Last night, MTV premiered "Pedro," a story about his life and a chronicle of his efforts to raise awareness of HIV and AIDS. President Bill Clinton famously called him to tell him how much his efforts meant and that "the country owed him a lot." His eventual death was probably the first time that many young people actually felt that someone they knew and cared about died from a disease that carried a lot of myths, misperceptions and huge stigma.

Such is the power of TV--especially reality TV. We all know in our heads that reality TV isn't real. We know people exaggerate their behavior to get more air time and that they're all competing for their 15 minutes.

But in our hearts we do get attached to these people. We start to care about them in spite of ourselves, and that's why we keep watching. A lot has changed since 1994, when Pedro and his Real World housemates were early pioneers of the entire reality TV phenomenon. But what he did in his short life, what he meant to viewers and what he taught them about living with HIV continues to mean something to real live teens. He proved that someone on TV really can reach through the screen and change lives.

Today, half of all sexually-active young people will contract an STD by age 25--and most won't know it. That's why last night's premiere of "Pedro" kicked off STD Awareness Month, and GYT: Get Yourself Tested, a new public awareness campaign from MTV, the Kaiser Family Foundation and Planned Parenthood Federation of America. GYT is an extension of MTV and Kaiser's "It's Your (Sex) Life" partnership to promote responsible decision making about sex. Check out their newly revamped web site, watch the movie on MTV, and tell us what you think.

I had the privilege of spending the last couple of days in Milwaukee and Madison, WI where some extraordinary teen pregnancy prevention efforts are underway.  First, we celebrated with Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin  at its annual luncheon where our CEO Sarah Brown gave a rousing address about communicating the basics on relationships, sex, and childbearing with our kids.  PPWI operates 31 family planning and education centers throughout the state, many of which help parents and teens communicate about all the aforementioned icky stuff.

 

We also spent some time with the talented folks at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel whose editorial board has named teen pregnancy as one of its top agenda items for 2008.  Talk about raising the level of public discourse.  What better way to make people face the facts than to make them swallow the truth with their morning coffee?  And here's the truth:  In Milwaukee, 2,051 teens gave birth in 2006, both the teen pregnancy and teen birth rates increased between 2005 and 2006, and the city's teen birth rate is almost twice the national rate.  There is much work to do.

 

We also met the good people who are running Milwaukee's Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative.  The local United Way is spearheading the efforts to reduce the city's teen pregnancy rate by 46 percent by 2015.  Not 45 percent.  Not 50.  46 percent.  The precision tells you they're for real.

 

I might have been in Milwaukee, but the idea of an entire city working together on a common goal made it feel more like Mayberry...and that's a good thing.  They mayor is on board, the health commissioner co-chairs the city-wide oversight committee on teen pregnancy prevention with the publisher of the local paper, and several non-profit and community organizations are working to fund and put on effective programs that help youth avoid too early pregnancy and childbearing.  I commend any community that can bring people together to tackle their common concerns - especially when it's one as tough and important as this one. 

Spider-Man's most infamous and dangerous enemies are generally considered to be the Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus and Venom.  Like Spider-Man, the majority of these villains' powers originate with scientific accidents or the misuse of scientific technology, and they tend to have animal-themed costumes or powers.  Spider-Man, somewhat of a lone wolf, has on occasion teamed up with other spandex-clad heroes, such as Daredevil, the Black Cat, and the Avengers to battle the forces of evil in the Marvel Universe.

One of my colleagues recently brought to work what I consider to be the greatest Spider-Man team-up of all time.  In 1976, Marvel Comics and Planned Parenthood collaborated on a Spider-Man special on teen pregnancy. The villain, Prodigy, is an alien who wants teenagers to crank out babies so he can steal them and take them back to his home planet (Intellectia, of course!) for slave labor. To further his plans, the villain launches a campaign of misinformation to lull teenagers into having wanton unprotected sex.  Devious!!!

Of course, in the end Spider-Man hitches a ride on a helicopter, cracks the skulls of the Prodigy's goons, and exposes the Prodigy and his nefarious plan.  The day is saved and Spider-Man and Planned Parenthood teach everyone a good lesson about not taking sex advice from interstellar villains with dreams of galactic dominance.

The above plot summary just can't do this thing justice, so I found the entire issue on Andrew Farago's LiveJournal page. And if you really need to get your own copy, there may still be a few available on EBay.  Happy ready, True Believers!