probably include in your essay, see the attached sheet.

You will need to learn what you can about the body part of Joe or Jane that you have chosen to become. Find out everything you possibly can about that body part, (how big it is, what color it might be, how it stays in Joe's body where it is supposed to be, what its function is, etc.) and write your article in the first person narrative style as if you are that body part and you are telling the reader about your life as a body part. You will need to be nauseatingly thorough in your research so that you can include as much pertinent information concerning how the body part interacts with other body parts in the vicinity as well as within its body system (digestion, excretion, respiration...)

Papers will be graded both on creativity and adherence to paper guidelines.

I hope that when you have completed this assignment you feel that you have learned a little bit about not only the body part you chose to describe, but also something about those body parts that work in close association with it as well.

Paper Guidelines:

Mechanics of the paper

·  Student essays should be no shorter than two (2) pages and no longer than three (3).

·  Double spaced

·  12 point text

·  Times New Roman font

·  Standard margins: 1 inch top and bottom, 1.25 inch left and right margins

·  Bibliography at the end of the paper should follow standard MLA format. See Ms. Aversa in the library for information concerning this format.

·  A list of at least THREE references should include at least one printed work (book, encyclopedia, magazine article, newspaper article, etc.)

Material to be Included

·  Description of body part - include dimensions, shape, color, make-up...

·  How is the body part connected to the surrounding parts of the body?

·  Explanation of what this body part is responsible for doing.

·  Body system - to which body system does it belong? What job does the part do within that body system?

·  What happens when the body part is malfunctioning? What effect would this have on the rest of the body system to which the part belongs? How about other body systems that are associated to this malfunction?

·  What types of diseases does this body part suffer from? What are the symptoms? What is the cure?

·  What current technologies are there available to replace this body part when it is diseased or damaged?

Body Parts to Choose From:

adrenal gland / appendix / bellybutton / blood
brain stem / cerebellum / cerebrum / cranium
ear / eye / foot / gall bladder
hair / kidney / large intestine / liver
long bones / lungs / lymph nodes / lymphocytes
nose / ovaries & fallopian tubes / pancreas / parathyroid gland
pituitary gland / platelets / red blood cells / red marrow
salivary glands / skin / small intestines / spinal column
spinal cord / spleen / stomach / T cells
teeth / testicles & scrotum / throat / thyroid gland
tongue / uterus / white blood cells / yellow marrow