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.”

I’ve been getting some reaction to my column about the future of the Normal School in Wortley village.

One reader wonders if, perhaps, the 114-year-old building might serve as a local archives centre, both for the city and Western University.

The reader points out that a) London is the only major centre in Canada that doesn’t have a single, accessible storage site for its municipal archives, that b) Western University’s new archives is already overcrowded, and c) the nearby Landon branch of London Public Library could use a larger space.

Would it be possible to house all three of those collections at the historic structure in Old South? It’s certainly an interesting idea. (Any thoughts?)

In today’s column, I weighed in on one aspect of the proposed city budget I think is a bad idea; namely, the idea to cut the annual contribution to the affordable housing reserve fund from $2 million to $1 million.

Of course, you might disagree.

If you want to voice your opinion, here’s your chance: City councillor Paul Hubert has posted an online poll to gauge reactions and opinions about the budget. So have a peek at his poll; Hubert says he’ll take it down Saturday morning and tabulate the results, which he will then circulate to members of city council and post on his own web site.