On March 27

On this day in ...

... 1989 (10 years ago today), millions of Russians went to the polls for the 1st time in decades that they were permitted to vote for parliamentary candidates other than those endorsed by the Communist Party. Many Communists were turned out of office.

... 1924 (85 years ago today), Sarah Vaughan was born in Newark, New Jersey, to a father who was a carpenter and amateur guitarist and a mother who was a laundress and a church vocalist. Sarah began studying music and singing in church while still a child, and as an adult became a renowned jazz and pop vocalist. The woman nicknamed "Sassy" and "The Divine Sarah" died in 1990 in Los Angeles. In the 1965 video clip below, she sings " I Can't Give You Anything But Love" at a concert in Australia.

(Prior March 27 posts are here and here.)

Write On! Human trafficking conference

(Write On! is an occasional item about notable calls for papers.) Papers and poster presentations are sought for the 1st annual Interdisciplinary Conference on Human Trafficking: What We Know and What We Need to Know, to be held October 29-31, 2009, at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Organizers intend to develop a research agenda by bringing together researchers from many disciplines, as well as persons from government and from nongovernmental organizations who have responsibility for anti-trafficking efforts.
Papers from disciplines such as the social sciences, economics and business, law, journalism, womens’ and gender studies, public health, math and statistics, and education are welcome, on topics that may include:
► Causes, routes and patterns, and the extent of the problem domestically and globally
► Successes and failures in combating human trafficking
► Corporate social responsibility
► Prostitution demand and human trafficking
► Illegal immigration, human smuggling, and human trafficking
► Corruption
► Finding, identifying, and rehabilitating victims
► Economic analyses
► Public awareness
► Organ trafficking
► Trafficking in children and adoption fraud
► Training anti-trafficking workers
► Analyses of existing and needed laws and of international cooperation and institutions
Abstracts are due soon, March 30, 2009, and should be sent to Roméo Guerra at rguerra2@unl.edu. Details about the conference, for which Dr. Kevin Bales (prior posts) will be the keynote speaker, are here; about paper and poster presentation submissions, here; about registration, here.