Brazil

Richard Swanson Didn't Reach Brazil, But He Found An Audience

Bill Chappell — Wed, 15 May 2013 20:41:00 +0000

Hundreds of condolences are appearing online for Richard Swanson, the Seattle man whose plan to dribble a soccer ball all the way to Brazil to raise money for charity ended Tuesday after he was struck and killed by a pickup truck in Oregon.

C-Sections Deliver Cachet For Wealthy Brazilian Women

Lourdes Garcia-Navarro — Sun, 12 May 2013 12:44:21 +0000

The office is immaculate, as you would expect in an upscale neighborhood in Sao Paulo — all sterile, white, modish plastic furniture and green plants. Behind the reception desk are pictures that would look more appropriate in a pop art gallery than a private maternity clinic.

The list of services at the clinic in Brazil's largest city is long: fertility treatments, specialized gynecology and, of course, obstetrics. But one thing they rarely do here is preside over a vaginal delivery.

Dr. Alexandre Sasaoka struggles to remember the last time he assisted at one.

How Different Cultures Handle Personal Space

Leila Fadel — Sun, 05 May 2013 09:24:00 +0000

Our perspectives on personal space — the distance we keep between the person in front of us at an ATM, the way we subdivide the area of an elevator — are often heavily influenced by the norms of the places we inhabit.

Jerry Seinfeld once focused an episode of his sitcom on the concept of personal space, giving us a new term: the "close talker."

Of course, invasions of personal space aren't always merely awkward.

As Youth Crime Spikes, Brazil Struggles For Answers

Lourdes Garcia-Navarro — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 18:39:00 +0000

In Rio de Janeiro, tourists are drawn to Copacabana for its wide beach and foliage-covered cliffs. But a month ago, not far from the tourist hub, an American woman and her French male companion were abducted. She was brutally gang-raped; he was beaten.

Perhaps what was most shocking to Brazilians, though, was the age of one of the alleged accomplices: He was barely in his teens.

"Why? That's what you ask yourself," says Sylvia Rumpoldt, who is walking with a friend at dusk by the sea in Rio. "It's horrible. It's criminal energy."

Her friend, Maria de Paula, agrees.

In Gritty Sao Paulo, Artists Take To The Streets

Lourdes Garcia-Navarro — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 17:03:00 +0000

It's lunchtime in the heart of Sao Paulo's financial district. Surrounded by tall buildings of cool glass and steel, men and women in suits and business attire walk back and forth busily in Brazil's largest city.

Standing amid the bustle is Leticia Matos — who is, for want of a better word, a crochet artist. She couldn't look more different from the people around her.

Wearing a short-sleeve shirt and covered in bright, quirky tattoos, Matos is at work, too.