I regret the sleepwalking, the passive, blameless, each-day-we're-just-trying-to-do-our-thing, the enervating acceptance bit by bit that has made us wonder in 2014 how we got here in the non-conversations of race, gender, and class. I regret that education is defined as consumption of information and not making and actions. I wish that fear and reacting could be overridden by probing and pro-acting.

I wonder if I will regret the choices that result in me not spending time to understand who my parents are and who they were. And I wonder how much I will regret that there will be stories lost because we didn't choose the time to walk through them together. But I can also observe when sons or daughters paused their lives, and my parents are firmly against that. So I don't know what I will regret or can regret in the future except that I wish I could be both doing a thing and preserving another thing at the same time. —Susie Lee, artist

I regret my naiveté in thinking the Seattle Art Museum was a public institution. In my recent challenge to the Betty Bowen Award committee's lack of racial equity, I have discovered that the museum is a "privately owned nonprofit" owned by elites who enjoy tax-exempt status. A disheartening discovery indeed. —Laura Castellanos, artist

My biggest regret of 2014 is that I didn't choke a cop when I had the chance. I fear the opportunity may never present itself again. —Tariqa Waters, artist

Regrets from a Miami hotel room:

I regret the loss of Robin Held's curatorial talents at any of Seattle's institutions. She is a great advocate for local artists, has excellent taste in programming, and is never safe or boring. I miss her vision.

I regret that I waited 10 years to embrace making art because I was afraid I'd kill my love of photography by pursuing it. Oscar Wilde wasn't right about everything.

I regret the loss of the Globe, Capitol Hill's best queer-run vegan truck-stop diner. The servers were surly but the biscuits and gravy were perfection. Actually, the surly servers were part of the charm.

I regret that I probably have to move to LA if I want to "make it" as an artist. I do not want to move to LA. —Steven Miller, artist