LONDON: Two decades ago, I got a tattoo of an Akua’ba statuette on my inner right ankle. A female fertility symbol in Ghana, the disc-headed figure comes from the Akan legend of Akua, a woman who went to a priest for advice because she was having trouble conceiving. He instructed her to have a small […]

LONDON–I call it my Wimbledon breakdown. Tennis players Rafael Nadal and Thomaz Bellucci were doing a changeover during their first round match at Wimbledon in 2015 when I felt my phone buzz in my pocket. When I saw it was my gynecologist, I jumped out of my seat and raced down the stairs, hoping for […]

SIMIEN MOUNTAINS, ETHIOPIA—In the end, I couldn’t do it. I looked up at the big narrow rock that had a number of awkward indentations leading up to a flat outlook point. From there, I would be able to see not only the beginning of the Jinbar waterfall, but also watch as the water tumbled down […]

I am writing a book about the barriers to education that adolescent girls face across the globe. I met one 14/15 year old girl, Vica/Vika 15 years ago in Yaroslavl, Russia and I am trying to locate her to find out what happened to her. I do not know her last name, but I do […]

I see that Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders will be taking their Democratic roadshow to Flint, Michigan—my hometown—on March 6. They will be holding a debate there (location TBD), invariably to do grandstanding and waxing lyrical about what a tragedy has befallen Flint.