First Weekend of Summer in Chi-town

I hope that everybody had a nice first weekend of summer. It was both a work and play weekend for me, with the work consisting of the third and final installment of my Illinois teaching certification testing. The test consisted of 125 multiple choice questions, mostly general knowledge in the areas of language arts, math, science, history, politics. As usual, it was the math and science related questions that gave me the hardest time. However, I was very proud to have answered the following biology question correctly: The mitochondria, an organelle found in plants and animals, performs what cellular function? (see end of post for answer).

The test was given at the Chicago High School for Agricultural Science on West 111th St. which, for those of you not familiar with the city, is one hell of a drive through some major construction on the both I-94 East (aka the Dan Ryan) and I-57. Fortunately, at least in terms of traffic, my test was at 7:30a so no worries in the morning. I also dodged a traffic bullet on the way home in that the White Sox and Cubs were playing at U.S. Cellular Field on the south side, but the game had already started by the time I returned home on the Dan Ryan. The test went well and it was a relief for it to just be over. Quite frankly I've had about enough with the testing. I've jumped through your hoops, state of Illinois, give me a freakin' job already. The play part of the weekend consisted of a very fun evening Saturday night at the Belmont Arts & Music Festival in Roscoe Village (my neighborhood). My friend Greg drove in from Glenview with his buddy Geoff, who was in town from San Francisco, and our mutual friend Chris was already over there since his band kicked off the festivities under drizzly conditions on one of the two stages set up on Belmont Street. I got there a little later in the afternoon and saw The Redwalls, a popular local band from the north side of Chicago as well as an acoustic set from Bob Mould, veteran lead singer of the bands Husker Du and Sugar. The good times and Pacifico beer were flowing and, thanks to some creative thinking by Geoff, the latter continued to flow from a party we attended earlier in the evening long after we had left.

Answer:

Mitochondria provide the energy a cell needs to move, divide, produce secretory products, contract - in short, they are the power centers of the cell.