A Weekend of “RedempShawn”
June 27, 2009
It’s been a full week since I got sick. Have I been to the doctor? No, but don’t worry, this isn’t a Perez Hilton situation. “God, I’m bleeding! I should call the police!” I have a viral infection, not bacterial, which means the only thing I’d get at the hospital would be a bill. (Contacted doc via email, he concurred on my viral suspicions.)
My friends get worried when I go down for the count like this. But I just got labs done, and all my numbers are great. T-cells are steady in the high 500’s, VL is detectable but under 48 copies. It’s just a bug. The real tragedy here is that I missed going to Roanoke for Gwenn and I’s annual Miss Virginia trip. We’ve been there every year since 1999, when I made it there to see Gwenn compete despite really being sick with close to 100 t-cells. This year a contestant, Chinah Helmandollar, is doing the comedic monologue similar to the one Gwenn did when she competed in 1999. Gwenn is now officially a pageant legend!
But wait, that’s not to say I haven’t carved out my own niche in the last decade. I hosted a pageant last fall, and judged a pageant where two girls were crowned. If either of them win tonight, I plan on collecting royalties. At the very least, I’ll solicit a discreet donation to Decker’s Daily Coffee. Aside from those contributions to pageantdom, my real mark has been my uncanny ability to predict the top finishers…
Every year, I make a poster that I unveil before preliminary competitions in Roanoke. Since I wasn’t able to be there this week, I emailed it to our pageant buddies. And now, for the first time, unless I’ve already done this and forgot, I am unveiling my prediction here!
(The reference on the poster to last year’s “misstep” is that neither of my two picks in 2008 made the Top 5. Probably the most embarrassing moment of my life.)
But this weekend is all about returning to my rightful glory. Not only are these two ladies going to finish at the top, my 2008 Person of the Year, Mike the Miz, has been getting a lot of heat in the WWE. Tomorrow he is wrestling the company’s biggest star, John Cena, at the Bash, a pay-per-view I am not getting because I am so confidant in a dominant Miz victory.
Nothing will help me get over this cough like a little redemption- er, redempshawn. So go get ‘em, tigers. You, too, can watch the Miss Virginia pageant, live and streaming at 9 PM EST. (The ladies pictured on the poster, by the way, are Caressa Cameron and Caitlin Uze, respectively.)
As the Miz would say, tune in, because it’s going to be AWESOME.
Positively Yours,
Shawn
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See my band play in Charlottesville on July 11!
Today was National HIV Testing Day. Know your status and, positoid or negatoid, be healthy!
Tomorrow is National HIV Testing Day
June 26, 2009
Tomorrow is National HIV Testing Day. Don’t be an “Unknown”- know your HIV status. TKNO (The Know Now Organization) comes to you and provides discreet HIV testing. Check them out, and follow them on Twitter @TKNO.
Positively Yours,
Shawn
Share the Blog. Not the Virus. See my band play in Charlottesville on July 11!
Michael Jackson’s History with AIDS
June 26, 2009
I didn’t mean for the title of this blog to be misleading. Michael Jackson did not have AIDS. But I didn’t want to not blog about what everyone will be talking about today. Yes, today I am a follower.
I’ve always been a consumer of pop culture. This is, by far, the biggest loss of a pop star in my lifetime. The only reason why I’m not counting John Lennon is because I was only 5 when he was murdered. In terms of Jackson’s art, I wasn’t a fan of much of anything that wasn’t on Thriller, Jacko’s shining moment. In my eyes, however, one other moment shines much brighter than that album: his stand on compassion for those with AIDS.
In particular, his public support of Ryan White.
I know, *insert boy joke here*. But really, when he and Elton John came forward to pour resources into this fight, they understood how important it was to get the public’s attention and appeal to peoples’ greater sense of good. By choosing to align themselves with Ryan’s own mission to educate and enlighten people on the issues surrounding AIDS, they raised the visibility of the injustice Ryan- and others with HIV- were faced with.
Click to watch the video and hear the song he wrote in tribute to Ryan White. Yes, I admit, it’s cheesy. But hey, I’m trying to focus on my own greater sense of good, and am thankful that he stepped forward at a very scary time in this country’s history, and advocated for the well-being of positoids everywhere.
On a different note, I have to say that “Thriller” is the greatest music video of all-time. He wasn’t kidding when he told the girl in the video that he wasn’t like all the other guys, was he?
Positively Yours,
Shawn
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AIDS Bear Weighs in on Teen Vogue
June 25, 2009
Impassioned response to yesterday’s blog about Teen Vogue wasn’t limited to humans. Check out what Dab the AIDS Bear had to say about it.
“It is unbearable to think with the number of young people testing HIV positive in the United States that Teen Vogue would refuse to run a condom ad. Guess ignorance of HIV and AIDS in the United States is now in vogue in print as well as in media?” - Dab the AIDS Bear
(image by John Richard Allan)
Well said, Bear!
Positively Yours,
Shawn
Share the Blog. Not the Virus. See Shawn’s band play in Charlottesville on July 11!
Teen Vogue Rejects “Condom” Ad
June 24, 2009
Moving along from fake scandals (previous blog entry) to real ones. Just in case you don’t know, Just In Case, Inc. is a company that provides cool little discreet condom carrying cases. “Intimacy Compacts for Women” is how they describe them.
Here’s what they look like.
Great idea, right?
Well, Teen Vogue magazine doesn’t think so. Or they may like them, but they decided to deny them ad space. Of course, the magazine is a business, and can do whatever it wants. But this action speaks to the frustration that is the battle for reality-based sex education/awareness in the United States.
I caught up with Rachael Sudul of Just In Case Inc. to get more pissed off about this.
Q: so Rachael- you have a great product that has encourages healthy decision-making… Tell me what went down with Teen Vogue?
Rachael: We received an email through a separate company trying to sell remnant ad space for Teen Vogue and we thought it was a perfect publication for our product, with the rate of STDs in teens and young adults being 1 in 4. We had hoped to also spark a conversation. When we went to take advantage of the ad rate, we were told that the editors at Teen Vogue didn’t want us to advertise with them.
That blows.
It is a disheartening, yet predictable decision. Interesting however since one of their articles in the June/July issue is: “Modern Romance From kissing to “sexting,” check out what teens consider “hooking up” today.” Sex is used to sell everything even in Teen Vogue; jeans, makeup, food… so we teach our kids and young adults how to seduce in every aspect yet wave our fingers and yell about being abstinent.
And those editors- like politicians who champion abstinence- conveniently ignore their own sexual histories when they were teens. What message do you hope your product sends to people?
What our product represents is people taking responsibility for their sexual health, young or old, if you are CHOOSING to be sexually active, and you are not 100% sure of your own status or your partner’s, use a condom.
When you’re not being cockblocked by Teen Vogue, whom do you advertise with?
We have advertised with Shape magazine and have had a good amount of editorials in large publications such as Shape, Self, Life&Style, and even Grey’s Anatomy magazine. Kate Walsh talked about our compacts on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson - it’s the last few minutes of this interview.
Too cool. So there is hope. Do you have a favorite dumb reaction to your product?
The reaction is always to the condom… “oh I don’t use condoms!!” As if they are reserved for the more promiscuous of us… if we could just normalize the condom by talking about it we could erase the stigma it has… birth control pills had a stigma as well in the beginning and it has diminished over the years. We can advertise Viagra and KY Lubricant during prime time on national TV, but not the condom? Interestingly the STD rates have skyrocketed in seniors with many thanks to that little blue pill since they believe pregnancy is the worst that unprotected sex can bring…
Yeah, sexual health isn’t just for the whippersnappers anymore. Thanks for your time, Rachael, and thanks to you and your mom for creating such a necessary- and cool- product. Viva la condom!
To learn more about the cases, and get one for yourself, go to justincaseinc.com. You can also follow Rachael on Twitter, which is where I first heard about this. Please share this interview with others.
Positively Yours,
Shawn
Share the Blog. Not the Virus. See Shawn’s band play in Charlottesville on July 11!
Decker’s Daily Sex Scandal
June 23, 2009
Have been feeling a bit under the weather since Saturday. A little wispy cough finally turned into something, one of those nasal drip deals; bad in the morning because all night long your throat gets coated with snot.
Yummy.
The hardest part hasn’t been having to stay inside, it’s been my withdrawals from enjoying my daily iced mocha. I thought AIDS was hard, but this is a nightmare. How much can one kid take, God? On top of that, I was just starting to get over my first “sex scandal” on Decker’s Daily when this photo was posted on June 18…
I think someone with the Pozarazzi took it. Why would Poz magazine try to bring down Decker’s Daily? I don’t know. Never mind that I’m the only one with the password to upload pictures… or that coffee sponsorships have dried up, and the timing of this blog, cough and sex scandal are coinciding like a perfect storm to make you the reader vulnerable to sponsoring me for a comeback cup of coffee.
Pay no attention to that!
I plan to, one way or another, make it out today to get me an iced mocha. Then, hopefully, I won’t be coughing by the evening when I’m supposed to rock out with Synthetic Division band practice.
Thank goodness for silly blog entries, Monday Night Raw, Kathy Griffin, Jon & Kate (I really thought Jon Stewart was going to be announced as the replacement “Jon” as the big surprise) and the Perez Hilton VS. Will.I.Am slugfest. They all distracted me enough to allow me to forget about feeling under the weather!
Now, it’s off to bed. Here’s to hoping I wake up feeling better than the last two mornings- er, afternoons.
Positively Yours,
Shawn
Share the Blog. Not the Virus. See Shawn’s band play in Charlottesville on July 11!
Synthetic Division HIV Benefit Show July 11
June 22, 2009
I’m very excited to be playing another show with my synthpop duo-now-trio, Synthetic Division. Not only that, it’s a benefit for the AIDS Walk Washington DC, which Gwenn and I will be walking in with Team Supersnack in October.
Here’s a video I made to promote the July 11 show.
If you’re on Facebook, the Event page is here.
The details are as follows:
Synthetic Division w/ Silent Muse
Venue: Outback Lodge in C’ville, VA
Doors at 8 pm, close at Midnight
$10
To see another promo vid featuring a Synthetic Division song, click here. Any friends who read the blog and are coming to the show, we will be playing a couple of new songs. I look forward to finishing up some new material and posting it on synthetic-division.com.
Positively Yours,
Shawn
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Happy Father’s Day
June 21, 2009
Thank you, Dad. For giving me the athletic genetics that offset hemophilia, thus giving me the ability to crush my opponents. Here’s a pic of my father in the 1970’s, doing damage on the bowling lanes.
My dad is a pretty humble guy. What’s funny about inheriting his sporting abilities is that I also inherited my mom’s competitive nature. It really makes me kind of a supernova of sorts, not content with just an 8-ball team championship or a putt putt title. I blogged about representing everyone living with HIV when I compete but, in my own way, I also honor my parents every time I crush an adversary.
Honestly, I’ve been very lucky in the parent department. I love my parents more than I can express here in words. They’ve fought for me, taught me how to treat others with respect and never settled for any toolish behavior on my part. I am who I am today because of all those lessons.
So, Happy Father’s Day to all the cool dads out there, including mine. I love ya, Dad.
Positively Yours,
Shawn
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Recent Live Events
June 17, 2009
NOTE: THIS BLOG IS AN HTML MESS, WILL FIX WHEN I GET HOME!
Quick blog. Here’s a couple of places I’ve been recently. For a birthday gift, my parents bought Gwenn tickets to see her favorite band, No Doubt, who happen to be one of my faves, too.
We got trapped in traffic on the 3-hour car trip to Virginia Beach, mainly because humans hate to drive into tunnels underwater. Gwenn was really frustrated, but we allowed enough time for the over hour delay. I told her that for thousands and thousands of years humans didn’t travel by car, nor were they capable of traveling “underwater” at over the speed of their ability to swim. Not sure if my explanation helped or fanned Gwenn’s flames of frustration.
No Doubt, however, put on a show worthy of the irritation of getting there. So glad they decided to get back on the road together. That was last week, this week we went to see some pro wrestling! Gwenn’s first live event. “The Punjabi Prince” The Great Khali was there, as was Chris Jericho, Edge and Jeff Hardy.
Here’s a shot- no, that’s not me holding the sign.
At both shows, I learned moves for an upcoming Synthetic Division show. More in the next blog or two about that, right now I’m off to eat a bowl of cereal and hit the road to speak at a retreat for positoids in the woods. Seriously!
Till then, I hope you are feelin’ hella good.
Oh yeah yeah.
Positively Yours,
Shawn
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Competitive Anger Management
June 16, 2009
Last night I went to pool league, and obtained my championship mug. For the second season in a row, the 8-man 8-Ball team I play on- The Overlords- have been the points leaders in Charlottesville. I couldn’t believe I haven’t bragged about it on the blog yet.
Receiving the mug should have been a good thing, but lately my competitive spirit has started to take over my life. There’s no official name for what I’m feeling, so I’m going to call it ACADS: Acute Competitive Anger Disorder Syndrome. There’s no need for the “Syndrome” at the end, it just sounds better with the “S”.
Anyway, I’m really putting a lot of pressure on myself to defend the Stroke Play putt putt championship next time I play Ben, and to hold up my end of the bargain in pool league alongside the Overlords. Now, when I compete, it’s not just for my own ego, it’s for the hopes and dreams of everyone living with AIDS.
Representing an entire community- while glorious- definitely has it’s drawbacks.
I’m trying an experimental therapy to nip ACADS in the bud. This week, I’m going to a live wrestling event. Kind of a shock therapy. By watching 3 consecutive hours of wrestling without the fast forward feature on TiVo, I’ll be exposing myself to others who have, or at least pretend to have, ACADS as well. (To see my Poz column in which I interviewed Ric Flair, go here.)
Wish me luck!
Positively Yours,
Shawn
PS… tired of waiting for a blog entry? You can follow my ultra-annoying tweets on Twitter!
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