Art stores are, sadly, a dying breed. They've been thinned to near-extinction through Internet Poaching and Craft Store Habitat Invasion. Lately, the only places where I can find art supplies within a fifteen-minute drive are the big-box craft stores, and I rather dislike them because they don't sell art supplies as much as they sell a lifestyle attainable through soapmaking and scrapbooking.

He'd argue differently, but I try not to take Brown into craft stores too often because I can hear his testosterone struggle to breathe within the bright pink depths of the Estrogen Sea. When I do, he peels off and ends up in the "How To" book section. The "How to Draw" books are always interesting, because these aren't instruction manuals so much as reminders that if you can't already draw, you're totally boned.