http://www.shawnandgwenn.com HIV education, AIDS, sexual health, sex education, humor. Fri, 19 Mar 2010 17:52:44 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Today marks the 20-year anniversary of the release (UK) of Depeche Mode's career-defining album, Violator. It's safe to say that no other album has had quite the same impact on my life as this one. I discovered Depeche Mode a year or so before this album's release.  I was 13, ... http://www.shawnandgwenn.com/depeche-modes-violator-turns-20/ Charles Oliff, winner of the Labtest Contest, proved that he's not only in tune with my t-cell count, but that he's also in tune with the people.  Here's Charles' victory speech- which he admits may have been influenced by his recent viewing of the Oscars. "I would first like to thank ... http://www.shawnandgwenn.com/t-cell-champions-victory-speech/ All of us, really.  I was so happy to see so many people take a guess at my t-cells in the Labtest Contest, and it was quite dramatic each time a Poz Comment came in.  The ebb and flow was tremendous- so much better than that damn Clottey Pacquiao fight ... http://www.shawnandgwenn.com/the-winner-of-the-labtest-contest-is/ No, it's about that Staying Alive... MTV's Staying Alive Foundation is dedicated to HIV prevention and youth-driven messages, giving out grants to young educators determined to prevent the continued- and needless- infection of their peers. Before becoming a grant-giving foundation, Staying Alive was a series of yearly HIV/AIDS programs that aired ... http://www.shawnandgwenn.com/mtvs-staying-alive-foundation/ I had the coolest thing happen on Twitter a couple of weeks.  As Gwenn and I were keeping up with the Winter Olympics, I noticed a post by a former Olympic Gold medalist.  "Surfing the internet..."It was made by none other than Lennox Lewis, the last reigning unified champion of ... http://www.shawnandgwenn.com/the-winner-olympics-with-lennox-lewis/ It's been ten years since Gwenn and I started speaking at colleges, and we've been fortunate to have been invited to so many diverse campuses across the United States. One of the schools that has been a glaring omission has been James Madison University, where Gwenn went to ... http://www.shawnandgwenn.com/snooki-speaks-at-jmu/ When I first started blogging about being HIV positive (those blogs are somewhere, I think) in 1996, one of the ideas I had was The Labtest Contest.  I wanted to make getting my routine rounds of blood drawing fun for my new friends in the AIDS community.At the time, I ... http://www.shawnandgwenn.com/the-labtest-contest-is-here-so-win-something/ Think there's no more progress to be made for women now that Kathryn Bigelow cockblocked ex-hubbie James Cameron and became the first female to win Best Director last night at the Oscars?  Think again.The most recent issue of Poz explores how women are handling life with HIV and the sobering ... http://www.shawnandgwenn.com/today-is-international-womens-day/ This is the first Positoid of the Day Award.  I won't be able to do this every day, just whenever someone with HIV does something inspiring or magical or both. Today's Positoid of the Day is Poz coverboy Jack Mackenroth, who has more than earned the honor with this Flashdance-inspired ... http://www.shawnandgwenn.com/positoid-of-the-day-jack-mackenroth/ I'd posted about Gwenn and I showcasing at the National Association for Campus Activities (NACA) conference a couple of weeks ago, but I haven't really said what a big deal that was. We got a much coveted 15-minute slot to do our thing, selected from hundreds of submissions, because you're ... http://www.shawnandgwenn.com/friendly-faces-at-naca/