One guy boarding the bus who is far too handsome and besuited to be a print journalist—broadcast, for sure—turns out to be Ari Shapiro of NPR. Shapiro is rather annoyingly accomplished and perfect. He defies all we hear about the ugliness of radio people. Olive-skinned with eight-inch eyelashes. He does parkour, the European sport of jumping off buildings. He also performs with the band Pink Martini and will be playing Carnegie Hall this year.
Does Mitt Romney Have a Soul?
Tuesday, August 14th, 2012How provocateur Dan Savage became MTV’s sex advisor in ‘Savage U’
Friday, March 30th, 2012Dan Savage never intended to be the anti-bullying Gandhi, and he couldn’t have predicted he would become a voice of reason for a generation of young adults confused about their sex lives. A controversial sex columnist and alternative newspaper editor, Savage regularly gets stopped at airports and asked for advice on sexual ethics and techniques these days. Gay teens hug him in gratitude for co-creating the “It Gets Better” campaign.
Now he’s launching a reality series: MTV’s “Savage U,” which premieres Tuesday at 11 p.m. It follows Savage as he travels to college campuses across the country to lecture and take questions from students seeking his sexual wisdom.
Dan Savage’s TV Moment Continues in MTV Show
Thursday, March 29th, 2012A writer and provocateur, Dan Savage has an easy-going, glib manner when the subject is sex advice that’s well suited to TV — and especially engaging college students, as he tours and lectures dispensing much-needed wisdom to the hormonally challenged population.
10 Questions for Dan Savage
Monday, March 28th, 2011How did you come up with the idea for It Gets Better?
Last summer I was reading about teen suicides, speaking at colleges and thinking that what I should be doing is going to high schools. But I would never get permission, as a gay adult, to speak to gay kids. Then it occurred to me that in the YouTube era, I was waiting for permission I no longer needed.
Are there more suicides and incidents of bullying now, or are we simply more aware?
Both. I think that kids are coming out younger. So [some] suicides that used to be chalked up to “Who knows why they were sad?” we are now able to attribute to conflict about sexual orientation. And with the culture wars in the past 20 years, I don’t think we realized how bad it was getting in [certain] places.
This campaign gives kids hope but doesn’t change their lives right now. How can we do that?
There’s nothing about this campaign that precludes doing more. But we also have to recognize that there are places where we will never be able to fix the gay-bullying problem. So this may be the best we can do.