Lifestyle

The human body is an amazing thing. It is capable of creating life, surviving horrible diseases and accidents, and tasting all kinds of good (and equally bad) food). But human bodies are also susceptible to great tragedies, from freak accidents to medical mysteries. Understanding your body and how it works is vital to not only surviving, but also to live longer. So often when something goes wrong with our bodies, it can be traced back to our diets.

You could probably argue that the mind of the architect has never dreamed up a style of building quite as romantic as the Gothic fortress. There is something about its points and precision – sharp turrets pointing towards the heavens, a room at the top perfect for a trapped princess or a fairytale character in some curious peril – that sings across the centuries. What, after all, is the Cinderella Castle – the fibreglass fantasy which adorns Disney theme parks across the planet – but a modern evocation of this grand design?

“Brazilian Modern: The Living Art of Roberto Burle Marx” has taken over the New York Botanical Garden — and offers an exuberant gust of tropical modernism that will thrill anyone caught in the concrete jungle. Burle Marx, Brazil’s greatest landscape designer, hasn’t lacked for institutional attention lately; just three years ago the Jewish Museum presented a retrospective of his paintings, tapestries, jewelry and designs for green spaces and public thoroughfares in Rio, Brasília, and even Miami. But that show could not offer what this one does: a full-scale, fragrant, enchantingly lush garden, complete with numerous flowering plants and philodendrons that Burle Marx himself first identified.

While Mexico holds conservative views when it comes to gender roles, flexibility in this area was common in the country prior to being introduced to Catholicism. And even now, attitudes towards sexuality and gender are open in the state of Oaxaca. Instead of being ridiculed or judged, the homosexual crossdressers in the town of Oaxacaqueno de Juchitan in southern Mexico are revered members of their community.

One way of shielding children from gender stereotypes: Keep their biological sex secret. Three-year-old twins Zyler and Kadyn Sharpe scurried around the boys and girls clothing racks of a narrow consignment store filled with toys. Zyler, wearing rainbow leggings, scrutinized a pair of hot-pink-and-purple sneakers. Kadyn, in a T-Rex shirt, fixated on a musical cube that flashed colorful lights. At a glance, the only discernible difference between these fraternal twins is their hair — Zyler’s is brown and Kadyn’s is blond.