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Tuesday November 21st February 13, 2007
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National Condom Week to raise awareness by Andrew Knittle Staff Writer When students at the ultraliberal University of California at Berkeley started what is now called National Condom Week in the late 1970s, they may or may not have known it would become a truly “national” campaign. The outbreak of AIDS in the early 1980s, and the ensuing nationwide panic that followed turned the Berkeley students’ concept into a tool used by an array of organizations, including other universities, high schools and family planning centers like Planned Parenthood. Terry Dennison, Planned Parenthood of Central Oklahoma’s director of educational services, said PPCO uses NCW to drive home the importance of using condoms. “It [NCW] is a terrific opportunity to educate people about the importance of prevention and responsible condom use and to address anti-condom claims,” Dennison said. The “anti-condom claims” Dennison refers to are part of a recent societal movement focusing on conservative values and abstinence that uses politics to curtail NCW’s message of awareness, prevention and by Vista photographer Alex Gambill responsible sexual behavior. “Instead of providing National Condom Week started at the University of California at Berkeley in 1978 from Feb. 12 to Feb. 16, to make students more aware accurate information about of safer sex practices. all people’s options in sexu-
Meningitis vaccines available to students by Lyndsay Gillum Staff Writer Due to recent news that an OSU student is being treated for bacterial meningitis, the Student
Health Center is taking careful precautions by making vaccines available to students, faculty and staff. On Tuesday, an OSU sophomore, Samantha Ellerbach, was diagnosed with bacterial meningitis. She was life-flighted from Stillwater to the Tulsa OSU Medical Center early Tuesday morning. According to a statement releasedWednesday by her mother, Susan Ellerbach, “She is being treated aggressively, and while Samantha remains in intensive care, all indications are she will have a full recovery.” Meningitis is an infection of the fluid of the spinal cord and fluid that surrounds the brain. There are two types of meningitis, viral and bacterial. “Bacterial can be treated with antibiotics but the Neisseria meningitides bacterial infection is a serious
and often life threatening infection,” LuAnn Dyer, RN at the Student Health Center, said. “Viral meningitis is not usually as severe or contagious.” The bacteria are not easily transmitted and are spread from person
to person through direct contact, such as kissing, coughing, sharing drinks, cigarettes and lip balm, Dyer said. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, none of the bacteria that cause meningitis are as contagious as things like the common cold or flu, and they are not spread by casual contact or by simply breathing the air where an infected person has been. The common symptoms usually include a severe headache, stiff neck and a high fever. “They may begin as flulike symptoms and get steadily worse,” Dyer said. As the disease progresses, “it causes swelling of the membranes around the brain and spinal cord, or an infection of the blood.” Meningitis can be diagnosed by a spinal tap and is treated
see Health, page 3
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al decision making, there is a conservative movement, both here and abroad, to push abstinence-only-until-marriage while marginalizing the important part that condoms play in prevention,” Dennison said. And while Dennison acknowledges that abstaining from sex until marriage is no doubt the safest way to prevent the transmission of STDs and unwanted pregnancies, he cites “reality” as a key factor in getting NCW’s message out there. “PPCO appreciates the fact that abstinence is a valid and practical choice,” Dennison said. “The reality, though, is that most people, married or not, will choose to have sex at some point in their lives.” But in the greater Oklahoma City area, most people aren’t even aware of NCW existence because local high schools and universities rarely, if ever, do anything to promote the campaign. “I think most administrations find this topic a little too risky,” Dennison said. UCO business major Kara Devlin graduated from Norman High School less than two years ago and said her school never did anything to promote NCW, despite the fact that a majority of the students were engaging in pre-marital sex. “I wouldn’t say that abstinence
see NCW, page 3
Valentine's Day for the loving kind An estimated one billion valentine cards are sent each year, making Valentine’s Day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year. by Lyndsay Gillum Staff Writer Every Feb. 14, the lovestruck and those hoping to find love, line up to purchase candy, flowers and other romantic gifts for their special someone. The phrase “Will you be my valentine?” will be uttered from the mouths of lovers on this special day, Feb. 14, but do they know what the day for lovers is about? “Valentine’s Day to me is a day to celebrate relationships and to express our love for family and friends,” Holly Franks, photo journalism senior, said. Some critics argue that Valentine’s Day is simply a Hallmark holiday introduced to North America by British settlers. The factual history of Valentine’s Day and the patron saint it’s named after is a much more complex story. The holiday is named after two Christian martyrs named Valentine of Rome and Valentine of Terni. Both are listed in early martyrologies under the date Feb. 14 and it has been concluded that the two were the same person, according to Wikipedia.com. According to History. com, one legend said while Valentine was in prison, he sent the first valentine to a girl who visited him during his incarceration. She is said to be his jailor’s daughter. Before his death, he allegedly wrote her a letter, which he signed, “From your Valentine.” Another legend states that Roman Emperor Claudius II
Photo illustration by Vista photographer Alex Gambill
Valentine's Day, Feb. 14, is a traditional holiday that is still viewed as a heartwarming time for couples to spend quality time together and buy presents. outlawed marriage for young men, because single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families. St. Valentine, a priest in Rome, secretly performed marriages for young lovers. When Valentine’s actions were discovered, Claudius ordered he be put to death, according to History.com. In Great Britain, Valentine’s Day began to be popularly celebrated around the 17th century. By the middle of the 18th century, it was common for friends and lovers in all social classes to exchange small
tokens of affection or handwritten notes. By the end of the century, printed cards began to replace written letters due to improvements in technology. Valentine’s greetings were popular as far back as the Middle Ages. The oldest known Valentine is on display at the British Museum. Esther Howland created the first commercial Valentine’s Day greeting cards. Howland, known as the ‘Mother of the Valentine,’ made elaborate creations with real lace, ribbons and colorful pictures known as “scrap,” according to History.com.
According to the Greeting Card Association, an estimated one billion valentine cards are sent each year, making Valentine’s Day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year. Women purchase approximately 85 percent of all valentines. Over 50 percent of all the Valentine’s Day cards are purchased in the six days prior to Feb.14, making it a delight for procrastinators out there. Red roses are the single most popular
see Valentine, page 3
"Love is the triumph of imagination over intelligence." - H. L. Menken
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