February
28, 2008
www.thevistaonline.corn The Student Voice of the University of Central Oklahoma Since 1903
'IF YOU. STARVE SOMETHING, IT WILL DIE' Ex-porn addict Michael Leahy discusses his redemption by Jordan Richison Staff Writer
About 700 students gathered inside the Nigh University ballrooms on Monday to hear former sexaddict Michael Leahy's "Porn Nation: The Naked Truth," presentation about the sexual culture facing the world today. The 90-minute presentation opened up with a video of various people on the street giving their opinion about pornography and its use in today's society. Following the video, Leahy thanked everyone who was in attendance. He opened the presentation out by giving different statistics about porn. Leahy said the pornography industry earns about $57 billion worldwide and $12 billion comes from the United States. According to him, the porn industry makes more money than Major League Baseball, NFL, and NBA combined. Leahy also said the U.S. is the largest consumer, producer, and exporter of porn in the world. In the U.S., there are more adult bookstores than there are McDonald franchise, he said. The presentation had done two parts; the first was about the mind and the body; the
by Vista photographer Chris Albers
Michael Leahy asks the audience, "How many of you think you can recognize porn", during his presentation "Porn Nation: The Naked Truth", Monday night at the Nigh University Center Ballroom. second depicted- the—impact-- glOwed a video showing veil — 'featured variety of realous clips from your standard ity shows, movies, television on the soul. The first part focused on everyday cable titled "One shows, and music videos the impact sexual culture Nation Under Porn." showing some sort of sexuhas on today's media. Leahy The clips in the film al content. It also showed a
Playboy cover with Marylyn Monroe in 1950 looking the same as a 2005 Rolling Stone cover with Britney Spears. Leahy said today's cul-
tural is so consumed with pornography they can't tell the difference because it is the norm. "What was once thought of as porn, is now the cultural norm," Leahy says. Throughout the presentation, Leahy spoke about his own sexual addiction. He was first exposed to porn at the age of 11. He said as he was growing up pornography became his mood-altering drug. "People feel a lack of intimacy, and porn is a quick fix to help feel the void that they have," Leahy said. Another video Leahy showed was called "Birth of a Sex Syndrome." This video had interviews with former sex addicts, playmates, prostitutes, and experts talking about why sex is so addicting. One of the people who were interviewed was a girl named Liz. She said she wanted acceptance and sex was the way she could get it. She said at one point she was having sex so often, it became game to her. The video also talked about how the world tries to give people making them think they need to throw their body out to get love and acceptance. It also
see LEAHY, page 3
WISH Week 2008 stresses volunteerism UCO recognized
for local service
by Nelson Solomon Staff Writer
UCO international students are dedicating themselves to community service as part of WISH Week 2008. WISH Week is a series of community service events held on or near campus to encourage UCO students to participate and engage in volunteerism year-round. "Our goal is to encourage students to be aware of volunteer opportunities and to help the Edmond community," said Mio Goto, treasurer of the WISH organization. On Monday and Tuesday, WISH accepted donations for an African orphanage in the Nigh University Center Food Court. On Wednesday, members promoted recycling on campus, and today they will collect donations for Habitat for Humanity in the Nigh University Center Food Court from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. The group is set to help Habitat again on Saturday by building houses from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. On Sunday the students will visit a local nursing home to play Bingo with the residents, Goto said. WISH, which stands for Worldwide International
Mon. through Thurs. at 5 p.m.
by Nelson Solomon Staff Writer
by Vista photographer Brenda O'Brian
Members of WISH teach children about recycling as a part of WISH Week 2008 on Wednesday, Feb. 28 at the Child Development Center in the Human Environmental Sciences building.
Student Help, was added as an official UCOSA organization at this week's Senate meeting. Dr. Dennis Dunham, director of the Office of International Services and sponsor for WISH, said the idea came from the Japanese students themselves. "They wanted to help and later decided this was something they wanted to continue doing so therefore we worked together to create a student organization. We are very
proud of what they are doing and they are high standards for dedicated community service," he said. Goto said the group has already organized efforts to help people throughout the country. "We've already been to New Orleans and to Springfield, Missouri to help rebuild homes with Habitat," Goto said. It is a student organization focused on bringing UCO students from all nationalities
together to those in need and increase student awareness of volunteer opportunities, according to a news release from University Relations. Their purpose is to create volunteer opportunities that advance the goals of UCO through advocacy and leadership, according to Senate Resolution 08-207, passed on Monday. Organizers said other community service opportunities might be added to the week.
"Pessimism, whenyou get used to it, is just as agreeable as optimism." -Arnold Bennett
UCO has received the 2007 President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll recognition, according to a press release from University Relations. The award recognizes colleges and universities with innovative and effective community service and servicelearning programs. UCO is the largest university in the state of Oklahoma to receive the distinction, according to Dr. Kathryn Gage, Vice President for Student Affairs. "It's a testament to how committed this student body and these faculty and staff members are to community service," she said. UCO's Volunteer and Service Learning Center applied for the award, noting UCO's numerous student service projects and events offered to Edmond and the metropolitan area, along with service-learning courses that make service part of the class work. "Of course we made application for the award, but I
don't think it was an accident, I think it was intentional," Gage said. "The university has recently undergone a new planning envisioning process and some of the new emphases of the university have been identified. And service to the community is one of those things," Gage said. UCO has partnerships with dozens of area agencies that utilize the creativity and caring of our students to provide service on a variety of issues facing our society, Gage said in the release. Gage said: "There's been a process over the past year and a half to two years to build up the university's service efforts and the ways in which UCO makes a contribution to Edmond, Oklahoma City and other metropolitan area communities." Over the past year, the Volunteer and Service Learning Center was opened as a part of this effort, Gage said. Gage said there had been a volunteer center prior to this, but this "is a larger enterprise
see UCOSA, page 4
"Semi-Pro" Review Page 3