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Road Rules' Resident Grafitti artist goes one on one with The Real World's Melissa
After playing six or seven rounds of phone tag (I finally won) with the young,
talented proactive and yes, gorgeous Yes from MTV's Road Rules Semester
at Sea, I finally sat down to talk with him about his life after fame,
his involvement and passion for Truth
(an anti-smoking campaign), and his outlook on his future. (So, yeah, I got his number!)
Let's
just say this kid is appropriately named. Yes, a 22 year old college
senior at UC Berkeley has never turned an adoring fan away. Even two
years after his debut on Road Rules, people still approach him for autographs
or a simple q & a. He is very generous and open with his life and says
"sometimes my lunch gets cold" when he is sharing face time with fans.
When he is not taking pictures or scribbling his name down on a piece of
paper, he is passionately involved with Truth
, an anti-smoking campaign geared at getting the Truth
out about both the practices within the tobacco industry and
the dangers of smoking. (You can check out their cool site www.thetruth.com
for more info and crazy pictures of the effects of smoking). Here, Yes
will answer some FAQs about Truth
.
Why did you get involved with the Truth?
A very personal close friend of mine died from tobacco as a freshman,
but it wasn't a typical tobacco-related death, like cancer. She was
in her dorm and fell asleep with a cigarette in her hand and burned
to death. Truth
is a great outlet for me to make a difference, to get out a
good message and it's a good venue for advocacy for me.
How do people get involved with Truth ?
Check out thetruth.com
or look in your community to find out what's going on with the tobacco
industry. We now have four Truth Centers in Los Angeles, Chicago, New
York and Atlanta. We have Truth Youth out on the streets, throwing parties
and giving out gear.
What exactly was the April Fools joke that the Truth played?
We made a commercial featuring a "representative" of big tobacco admitting
to the facts that there ARE toxic poisons in cigarettes and announcing
that ALL cigarettes are being pulled off the shelves until there is
a solution to all the deaths related to smoking…. April Fools!
Yes has definitely used his fame and his unique look as a way to take a
stand against the tobacco industry. He has been a celebrity guest speaker
and facilitator for the Truth
to let people know about the deadly products that the tobacco
industry has to offer. Yes says "there is nothing cool about cigarettes."
And yes, that's absolutely right.
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