In his 12-panel exhibit The Fourth Wall, Toronto-based artist/activist Dave Meslin proposes some simple, practical but far-reaching ideas for increasing our engagement with municipal politics.

To find out more about Meslin’s recommendations, check out his profile on the National Speakers Bureau website.

Also, here’s a nice video of Meslin’s recent “Change Camp” presentation in London.

This is National Mental Health Week, and I’ve devoted several recent columns to the topic. Earlier this week, I wrote a column that examined the perspective of local police, who believe that in the majority of cases, mental illness is a health issue and not a policing matter.

And in my latest story, I profile a local woman who, despite a lifetime of hardship caused by schizo-affective disorder, has surmounted her mental illness.

Many people agree that we need to change the way we think about mental illness and lessen the stigma surrounding it. And a new website, called Not Myself Today, aims to mobilize Canadians to do just that.

The site invites people to pledge to do their part, by:

1) Paying more attention to my mental health and well-being

2) Supporting a loved one/friend/co-worker who is living with a mental health issue or illness

3) Challenging the negative stereotypes and attitudes that exist around mental illness

4) Contacting elected officials to help influence policy that will improve the mental health system

5) Volunteering time to support the mental health cause

6) Donating/fundraising for the mental health cause

It’s a fascinating website, filled with personal stories. I urge you to check it out.

The 2012 McTavish Awards, presented Thursday evening at Sir George Ross secondary school, recognize high-school graduates from the Thames Valley District School Board who have overcome significant obstacles in their lives.

Sponsored by District 11 of the Ontario Secondary School Teacher’s Federation, the awards are named after local educators Ernie McTavish (who died in 1973) and his son Ted (who died in 2008).

Congratulations to this year’s winners:

Vivian Dang (A.B. Lucas)
Marcy Whitesel (Arthur Voaden)
Jessica Alessio (Central Elgin)
Darlene Guardado (Clark Rd.)
Robbie Grant (College Ave.)
Helen Goertzen (East Elgin)
Travis Morris (Forest City Program)
Ashley Gundry (Glencoe)
Jordan Bootsma (Glendale)
Joe Clubine (H.B. Beal)
Craig Brown (Huron Park)
Wade Kos (Ingersoll)
Brandi Corsaut (London Central)
Brandon Emery (London South)
Samantha Roberts (Lord Dorchester)
Marc Stahl (Medway)
Natalie Murray (Montcalm)
Amy Caperchione (North Middlesex)
Alex Kain (Oakridge)
Dustin Robinson (Parkside)
Kyle Rubini (Saunders)
Shaina Turgeon (Sir Frederick Banting)
Taylor Jamieson (Sir George Ross)
Alecia Fisher (Sir Wilfrid Laurier)
Jordan Thompson (Strathroy)
Rebecca Riley (Thames)
Josh Haehnel (West Elgin)
Sayer Hurdle-Gushue (Westminster)
Jacob Masters (Woodstock)

One of my recent humour columns was prompted by an incident in the U.S., where over-zealous parents caused the cancellation of an annual Easter egg hunt after they rushed in and grabbed eggs for their children.

Although my intentions were humorous, the column sparked this rather serious email from a reader:

“I can’t thank you enough for your wonderful article on Helicopter parents. I totally identified with this and I am currently ‘reaping what I sowed’ with my son’s bad choices and his life damaging decisions. Unfortunately for me, I recognized this too late as he is 23 years old now. He never suffered the consequences of his actions as I was his shelter and protector. I over-protected him and always bailed him out. We kept a lot between us so everyone would like him. Now he doesn’t speak to his step-dad or me. I hope more parents read this article and change before it is 23 years too late.”

In my column on the recent St. Patrick’s Day mayhem near Fanshawe College, I referred to the work of Vancouver forensic psychiatrist Dr. Elisabeth Zoffmann, who has studied mob behaviour. But in the column, I didn’t have much space to devote to Zoffmann’s theories.

In essence, Zoffmann says that when certain factors are present — including a lot of noise, alcohol, a “critical mass” of other people and something to focus on, such as pounding music or a bonfire — people tend to abandon their normal inhibitions.

“Those critical elements are things which overwhelm the forebrain — the seat of judgement — and get people to react more emotionally and instinctively,” says Zoffmann. “It’s not that the  person who’s doing these actions is not aware that they’re doing them. It’s just that their judgement and control is impaired.”

She says this sort of “group brain” behaviour has been observed in mobs when rioters “react simultaneously like a bunch of wildebeests being startled on the veldt. Without any apparent communication between them, they do a 90-degree turn this way and then a 90-degree turn that way. You see this in human crowds.”

It’s similar, she says, to the way a flock of birds will suddenly turn together.

“In animals, the flocking behaviour confuses predators,” she says. “So maybe (in mobs) we’re seeing a vestigial holdover; we don’t need it anymore, but it’s still there, like an appendix.”