Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Viva.
Birthing Story
The air in the forest is thick with rain and mosquitoes. Everything hums. Cicadas so loud you feel their vibrations in your chest, rattling your ribcage. You can’t sleep. The heat is a wet blanket over your face, clinging to your body. When your mother calls to you from the other room she sounds like an animal yelping in pain. You already know what is happening. It is past midnight and moonlight casts shadows across the floor. They remind you of ghosts. Rain hammers against the tin roof, pours through the hole in your ceiling, collecting in a pool near the door. She calls again – not words – just the sound of pain. Her voice cuts through the rain and the cicadas and the sound of your own heart pounding in your ears. You gather yourself for a moment – your breath catches like a bug in your throat. You rise, padding barefooted across the room. You step in the puddle. The water is warm. It feels viscous, like mud. You don’t turn the lights on. The kitchen looks two dimensional in the moonlight – a watercolour painting. For a second you stand there to check if you’re dreaming. Count your fingers. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. She calls again. You wonder if there is time to call an ambulance. Count your breath. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. You go to her.
By Erica Williams5 years ago in Viva
Desirée and the River - A Story of Strength and Survival
The water was higher than yesterday. As the Land Rover traversed the low-water bridge, the tires slowly lost traction and the front end of the vehicle began to float. One thing was immediately clear - they weren’t going to make it to the other side of the river.
By Christina Blanchette5 years ago in Viva
Love Conquers All
My mother taught me unconditional love. She believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself. She always held me on such a high pedestal, but I don’t feel as though I ever succeeded as being the daughter she truly needed. However, I still have time.
By Sonia Nesbitt Fronduto5 years ago in Viva
A Childless Daughter That Is A Motherless Child
The women who have gone through their fertile years escaping the world of motherhood, are cut from the same cloth. I find that the women who do not want children, felt this deep within their soul early in their life when they were in their late teenage years.
By Sandra Landau5 years ago in Viva
Dr. Jen Gunter, a Modern Women's Health Hero
One of the best things to happen on social media is finding someone entirely worth befriending or following. For me, this happened on a typically boring internet day when I saw an article by a woman named Dr. Jennifer Gunter (also referred to as Dr. Jen, but Dr. Gunter if you're not on her good side).
By Dani Banani5 years ago in Viva
Who Doesn't Have HPV
“Of course I have HPV,” goes the line from Broad City. Like, who doesn’t? HPV or human papillomavirus is the most common sexually transmitted infection in the USA. It is spread through vaginal, oral or anal sex. You can develop symptoms years after being infected, making it really hard to stop the spreading.
By Julie Moon5 years ago in Viva
The Price of Strength
He’s going to die. The thought was crystal clear. It came unsolicited and rang through my mind like the toll of a bell. A singular thought independent of emotion as I found him in the hospital bed. My mind had already processed the information my eyes had provided. It took all of what…. thirty seconds? The rest of me had to play catch up.
By Gingerella 5 years ago in Viva
The Solution is Inside Us.. Top Story - May 2021.
If there's one thing I've learned, no thing you do is too small. Pennies add up. It's amazing how a small things like this can make such a huge difference in the environment. I don't know why more people aren't talking about periods in the first place, let alone how to handle them, but it's about time we said something.
By Amargeaux Rai5 years ago in Viva
