Arts & Sciences

Many Americans can guess a caller’s ethnic background from their first hello on the telephone. Can the sound of your voice be used against you?However, the inventor of the term “linguistic profiling” has found that when a voice sounds African-American or Mexican-American, racial discrimination may follow. In studying this phenomenon through hundreds of test phone calls, John Baugh, Ph.D., the Margaret Bush Wilson Professor and director of African and African American Studies in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, has found that many people made racist, snap judgments about callers with diverse dialects. Some potential employers, real estate agents, loan officers and service providers did it repeatedly, he says. Long before they could evaluate callers’ abilities, accomplishments, credit rating, work ethic or good works, they blocked callers based solely on linguistics.

Courtesy photoLucie Brock-BroidoAcclaimed poet Lucie Brock-Broido will read from her work at 8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 9, for The Writing Program Reading Series. She is the author of three collections of poetry, including Trouble in Mind (2004), The Master Letters (1995) and A Hunger (1988).

Brett Bailey’s exploration of the South African psyche is based on a true story; it’s a show “about fear, how it hypnotizes society and destroys community.”

She will also be in residence with the Dance Program Jan. 27-Feb. 1 to conduct a series of master classes with intermediate and upper-level dance students.

An exhibit titled Offcourse, featuring works from more than 65 WUSTL graduate students, will be at Baseline Gallery from Jan. 28-Feb. 4.

You don’t have to be an art major to create and exhibit artwork, and Washington University’s 2nd Annual Graduate Student Visual Arts Exhibit is a testament to that. Washington University graduate students from all disciplines were invited to submit visually compelling creations for an exhibit at Baseline Gallery, 1110 Washington Ave., in the downtown loft district. When the exhibit opens with a reception from 6-10 p.m. Jan. 28, more than 65 graduate students representing disciplines ranging from chemistry, medical sciences, engineering and law to anthropology, architecture, art and English, will have their creative sides on display. The exhibit, titled “Offcourse,” runs through Feb. 4.

The program will range from Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, probably Mozart’s most popular and best-known work, to the less-familiar Adagio and Fugue in C Minor, K. 546.

The three recipients will spend a semester in residence with the center, researching a new book project while attending a variety of presentations.

Her five novels are Labrador, The Girl Who Trod on a Loaf, Hell: A Novel and The Walking Tour and Versailles; her sixth, The Thin Place, is forthcoming this month.

Courtesy photoMichel YangMichel Yang, the 2005-06 Marcus Artists for the Dance Program in Washington University’s Performing Arts Department (PAD) in Arts & Sciences, will present an informal concert of improvisational works at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 1. In addition, Yang will be in residence Jan. 27 to Feb. 1 to conduct a series of master classes with intermediate and upper-level dance students.