00:00Well, this has been a long haul, which is like 17 years between getting picked out of cities and trying
00:10to get this built, which has been in itself eight years.
00:18But part of the problem is I'm a contrarian. I don't like to do things that people think can be
00:24done.
00:27I'm fascinated by doing things that people say can't be done.
00:34And even when you do it, they say, well, that's not any good, you can't do that, and all that
00:38sort of thing.
00:38So I'm used to doing the impossible. This one almost broke my will.
00:46But the great people that we assembled to do this has been a big advantage.
00:57We still had to deal with bureaucracies and people who have contrary thinking, but we managed to make our way
01:04through all that.
01:07So this is a big celebration for us because it's taken so long to get here.
01:14But it's something that I felt very, very strongly about in terms of honoring illustrators.
01:21Because a picture is very powerful, and the stories are very powerful, and you combine them together, and those two
01:33elements create a society.
01:35When you have a, you know, somebody with talent, somebody who's creative, and sort of thinks outside the box, you
01:47get stuff that you've never seen before.
01:49And it's very powerful in telling a story or the narrative of who you are and where you are.
01:57So anyway, I want to thank you all for being here.
02:03And I know we have a tendency to draw in because I'm a controversial in terms of the media.
02:14But hey, I just do what I feel I have to do, and you guys do what you have to
02:20do.
02:22So, uh, I'll, uh, just let it go at that.
02:30My wife will hit me over the head if I go on.
02:34Thank you so much.
