You can listen to Judith Ortiz Cofer as she gives the assignment.
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"And so what I would like to ask you to do is to take a body part, any body part or an element of yourself, physical selves and write a few sentences - as sensory as possible, as detailed as possible - as the beginning of either a poem, an essay or a story called 'The Story of My Body' or 'Here is a Picture of Me.'"