Organelles, Noughties, and Vacations... Oh my!

1. If your community (anything from family to school to city) was a cell, which cell organelle (little working parts of a cell like nucleus) would you be? Which do you aspire to be?

2. 30 years from now, what will people look back and remember about the 2000-2009 (affectionately called the aughts or the nought-ies) decade?

3. If you could spend one day in any place on Earth, where would it be? ONLY one day.

Because I love all things biology I choose . . . prompt one!

First a little explanation is due for such a bizarre prompt. When I daydream, I tend to come up with some pretty crazy ideas by superimposing one system over another (Like "What if everyone was a piece in Tetris? Who would be which?"). In this case, I was thinking about the planet as a whole, and the varying levels of organization throughout, and I started comparing it to a cell, with its levels of organization and specialized organelles. I realized probably the best fit was the local community, and you'll see why shortly.

So we all kinda remember the organelles from the various biology classes we've taken. At least the big ones: the nucleus, the Endoplasmic Reticulum, the Golgi bodies, the vacuole, and the mitochondria/chloroplast. For the sake of time and our attention span, I can't describe how all of these compare to parts of the community, but I promise if you use your imagination you can find some pretty cool connections. Interesting how the Golgi bodies work just like a post office, isn't it? Maybe just for a biology geek.

Presented with these little examples of community organization, which would I choose to embody?

First I have to have know my real-world aspirations. I want to own a business. If we're talking aspirations, I want to own a unique, powerful business. I don't care what I have to do to get to that position, because once I'm there I'll have the power to make a difference in my community so easily. I don't have confidence in my hand-eye coordination or my rapping skills, but I am sure that given a position of power I would never let the power or greed go to my head. It just isn't me.

One organelle immediately comes to mind: the mitochondrion. Mitochondria are powerful, independent organelles that work with the cell (rather than for it) in a symbiotic relationship. Prepare for science: A mitochondrion oxidizes pyruvate and NADH in cellular respiration to produce Adenosine Triphosphate, the major source of energy for all of the cell. Basically mitochondria take raw materials and produce some of the finest energy known to biology.

The connections are uncannily transparent in so many cases--the mitochondria is the independent business that empowers and energizes the community. What's more, the mitochondria actually have their own DNA and nucleus, making them self-operating forces for progress. And I could die happy knowing that I, of my own accord, provided such a critical function to a community.