Seals in La jolla

How does fecal matter from the seals on Seal Cove adversely affect the human activity, specifically children, in La Jolla?

Rest your arms onto the corroded railing on top of the wall jutting out into the open sea. Don’t be frightened, the sea lions below will not bite your limbs off. The old decomposed brick wall is roughly 10 feet high. What concerns most of us is why can’t any human being swim freely in the shallow end of the water alongside the seals? Because the seals have bacteria and it can spread in the water. The sea lions excrete the bacteria in their urine. The water has a heavy concentration of bacteria in it so people are more likely to develop infections such as ear and outer infections. If the water is swallowed there is a potential risk of colitis. There are public signs pinned to the rail on top of the wall as an indication not to swim in the cove with the seals. This issue has stirred up attention with the locals. What use to be called the “Children’s pool” is now referred to as “seal cove”.


After the arrival of the seals, biologist have conducted important test concerning the bacteria concentration inside the water. It’s a known fact that the sea lions frequently carry bacteria they excrete from their urine. The urination process either takes place on the shore or in the open water. This is called leptospirosis and sometimes causes disease in sea lions and other times they are carriers of this bacteria without it causing disease. If large numbers of sea lions urinate in the same water, the water can be contaminated and pass through a person’s mucus membranes (mouth, nose), eyes, or cuts in his or her skin. This infection is not only seen from sea lions, but many rodents, cats, dogs and other animals can spread it. The main reason why the children’s pool cannot be accessed is because of the potential diseases that the children can get from swimming into the water. The seals are not an issue, they she’ll live on the seal cover for as long as they want.


In 1998 there was a triathlon and 834 people swam in contaminated water, 98 (12%) developed leptospirosis infection. Leptospirosis can cause mild to severe illness. The symptoms can affect almost every organ and can cause kidney failure, hemorrhage, acute respiratory distress and even an infection of the heart muscle called myocarditis. There is an article from the Monterey Herald about leptospirosis in sea lions and below that an article from a website called UptoDate which is a website for doctors and talks about leptospirosis.

Its quite comforting standing on the ledge and absorbing the cool breeze, but do you ever think about what your learn in bio class. Harmful microscopic organisms in the water originating from seal poop. The question is should we not interfere with the seals and there daily activities. Locals believe that the water is a bad clarity to it because of the seal poop and bacteria swarming around.

The Great Gatsby essay

Describe and analyze the significance of the last line of The Great Gatsby.

“Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter—tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. . . . And then one fine morning— So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” Money can’t buy you everything. Gatsby sort of comes to the realization that the only cure to his emptiness was to merely impress the likes of Daisy. One see’s that this passage is quite explanatory to the reader. Despite Gatsby’s hardships, Nick guides us through the story with Gatsby’s main priority of winning Daisy back and his motivation behind his acquisition of his enormous wealth from criminal activity. Gatsby’s dream shatters at the hands of Wilson as he shoots Gatsby, instantly killing him in the pool and then shoots himself. His dream fails to become a reality judging from past events with Tom Buchanan. Nick, the narrator of the story feels so disgusted with the people associated in the Great Gatsby, except for Gatsby, he realizes that the dream that Gatsby wants was corrupted by dishonesty. Gatsby’s death begins to festers Nick to point where he moves back to the Midwest to get away from it all. With the metaphorical words used in the passage, we come to the realization that people find it difficult to achieve their dream of success. The green light in the beginning of the passage is a light of guidance for Gatsby who is one of those people.

This very last line of the passage states,” Gatsby believed in the green light”, the “green light” is the light that is describe as barely visible from Gatsby’s west egg gothic mansion. The “green light” to Gatsby is sort of like his guidance; luring him to his goal. The phrase the “green light” has a significant connotation in the story; it provides Gatsby with hope and dreams of the future. He sees a relationship with Daisy that is destine to be. The green light is almost like a symbol for him. The green light has been mentioned quite a few times through the novel, in chapter 1 and chapter 9. In chapter one when the story commences, Gatsby isolated by the inevitable darkness, finds himself reaching out towards the light. Daisy’s mansion is situated on the East Egg where the green light is radiant. The green light sort of powers his motivation. He pushes the limit with spending a ridiculous amount of money on his elaborate parties that he celebrates every weekend. It’s quite obvious to the reader that he is trying to be the mysterious host of the parties, trying so diligently to win Daisy’s heart back.

“tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms father…” In the pursuit of accomplishing his goal, we will never give up the goal that stretches forever forward. This specific sentence connects with Gatsby’s struggle of obtaining the American dream. Nick respects the melancholy in Gatsby that he learns from his study of Gatsby’s life. It means that there is always time to try harder. Gatsby’s reveals to Nick that he and Daisy actually were in love. He wants to fulfill his dream of obtaining Daisy’s love. Gatsby’s is empty inside. His wealth cannot refurbish his happiness. Nick is Gatsby’s confidant, a good friend of his. Through nick narration of the story he sees Daisy married to Tom Buchanan. The last part of this quotation from the last page of the book, let us know that in hard times, like Gatsby, we can run faster and stretch out our arms father.

In conclusion, we understand that the significant of the last line because it leaves the read with some optimism. Gatsby, despite his hardships with Tom Buchanan, never got a chance to share his life with her. Daisy, in my opinion, I feel that he is a self-absorb person. It was confusing for us to understand if she really had love for Gatsby or not. Was she with Tom Buchanan just for the finance backup and the enormous house on long Island? Competition sparked up, when Tom and Gatsby began to fight over Daisy. Nick must feel awkward in these situations with the love triangle in the story. I can understand why the last line is so significant because Nick is trying to convey a message to the reader; that it might be impossible to make your goal a reality, but restore that energy within and don’t.

Optional assignment

I looked through my blogs and one honors essay, in particular, really caught my attention. The Huckleberry Finn essay by Mark Twain, this essay is an excellent example of writing in my opinion because it has a clear thesis statement along with the three clear and direct supporting paragraph's arguing to help support the thesis statement. I just thought it would be an excellent piece of reference for my writing skills. Every sentence properly transitions to the next sentence in every paragraph. I thought of using the same style of writing for my MSB picture captions. In addition, for my 250 word picture captions, I'm thinking I should elaborate on what the meaning of this picture or that picture so that people have a full understanding of the picture's meaning.

The following link will take you to my essay: Huck Finn Essay

Honors History Writing #3

The Roaring Twenties (1920s)

The early 20’s introduced an array of new ground-breaking inventions and brought about many changes to the American society. The Roaring 20’s was referred to as the Jazz age, hence the word; “Roaring”. American industries introduced the flow of innovative technologies that altered the American society such as the invention of automobile. Many of these inventions like the Ford Model T car and convenient kitchen appliances proved useful to American families living in both rural and urban areas. The migration of Mexican and Puerto Ricans and immigrants from counties oversees began to settle into the major urban cities such as Los Angeles, San Antonio and Denver, seeking employment.

The Automobile, surprisingly, was the principal driving force of the American economy during the 1920s. More than eight million motor vehicles were registered in the United States and twenty-six million in 1929. The purchase output of these automobiles sky rocketed to three million dollars in 1923. Henry Ford, a famous American producer, distributed automobiles for driving to certain places at a reasonable price for the public during the 1920s. However, in 1925, the price of a Ford T model reduced to $290, less than three months’ pay for an average worker. The Fort T model had an engine capable of running on gasoline. The manufacturing of the automobiles helped simulate the productivity of the industries producing steel, rubber, and glass as well as gasoline and that led to highway construction. The United States became a nation of paved roads for the gasoline powered automobiles.

Mexican and Puerto Ricans originated from South America, were Agricultural laborers that migrated to the southwestern states of America. They scattered into places like San Antonio, Los Angeles, and Denver, Colorado, looking for employment to feed their families. Like other immigrants, they obtained low-paying jobs and lived with their families in poor neighborhoods, which they called barrios. A huge wave of Puerto Rican immigrants arrived onto the mainland and some went to New York City. In New York they worked in restaurants and in domestic work.

Roaring 20s was one of the most unforgettable eras because of the jazz music and culture. Most of the black people originated from the county side, about 1.5 million journeyed into the cities during the early 20s. The black community had a lot of musicians, writers and intellectuals. These famous black musicians developed a music genre called Jazz and blues music. People in the 20s enjoyed the widespread popularity of Jazz music which led to the opening of clubs and bars. Unfortunately, the Ku Klux Klan held a lot of anti-black activities in places like the south. These activities had to do with lynching and torturing innocent black people out of hatred. Despite these hardships with the hardships with Ku Klux Klan, a lot of people were listening to the jazz music by black musicians.

One sees that the Roaring 20s contributed some many useful inventions that still exist today. The idea of the Ford model T branched off into newer sources of transportation, like subway trains, motorcycles, and maybe even planes. American industries still produce steel, rubber and other materials for new inventions like the cell phone and hp laptops. The culture and the jazz are still incorporated into many of the modern music that we hear and see on the radio and television, today.

Blog #23: Environment Current Events

I can't post the link to the article. Its a newspaper that I have at home.

Newspaper, Our Region: Nov 9, 09 "Scientists take aim at cigarettes" by Mike Lee

Cigarettes can not only kill people, they can also kill the marine life. This particular article is about the people who carelessly litter dozens of cigarette buts everyday on our beautiful beaches. People need to be conscious of what happens when a fish is exposed to a cigarette. We need to make the public aware of this issue by telling them to reduce the amount of cigarettes being littered on our beaches everyday. They should immediately dispose of any trash into the nearest trash can.

Regional director of the smoker's rights group Citizens Freedom Alliance in Ventura Country, Robert Best," This is just another attack on smokers and an attack on the entire tobacco industry, including farmers and distributors, in the midst of an economic crisis.". I thought that this specific information from the article is important to me and everyone who is trying to convince people to eliminate cigarettes from our beaches, that we should try and explain why cigarettes are bad for the marine life and why people don't want to be swimming in polluted water.

The information missing from the article is; how can we either stand up and convince people to litter on the beaches or try and clean up the beaches and help protect the marine life. Reduce the amount of like plastic bags and other trash. Should we raise the cost of certain things like plastic bags so that we can reduce the amount of people buying them everyday.

The subject is kind of similar to my topic for media saves the beach because I'm focusing my eyes on the fecal matter from seal's and how it can effect surfers or children who like to play in the water. I'm also researching the controversy in Seal Cove; should the seals live on the cove or should we kick 'em out?

Blog# 22: MSB organization

Name of organization: Surfrider

Mission statement: "The BWTF has demonstrated success by raising public awareness of coastal water pollution levels. The joint efforts have precipitated the establishment of a very successful local government water quality monitoring system, which issues timely advisories to surfers and beach goers alerting them to unsafe conditions at specific surf breaks."

Surf-rider foundation alongside the San Diego coast-keeper sued the City of San Diego for violating the federal clean water act. The City Council took the issue into consideration; and they supported Surfrider and Coastkeeper. The lawsuit mainly focused on the on this history of the cities sewage spills.

The City Council finally took action in helped get to the bottom of this issue, after the production of a Water Reuse Study having to do with numerous meetings, technical advisory committee, and community leaders.

Blog #21: The great Gatsby 1-4ch

Jay Gatsby is a wealthy person. He is described as a vulgar and dishonest rich man. His dreams become a reality. Its obvious that Jay Gatsby likes to show off his wealth; he tends to throw elaborate parties every weekend at his Gothic mansion in West Egg. At one of the Gatsby parties, Jordan Baker reveals to Nick that Gatsby was a German spy in the world war 1. I'm assuming he is considered what they call in the fictional story, "New money". Gatsby's parties incorporates 1920 wealth and glamour in to focus.

Nick Carraway, graduated from Yale located in New Haven, Connecticut and , like Gatsby, served as a soldier in world war 1 (1914-1918). He moves to New York city to learn about Bond business in the 1920s. Nick moves to long Island and lives in a fictional town called West egg. Nick is old money and wants to be new money.

Blog #20: Great Gatsby

The guy who is doing the narration for the story is Nick. Nick seems be an average guy, if he wasn't narrating the story then he wouldn't qualify to be one of the main characters in the Great Gatsby. However, Nick is kind of the main character but he doesn't explain enough about himself or Gatsby.

The author feels that Nick should narrate the entire story because Nick is sort of the observer. Nick describes the scenery, appearances of the characters and the emotions that are going on in a positive or negative tone. Its almost like he is gossiping with the reader, y'know having a one on one conversation about these peoples livelihood.

Blog #19: video

The idea of having all of the left over garbage emerging from the sea and the guy running away.

The message of this video is that people should stop throwing useless junk into the ocean. They should realize that their endangering the sea life.

The general audience is the people who spend their time at the beach or any local residence.

I think the creativity, narration, sound effects and acting overall make this video come together in a professional manner.

He delivers the message in a funny way, having the guy throw a dirty wet shoe into the ocean and then the shoe hitting him in the face. Also having the leftover trash emerge from the water and fall on to the shore.