Making a New Year’s resolution is one thing, but emblazoning it on the front of a t-shirt to tell the rest of the world about how you’re planning to improve takes it to a whole new level of commitment, according to Justin Langlois.

“So often New Year’s resolutions become a token rather than something we invest in,” said the assistant professor in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and founding member of the artist collective known as Broken City Lab.

Well known for their cutting edge artistic endeavours to get more people engaged with their community and make it a better place, BCL’s latest initiative is one that “speaks to t-shirt culture,” says Langlois.

Regret & Resolve is a project that asks the people of Windsor two basic questions: what’s your biggest regret, and what do you resolve to do to make your community a better place? A panel of artists will judge the submissions and narrow it down to the 50 most intriguing regrets and resolutions.

After that, they’ll print 50 of each on t-shirts. One t-shirt will go to the original author, and the other will be hung on the walls of Broken City Lab’s Civic Space to form an exhibition at the group’s Pelissier Street gallery.

“It’s a way to take ownership over what you regret, take greater responsibility, expose your feelings about how you want to make your city better and really commit to it,” said Hiba Abdallah, a graduate of the university’s school of visual arts and a key member of the group.

“As with a lot of our projects, it’s about trying to start a conversation,” said Langlois. “We’ll be trying to present some kind of coherent narrative. And that narrative is a lot more complex now than it was when Broken City Lab first started.”

So far about a dozen people have entered submissions, but the group has bought some Facebook ads and is promoting the project on its website and through social media.

Submissions to the project must be received no later than January 25. The gallery opening to launch the t-shirt exhibition will be held on January 31 from 7 to 9 p.m.

Make a submission to the Regret & Resolve project.

The Pre-Law Students’ Society has an unusual attraction for its gala this Thursday, January 17: an auction that puts up time job shadowing a legal professional.

“Students will have an opportunity to learn about various professions in law directly from the experts,” says the society’s president Andrew Moukled, a second-year business student.

Winning bidders will earn the right to shadow a subject through the workday, and to share a meal at a local restaurant.

“This will give the auction winners some up-close experience and a chance to learn from established professionals,” Moukled says.

Even those who fall short in the bidding will have an opportunity to network. In addition to the auction objects, a number of other lawyers in various fields will attend Thursday’s event. The society’s executive vice-president, Samar Chouman, says she is looking forward to the chance to make connections.

“If you want to be established, you have to meet the right people,” she says. “You just have to get yourself out there.”

Available for the auctions are:

• Maria Carroccia, criminal defense lawyer and a former president of the Criminal Lawyers Association of Canada
• Jim Cooke, practises in the areas of civil, employment and commercial litigation and is a former UWindsor counsel
• Emir Crowne, professor at Windsor Law
• Lloyd Dean, a judge on the Ontario Court of Justice
• Drew Dilkens, Windsor city councillor and a recent grad of Windsor Law, working at McTague Law Firm
• Francine Herlehy, assistant dean of admissions at Windsor Law, she practised in the area of civil litigation for over 11 years
• Susan Hoffman, Justice of the Peace
• Kamila Podbielski, president of the Students’ Law Society, a third-year student at Windsor Law and a member of its admissions council

The black-tie event begins at 6 p.m. at the St. Clair Centre for the Arts and promises to open with a full dinner before the auction. Tickets are $40; $30 for members of the Pre-Law Students’ Society. Find more information on the event’s Facebook page.

TSN host Michael Landsberg would be the last person anyone would have expected to have gone through a battle with depression and mental illness. However, he has been through this ordeal for most of his life.

Landsberg started his career as an anchor on TSN’s flagship show SportsCentre, where he became one of Canada’s trusted sports voices. He is also the charismatic and outspoken host of TSN’s Off the Record and will be featured in the new CTV documentary “Darkness and Hope: Depression, Sports, and Me.”

Not only is Landsberg a star in sports broadcasting, he is also a man of the community, participating and organizing numerous charity events throughout the year.

He will deliver a powerful and personal keynote address to open Mental Health Awareness Week this evening—Monday, January 14—at 8 p.m. in the St. Denis Centre. In his lecture, free and open to the public, Landsberg will share the story of his own battle with depression, as well as shedding light on the unexplored stories of some of sports most recognizable sports, to show that even at our lowest points, there’s always hope.

Mental Health Awareness Week continues through January 18. Find a full list of the week’s activities on the event’s website.

— by Komal Kundhal

One agent can drive, another can ride in a car seat. Some agents hunt in a group, others choose to work on a farm. Not all of them are the same. Watch out: they can learn new things!

These agents don't live in your world, but in your computer, Ziad Kobti, director of the UWindsor School of Computer Science will explain in his free public lecture “One agent, two agents, farmer agent, hunter agent: an exploration of artificial life using agent-based modeling,” Wednesday, January 16, at Canada South Science City.

Human imagination creates these agents and expert knowledge of their domain gives them their purpose. They model a complex system that is heterogeneous and dynamic. What emerges from their collective action is often surprising and exciting.

“We learn from their world as they interact with each other and with their environment,” Dr. Kobti says. “They are a tool for decision-makers looking for answers about crowd behaviour in the real world.”

Would you like to raise some in your machine?

His talk is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in the science centre, located at 930 Marion Avenue. It is part of the Science Café lecture series sponsored by the Faculty of Science, which offers discussion of important science research for the general public.

About 50 students new to the English Language Improvement Program and the Master of Management got a taste of Canadian culture Thursday, watching the Windsor Spitfires defeat the Brampton Battalion 3-0 at the WFCU Centre.

The students hailed from many countries unfamiliar with ice hockey, says Jennie Atkins, director of the Centre for English Language Development.

“We had students there from China, Brazil, Libya, India,” she says. “Most of them had never stepped on an ice rink before, so we were a little nervous to have them walking on the arena’s playing surface.”

The group posed for a photo at centre ice before the game between the two major junior teams.

“They had a great time,” Atkins says. “This was part of our weeklong series of orientation activities before they begin classes on Monday, January 14.”

Students also enjoyed social and academic sessions at the Centre for English Language Development, as well as tours of the campus and the city.

“We really want to support the community and give these students a proper introduction to Windsor,” says Atkins.

The Windsor University Faculty Association’s Status of Women, Diversity, and Equity Action Committee is now accepting nominations for the 2013 Mary Lou Dietz Equity Leadership Award.

The award is named to honour Mary Lou Dietz—a late UWindsor faculty member and former head of the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminology—in recognition of her contributions to the advancement of women in Canadian universities and colleges.

The recipient will be a member or former member of the faculty association who demonstrates the spirit of equity leadership by:

• Public advocacy on equity;
• Leadership in recruiting and mentoring diverse candidates and colleagues;
• Scholarly work, including paper presentations, lectures, or publications on equity;
• Service on equity committees;
• Innovative strategies for creating a climate of equity on campus;
• Service to the faculty association in the area of employment equity and human rights;
• Providing mentorship, guidance, and support to students;
• Excellence in teaching and innovative curriculum design to further the cause of employment equity and diversity.

Nominations must include the nominee’s name and credentials, as well as a single page outlining the nominee’s accomplishments and contributions, addressing the criteria set out above, and should be received by March 15, 2013.

Send nominations to the faculty association office by:

• e-mail to wufa@uwindsor.ca as an MS-Word document or
• mail to WUFA, 366 Sunset Avenue, Windsor ON  N9B 3P4

Find details and forms on the faculty association’s website, Mary Lou Dietz Equity Leadership Award.

Now that winter has brought snow and ice to city streets, it is important to recall that unpredictable conditions can place extra demands on your vehicle—and your driving skills, says the current issue of Safety in Mind, the UWindsor health and safety newsletter.

Among the hazards of winter driving are: poor traction, increased braking distances, and reduced ability to see and be seen. The newsletter lists general tips to keep safe, including:

• Control your speed to adjust to road conditions.
• Negotiate hills and slopes more cautiously.
• Plan lane changes early and signal your intentions well in advance
• Leave enough room between vehicles to accommodate stops.

The newsletter also lists equipment to be stored as an emergency kit in your vehicle. Safety in Mind is distributed online but formatted for printing and posting in work areas and on bulletin boards. Read the entire newsletter on the health and safety Web site.