In their poor country with too few doctors for too many need families, thousands of young Ethiopian women act as counselors, midwives, health teachers and sources of inspiration. By Linda Villarosa Eight years ago, Aster Roba saw something no 14-year-old schoolgirl should ever have to witness: her mother wrestling with near fatal complications during childbirth. […]
Author: Linda Villarosa
Linda Villarosa directs the journalism program at City College in Harlem. As as a writer and editor, she has contributed to a number of national publications, including Essence Magazine, the New York Times, Glamour, Slate and the Root. She is currently working on a PBS documentary about AIDS in black America.
For Colored Girls: When the Men Are Not Enuf
No one has ever accused me of being an apologist for men. But I felt like one as I walked out of For Colored Girls. Men don’t get a fair shake in the movie; they are bashed and trashed from start to finish. Of course this movie is not about them. It’s about a group […]
Oh, Grow Up Already!
On Sunday, The New York Times Magazine cover story, “What Is It About 20-Somethings,” argued that society is in the thick of a changing timetable for the transition to adulthood. To explain why young folks are stuck in a generational loop of the Peter Pan syndrome—unwilling or unable to grow up, get a job and […]