They aired of the first Safe Sex PSAs in ‘85, covered the Persian Gulf War in ‘91, registered 37,000 new voters in ‘96 and documented genocide in Sudan in ‘04.

But now all the focus is on The Hills and Real World, which is why it is hard to believe MTV is still at the forefront of what is relevant to us. With full disclosure, I didn’t realize (until I got this gig and had to become familiar with MTV again), that significant political and social trails are still being blazed. Big ones. Right before your eyes. 

Let me back up to share with you how I came to this post by admitting how sheltered my childhood was - (I did grow up in Indiana).

The year was 1996. Sixth grade. I saw the orthodontists more than my homeroom and was at the primo-awkward stage in life. Yes, it was *awesome. Note that sarcasm.

I was home on a summer day flipping through the channels and my eye caught Fiona Apple’s Criminal music video. I couldn’t help it, I was mesmerized for too many reasons to mention. Fifteen seconds later, my Mom walked into the room. I flipped the channel. She turned it back on — and what followed was total awkwardness.  The next thing I knew, my Mom was on the phone with the cable company, and the channel was blocked. My life would forever be changed.

As I would learn a decade later, the video, Fiona said, was about ”feeling bad for getting something so easily by using your sexuality.” Now that I think of it, it is ironic that this video was about guilt. Something my Catholic upbringing made me all too familiar with.

That was a tragic afternoon but one that has informed, perhaps in the most backwards way, my adolescence and now young adulthood.  The irony is that ten years later, MTV has come back into my life.  If my Mom were here to share this adventure with me, I’m sure she would be proud. And here’s why.