If I had a Billion Dollars

If you gave me a billion dollars, what would I do with it?

I honestly have no idea what I would do with a billion dollars. If you gave me a smaller amount than a billion - somewhere in the millions - I could probably think of something. But I can barely imagine how much a billion really is, let alone think of what I could do with so much money! I might buy the Avengers! Thor’s pretty cool but I like Black Widow. (I really like Black Widow.) I think I might go for Iron Man. I don’t know if I really want Iron Man, I think I just want the suit. Yeah, I just want the suit. I’d hire Tony Stark to polish it up!

I was fortunate enough to attend the “Me To We” conference last week. I realized how many problems we have in Canada and many of the problems are circled around money.

We also have a lot of problems involving indigenous people. For indigenous people, 2015 has started to look like a year of change, particularly in Winnipeg, which has the potential to lead a frank and honest national discussion on racism. I don’t think my money will fix all the problems, but I can at least think my billion dollars could make a big leap from ME to WE.

One thing I would do based on a more personal interest: I would want to make a project involving Leif Podhajsky, an amazing, mind-bending graphic artist and Neil Krug, a very unique vintage photographer. Also, Bassnectar and Flume, both amazing music producers. Pick any one of them and I can tell you the influence that artist has had on me. Given my billion, I would want to bring all of them together to collaborate. The possibilities of outcomes are just so cool for me to think of. Think of how much all four of them could inspire someone else, sitting in their bedroom, looking at artists that inspire them.

And there is a boxed set of George RR Martin books I’ve been eyeing recently...