GET OUT OF THE HOUSE AND BE HAPPY >>>

Your mother and I just want you to be happy. Not unreasonably, irrationally happy, but moderately content. Why can't you play miniature golf with the other teenagers? And why do you refuse to wear pastel?

What do you mean by "hanging out with other artists"?

I don't know about this Tacoma Art Place and their crazy ideas about letting you learn about pottery wheels, photography, sewing, and making ripped paper collage paintings. (And why do I speak so stiffly?) Spinning clay on a wheel and playing with photos in the dark? Oh, this all sounds very strange. Why can't you just paint flowers?

What? The non-profit art center is hosting Community Free Day? Did you say free? Oh, very well.

[Tacoma Art Place, Saturday, March 13, 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., list of free classes here, 1116 S. 11th St., Tacoma, 253.238.1006]