An OU Professor's Balancing Act

Although she considers herself a native to Norman, Alissa Millar was actually born in England where her father worked at the Royal Observatory. They moved to Norman when she was three after her father, the recently retired Dr. David Branch, got a job in OU's Physics Department. "OU was pretty much my playground growing up," says Millar. "I remember running around the North Oval as a child." After attending the University of Oklahoma as an acting major, Millar left Norman as she had always hoped she would and pursued her acting career. After working in Chicago and L.A. she somehow found herself back in Norman where she decided to settle down and start a family. Coming full circle, she is now an acting professor in the School of Drama at OU. "It was incredibly strange at first, as I was walking down the halls I kept seeing ghosts of my classmates and professors" Millar recounts. Now a single Mom, Millar balances the juggling act of a full time job and raising two young boys, while still pursuing her acting career.

Korean Conflict Could Affect Abroad Plans

On November 23^rd, without warning North Korea launched heavy artillery fire at the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong. The deadly firing killed two South Korean marines, two civilians and injured multiple others—civilians and marines alike. South Korea attempted to return fire as residents of Yeonpyeong sought shelter from the attack.

Later that Tuesday North Korea released an official statement saying their attack was in response to South Korea’s fire. They claimed South Korea was conducting military firing drills into their side of a long disputed maritime border between the two.

The encounter between the two stems from over 60 years of tension: the origin being the Korean War. After World War II Korea was freed from Japanese rule and divided into two countries: a democratic one set up by the United States and a communist one set up by the then Soviet Union. Within five years to two were at war and though an armistice was signed in 1953, the tension between the two has never resolved.

“It’s just tough because I’ve really been wanting to study abroad in Asia and South Korea was definitely one of the places I was looking at because OU has so many programs there,” says OU student Katie Lloyd. “With the recent events there is just a lot more to take into consideration now.”

OU Study Abroad Program offices located in the Beatrice Carr Wallace Old Science Hall

Lloyd, a junior, plans on studying abroad the fall semester of her senior year. Western Carolina University has already reported one of their fall study abroad students returning home early from South Korea’s University in Daejeon. OU’s study abroad advisors were not available for comment on how the conflict will affect the University’s study abroad programs in South Korea. For more information on OU study abroad options visit http://www.ou.edu/ea/home.html.

To hear more of what affect Katie Lloyd believes the events could have on study abroad plans, click here:

Pope Benedict's Change of Heart...Sort Of

On November 20^th, statements from Pope Benedict XVI’s unreleased, book —condoning the use of condoms in Africa—were released to the public. Since then there has been a frenzy of media reaction as people have facebooked, tweeted and and aired the ‘breaking news’, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

The announcement comes almost a year after Pope Benedict‘s visit to Africa where he still denounced the use of condoms in the country ravaged by HIV/AIDS. Since then the Pope has acknowledged that the use of a condom is now acceptable “where the condom is understood only as a last resort, when the other two points fail to work.”

The Catholic Church has long supported abstinence until marriage and even after marriage they believe sexual activity should only take place for procreation. Though they still stand by the belief that pre-marital sex and the use of condoms “cheapens sexuality, the media lauds the Pope on this new stance. The Wall Street Journal reports The New York Times referring to it as a “milestone”, while the Associate Press calls it an “important moment”.

“It’s important that Africans practice safe sex because of the AIDs virus; it’s a big problem over there, huge,” says Kelly Tenner, a Catholic student at the University of Oklahoma. “If the Church were to continue to oppose condom use in Africa, how would it be helping that country curb the disease and better understand safe sex, or in the Church’s case abstinence, practices. What kind of message would that send?”

Catholic Church St. Thomas More, located on OU's campus.

The Pope concluded his new stance by saying "[The Church] of course does not regard it as a real or moral solution, but, in this or that case, there can be nonetheless, in the intention of reducing the risk of infection, a first step in a movement toward a different way, a more human way, of living sexuality." To read more excerpts on condom use from Pope Benedict’s new book, Light of the World, visit http://www.catholicworldreport.com/?gclid=CNT6waLZ1aUCFRRKgwodgR7Elg.

To hear more of what Kelly Tenner has to say click below: