Santa Poz has bestowed a wondrous gift upon us this holiday season. This week Martin Shkreli was arrested on charges of fraud unrelated to the Daraprim price hike that delivered Martin into our public consciousness with all the warmth of a fart in a crowded elevator...
Shawn’s Favorite Things
Magnetic (Serodiscordant) Couples on TV
As someone who is HIV positive and in a relationship with someone who is HIV negative, I was excited to hear that a serodiscordant (“magnetic”) couple was going to be included in season 4 of Shuga, the fictional series based on real world experiences with HIV. Femi is...
The Secret Sex Lives of Emojis- EXPOSED!
This World AIDS Day, MTV Staying Alive has exposed the secret sex lives of emojis in this shocking video: VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED. Well, it's no secret that emojis have been repurposed for sexting. But now, you don't need to do that anymore. To get some sweet...
Before I Die
Before I die... before I die I want to experience something I never have: life without hemophilia. I had a decade without HIV, and I'd like to enjoy as many years as possible on the tail end of this journey without it as well. As I stood in front of this wall in...
Shaking the Disease: An Unlikely Tribute to Depeche Mode
This month's issue of POZ Magazine is all about long-term survivors. And this year marks a special occasion in my own long-term journey as a positoid... 25 years ago, I met my favorite band, Depeche Mode, thanks to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Back in 1990, the...
Enter the… Blood Mirror!
It's Halloween season- and that means that a lot of fake blood is being used for cheap scares. But what shouldn't be scary? Blood donations from the gay community.And that's exactly why the art exhibit, Blood Mirror, was created. Using nine blood donations from gay,...
A Month of Superheroes: Charles Sanchez and Team Merce
This week saw the big finale of the 8 episode original HIV comedic web series, Merce. I was so intrigued when I first heard about Merce last year, via an Indiegogo campaign - could a comedic story centered around a guy living in NYC work? I believed. I donated. I...
Judd Winick: The Hero Who Crashed The Real World
I've written extensively about how much The Real World San Francisco influenced me- you know, the season of MTV's reality show that featured Pedro Zamora and his life with HIV. I wasn't talking about HIV openly when that aired in 1994. I loved seeing Pedro meet new...
A Month of Superheroes: Georgia Arnold/MTV Staying Alive
Georgia, Gwenn and me in 2010 Georgia Arnold is the Executive Director of the MTV Staying Alive Foundation, which fights HIV globally by funding youth-led programs. Over the last few years I've been fortunate to see what they can accomplish firsthand, since I'm on the...
A Month of Superheroes: Ryan White
Today marks the 25th anniversary of the Ryan White CARE Act. This federal program has provided so many services to the HIV/AIDS community. Much thanks goes to Ryan White, who passed to spirit in 1990, and his mother Jeanne for their role in changing the way people...