“The cool thing about spoken word is that it isn't the woman in me that you hear. It is the college drop out, the graduate, the rape survivor, the lover, the activist, the revolutionary, the pain, the joy, the artist, the lyricist, the African American, the Spanish, the poet. You could never categorize me in any scene cause I speak truth and its always changing.”
This is a quote from artist Leanetta Avery, originally from College Station, Texas. I think she hit the spot on why spoken word is so exhilarating, organic, and essential to me.
I hope to gain and share an understanding of contemporary spoken word poetry.
To do this, I have selected a small community to represent the larger macrocosm of spoken word . The scene I chose to examine is Bryan, College Station, Texas.
I begin by a look at the history and roots of spoken word. Although some hard text is available, the movement's history reaches far beyond and before Marc Smith. Due to the organic nature of spoken word, it's history is gleaned from generations past and present, in all cultures -not just America's Beat poets or the Black Art's Movement. Spoken word history is not bound to a certain time or place. It is present throughout many centuries and all around the world. From rhythms in the African Griot tradition to Renga in Japanese verse, spoken word poetry has been shaped by countless cultures.
Most of the recent spoken word culture is too nascent to have academic publications recording the movement, so most of my information is gathered by real world experience -going to spoken word venues and dialogue with artists. I have studied various artists from this community and have assessed some of the major issues facing spoken word here, and universally.
It must also be understood that although my examination is divided into categories to make reading easier -spoken word cannot be fragmented so easily. The state of contemporary spoken word has everything to do with it's past and the issues it's facing now. These issues shape the culture of spoken word. Spoken word culture is not an object, it cannot be isolated or dissected successfully. It is always changing, always evolving -dealing with issues and becoming something new each day. So it may be examined in small pieces, but cannot provide a comprehensive understanding. So history may be found in the contemporary section and artist profiles might be in issues.
I'd also like to clarify the lens that is used to discuss spoken word on this site. All the information provided has been filtered through me, and is reflective of my knowledge, ideas, and beliefs. As a female, white, American, college student, my subject position influences the information provided here. I'm also taking a spoken word class that is taught from a mostly African-American perspective.
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before I begin
a history lesson
The spoken word has been treated as magical and powerful since the beginning of civilization. Across cultures, spoken word is the basis of much healing and celebration through poetry.
Storytellers passed lessons and explanations to future generations. The ancient Greeks used spoken word to tell their epics. Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, were first spoken in theaters by a Greek choir. Sappho's lyrical poetry is another example of early spoken word. The Anglo-Saxon tradition includes epics like Beowulf. Haiku and more especially Renga in Japanese verse show the importance of spoken word in the East. The ghazal in Arabic poetry. These run concurrently, of course, with an African storytelling tradition, Griot.
These types of poems derive from a mnemonic and rhythmic need that can be traced from the first civilizations around the globe. They come from the speech rather than the written word. Spoken word combines theatrical performance with attention to sound and rhythm.
The most direct antecedents of modern spoken word are the Jazz Poets, the Negritude Movement, the Beat Poets, the Black Arts Movement, and hip-hop music. The Jazz poets created new opportunities for blacks and minorities in the art scene, giving black artists an identity and a place in mainstream American culture. The Negritude movement gave a new political consciousness to the black community. A healthy disregard for authority accompanied the Beat Poets. They removed themselves from the mainstream enough to know they operated from a system of privilege, but took no action to promote change. The Black Arts Movement took antinomianism as its subject position and internalized it. BAM gave black artists a new community space and self-validation. Hip-hop has the characteristics of the previous movements, but failed in its authenticity to reach enough people. Another problem hip-hop has encountered is that of twenty-first century consumer capitalism. This will be discussed more later.
The rise of hip-hop culture can be followed from the 1970’s. In the late sixties, Clyde Campbell (aka DJ Cool Hercules) was a “sound system man” in Jamaica. He moved to the Bronx and in 1972 he DJ-ed a party in his sister’s basement. He broke down the hook in songs and repeated it using multiple turntables. Mixing records became the first aspect of the hip-hop culture. Tagging graffiti art and break dancing accompanied the movement. Last, MCs were added to the mix. The idea was to have mixed beats with free-flowing, improvised rhymes. With an outflow of whites from inner-city areas in the 1970s (due mostly to the automobile, the television, and the birth of suburbia), the black hip-hop community solidified. In 1973 the Nuyorican Poets Café, a non-profit organization providing a forum for underrepresented artists, was operational in Manhattan. The Nuyorcians wanted to create a multi-cultural venue that nurtures artists and exhibits a variety of artistic works to a wide audience. By 1979, MCing took over the other three aspects of hip-hop. Consumer capitalism pushed people to record songs, defeating the immediacy and a lot of creative art of the original movement.
In 1985, Marc Smith, a middle class construction worker and poet had the first poetry slam. By turning spoken word into a contest opportunities were created to reach more people, to push poets artistically, and the revivify the culture. Slam was beginning to take shape across America. For the official rules, please go here. As slam and spoken word poetry gain popularity, the issues they face become apparent.
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spoken word here and now
First, I will examine some characteristics I think are common to spoken word across America. Then I will give a short history of spoken word in Bryan, Texas and take a look at their contemporary situation.
Spoken word forms a unique bond between audience and author. An unwritten contract is put into play. The author offers two levels of meaning: the beat and the language. The audience adds a third meaning, an interpretation of the previous two. By participating in providing meaning, the audience contributes to the creation of knowledge. This critical interpretation of an authoritative text based on the text itself is called exegesis. An exegesis turns into a hermeneutic when the text is examined through the application of a certain method of interpretation, revolving around the contemporary relevance of the text. So when context is applied to the poem, new meaning can be derived. Any performance artist must trust the audience to unpack metaphors and understand the spoken word. Progressive energy and power are transferred from the poet to the audience with this exchange.
Spoken word is so effective because it overwhelms you with what is true. Three aspects of spoken word are kinetic energy, principle or content and truth or simplicity. Kinetic energy refers to the idea that truth lead to truth. The power of the art cannot be diminished simply because it is art. The artist governs kinetic energy by content, not form. Slam poetry elevates the form. The idea has been presented that if something is said powerfully enough, it doesn’t matter what’s said. Spoken word liberates the artist from technique, while slam emphasizes style and ability.
Spoken word and Slam in Bryan, Texas.
Javashock is the poetry slam at the Revolution Cafe in Bryan. Founded and hosted by JeFF Stumpo, Javashock provides a venue for slammers to compete. JeFF established Javashock as Bryan-College Station's first poetry slam in 2003. He also helped organize various poetry events around Bryan, including 2006’s Southwest Writers & Artists Festival and a reading by several South American poets as part of the Poetry of the Americas Conference.
JeFF says a few words about Javashock:
“It's competitive performance poetry. It's words in motion, sound bounced off an audience that's encouraged to become part of the vibe. It's about bringing people together and lending ears, blending breaths, and rendering the issues that divide.”
Marc Smith says something about Javashock:
“Your show is wonderful and the community you've developed through it is just what I'm always hoping to find when I visit slams...When I experience shows like yours it makes me think that all this work we're doing is in preparation for something very important to emerge from it, something that will benefit humanity and moreso life itself. Thanks for putting hope back into the old man's heart.”
Since JeFF's the expert on JavaShock, I'll let him explain a little more:
"For me, the scene alternates between hopeful/inspiring and stale. Probably on a 3-month rotation. Seriously. There will be two or three months of new people coming in, regulars bringing in new material, everyone trying out something different. Then there will be two or three months of people settling into routines, old hands doing old poems because they know the crowd likes it (and are feeding off the need to be liked, not the need to produce art or move the masses), nobody new coming in the door. Rinse. Repeat. I'm hoping that we're at the end of a stale cycle right now. Have been seeing new faces come in the door, happily of various ethnicities and backgrounds. If I'm lucky, this Friday's Javashock will turn on a whole new set of connections with the deaf community. I've made it a personal goal to not repeat poems this year except at, perhaps, an end of year show. Steve is trying out new stuff that should be ready over the next couple of weeks.
The presence of A&M guides Javashock to a certain degree, insofar as a number of college kids come out to slam. It lets in, as special guests, people who don't normally come to a slam. Working with the African Studies Program, Herbert Martin and Patricia Jabbeh-Wesley were brought in as guests to the community. That's slam and academia working together like it should be. At the same time, independence is important, from both the university (too much red tape for something that's supposed to be part of the community) and Poetry Slam Inc (too corporate for slam). Being so small, there's always the risk of cult of personality - one or two really strong poets who cause everyone to want to emulate them. Luckily, there has been some very good poets there but not a lot of copycats."
Mic Check is a weekly open mic at Revolution Café. Stephen Sargent, along with Roger Reeves and Leanetta "Shug" Avery, founded and host Mic Check.
JeFF talks about audience at poetry events:
"At Mic Check, it's the same dozen or twenty people for the past few years, too. Javashock gets a different crowd, which includes but goes beyond those core 12-20. Of course, before I started it five years ago, there was no slam scene to speak of. Every once in a blue moon somebody at A&M would hold one, everybody would forget, and a few years later somebody would do it again. Javashock was the first regular slam in the area."
"Part of the issue is breaking out of regular nights. Mic Check happens on Sunday nights. You get regulars and...well...regulars. Some of us have played local charity events lately, which exposes us, and thereby the spoken word scene, to a whole new audience. You get college kids who come to listen to punk music and donate food and walk away going, "Holy shit. I didn't know you could do that with just words." You get septagenarians (sp?) at the movie night hosted by the Veterans for Peace who are more interested in our verse, spoken or page oriented, than in the movie. You get friends of friends who show up to "spit on the mic" and come back the next week still with hip-hop in their undertones but talking about the meaning of life instead of rims. Or better yet, the meaning of life through the metaphor of rims (who am I to deny the power of the automobile in the American subconscious?)."
Speak or Be Spoken 4 is a student organization committed to spoken word poetry. It is also an open-mic forum started in early 2006 by students Martin Caesar and Darrin Carkum. They started Speak of Be Spoken 4 as an outlet for students to express themselves and get to know each other on a personal level.
In 2007, JeFF and Stephen Sargent participated in Famecast.com’s national spoken word competition. The two were ranked in the top twenty participants. For the complete article with links to the performances, go here.
JeFF says a little about the scene:
"To answer two of your questions at once - what I hope to accomplish in this community and do I have any memorable stories - my favorite Javashock moment. Tonantzin Canestaro-Garcia was the feature. Not a slam poet, but a performance poet, indie filmmaker, was featured in a documentary called Voices from Texas. So it's about 9 at night, we're out on the patio at Revolution Cafe. Surrounded by brick buildings on three sides and opens up into a narrow parking lot and, just beyond that, railroad tracks. Beyond that point, it's just light enough to see some other buildings, but they're out of your mind when you're on the patio. So Tonzi is up on stage wearing face paint in this sort of tribalish design. Made me think Pacific Islander tattoo. She's wearing long, flowing clothes that get caught in the wind, and she's like something out of a dream - perhaps a drug-induced one, but definitely surreal - as she does a poem about bombing Fallujah. She's alternating between a husky broken down mother and high pitched child asking questions about what's happening. The place is dead quiet. There's suddenly a commotion in the bar. I glance over, and there's two guys at the door - bikers, leather jackets, one has a braided beard that goes down to his chest, one has a shaved head. And they scowl, and one of them leans in the doorway to whoever made the noise and the bar and goes, "shhhhh!" He leans back out and continues staring at this five-foot-nothing poet chanting death to the wind."
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issues and challenges
Some of the main issues I’ve found in spoken word and slam poetry are authenticity, systematic marginalization of minorities, perpetuation of stereotypes and the lack of opportunity to pursue spoken word as a lucrative profession.
The battle to eradicate systematic inequality has been waging for generations. Throughout American history, movements have always failed to provide an equal ground for minorities. Even though laws have been put in place, custom and informal social controls have always trumped law. The Jazz poets brought a consciousness of humanity to the mainstream culture. They appreciated art for arts sake –but it wasn’t enough to promote change. The Negritude movement saw that power was being abused. It brought a political consciousness to the black community. The Beat generation provided self-awareness. The self is the core of humanity, and movements have to begin building within the self. The Black Arts Movement combined humanity, political and self-awareness –but they too failed. Hip-hop lacks the mature political views of previous generations, but it has the youth and innocence needed to fuel the fire of change. But it’s failing too. Hip-hop has become synonymous with materialism, misogyny and violence. The consumer capitalist culture, which began dominating in the 1950s, caused hip-hop to sell-out and abandon the fight for equality. Authenticity was traded for profit. Heart-felt rhymes were traded for gold chains. Spoken word has a new chance to succeed where other generations failed. Slam is public performance of the underground. It brings all other failures into the open and asks people to look inside them. Laws will not change society, but individuals coming together to form sustainable communities have the chance.
The performance aspect of spoken word brings a whole new group of issues to light. Since slam is performance-oriented, the poet must work for the audience, engage them, and captivate them. The poet is held accountable to the audience. Authenticity can easily be traded for fame, for money, for points. An ongoing problem is authenticity, or lack there of (selling out.) Since the 1950s and the rise of consumer capitalism, a growing middle class has given power to popular culture. Profit is considered the most important aspect of many pop-culture endeavors. The scopeophilic gaze focuses on white teenage males, because they have the largest disposable income. Once the motive for art becomes money, it is arguably no longer art, but only a product for consumption. Slam is often used as a springboard to get into the mainstream scene. Career advancement is important to many poets. But when it becomes a main goal, the system itself is being exploited. Slam is a commodification of the art form. Slam poetry created a product ready to be consumed. Some pros to this is a wedge into the world of academia and the mainstream culture. Slam poetry reaches a lot of different people and has the potential to influence them.
An example form JeFF:
"I ironically see hope if slam loosens up and incorporates more spoken word. Now that we've got some superstar poets who can tour and say anything without having to worry about pleasing the audience, we might get somewhere. Despite the theoretical ability of any poet to speak his or her mind at a slam, there is an implicit censorship. Tyranny of the majority, if you will. Beau Sia, on the other hand, can post something to YouTube and get Rosie O'Donnell to apologize for an insensitive remark, something the faceless thousands couldn't do."
A problem with slam is it provides only three minutes for a poet to explain an issue. These time constraints force poets to simplify their messages. While this can be beneficial, it can also be detrimental to the original message. When simplified versions of complex issues are presented, a lot of context must be left out. The idea has to be cropped down for time restraints and dressed up for consumption. Slam also is meant to appeal to the largest number of people, so it becomes more of a median than a self-expression. A lot like our two-party political system, outlying opinions have to be shaved off, leaving only the most popular platforms. This causes a lack of diversity –in our political arena as well as in slam.
Slam limits expression in another way as well. The desire for authenticity drives many poets to present only themselves and their own experiences. When a poet tries to explore other cultures they are considered posers. There are not many men writing about women experiences or blacks writing about Chines culture –unless the topic is conflict. Unable to explore, the poet is limited again to produce a product that looks more and more like everything else available.
A growing problem with the National Poetry Slam is that superstars are being created. People are taking the points seriously and are building a system that parallels rather than counters the traditional poetry system in the US. The issue of authenticity arises again.
JeFF says:
“Slam provides an outlet for voices that have been marginalized, but it also gives the opportunity to perpetuate stereotypes. It's hard to get out of cultural assumptions when you can actually see a person. The best scoring team piece in the history of the National Poetry Slam finals was Super Hero by GNO, Jason Carney, (a different poem from Jason) and Jason Edwards. It's about how "I wanted to be a black/redneck/gay superhero" and the associated powers of that person. Guess what? The black guy is the black superhero, the gay guy is the gay superhero, and the white guy with a twang is the redneck superhero."
"I'm particularly afraid of this phenomenon because of what it means to emerging nonwhite slam poets. You go back ten years or so, and you see Patricia Smith and Saul Williams doing a lot of play, a lot of exploration of language, of culture. And frankly, they were some of the best actual poets at the time period. Today, I see the most exploration of language coming from a handful of white poets with a university background. I see a whole lot of "I'm black so this going to be about the ghetto in cliched language" poetry, a lot of "I'm Chicano but can't afford to speak too much Spanish so I'll include a few words you can easily translate in context," still not much Chinese or Korean or Japanese except to insist that these are not the same you ignorant American. Now, are the white poets in a cultural bind, too? Certainly. They're not exploring, perhaps for fear of accidentally appropriating, but the culture to which they're being restricted remains dominant in the US."
Another interesting point JeFF brought up:
"Since slam is guided by the audience's wants, it flourishes better in times of peace. When the stakes are really high, like during a war, we demand that the messages are made simpler, easier to understand and rally behind (regardless of which side we support). Before 9/11 there was a great deal more innovation in slam, exploring the boundaries of what could be done. After, and especially after Iraq, it's more about shoring up the boundaries.”
Women also have a hard role to fill in spoken word. They must tackle the multiplicity of being a woman, while still remaining attractive to audiences. Women must balance their inner slut with their motherly instincts. Sexuality and identity are often topics discussed by women poets. Since males dominate spoken word, women may have a hard time feeling comfortable enough to really express themselves. So alternative venues have been created for women. Poet Jessica Lopez of Albuquerque says these alternative venues are not trying to provide equality, not about counting numbers. Instead, its about providing a place where women feel safe enough to speak and celebrate themselves.
Here is a little from Leanetta Avery, who helped found and host Mic Check. Avery has also performed at Revolution Café’s Javashock and Speak or Be Spoken 4. She now lives in Dallas.
Avery said one big problem with spoken word is the systematic under-representation of women.
“There is a lot of sex poetry from straight women. I rarely run into any straight women in spoken word venues. So I would say that perspective is under represented, and at times poorly.”
Avery is also aware of the complications that can arise in a space of completely free speech.
“There are no rules so anything goes. Once a white male poet got up and gave a poem that was quite, um, well borderline unacceptable for free speech about his girlfriend who had been abused and raped not putting out. One can only reply with words, not tell him his feelings are wrong. So you can see how the no rules thing can cause problems.”
Avery said the strength of spoken word lies in voices, especially voices that would otherwise go unheard. Spoken word opens venues for people to express themselves who would not necessarily have the option in academia or other mediums.
“Spoken word is so subtle you could almost miss it. What is the opposite? Unspoken.”
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about the artists
JeFF Stumpo and a few more artists, activists and free thinkers in Bryan, Texas.
Leanetta Avery, who now lives in Dallas, said this about the scene in College Station:
"When I was there a place called Revolution Cafe was where I performed. Stephen Sargent, aka god the lowercase G, Lord Byron Martin Caesar, Darren Carkum, aka DC Paul, JeFF Stumpo, and Logan as herself, were the regulars."
Stephen Sargent, who helped found Mic Check, also participated in Famecast.com's spoken word competition. JeFF Stumpo aslo participated, and the two were ranked in the top 20 poets nationally. Here's a complete article on the competition. Stephen ranked 6th out of 84 poets, for his video, click here.
"Stephen Sargent has been performing poetry for nine years and Slamming for three years. He has been the member of three slam teams: The 2005 Fort Worth Slam Team which ranked 3rd the Nation, the 2006 Fort Worth Slam Team Team which reached the semifinals and the 2007 Bryan Slam Team. In 2006 he released his first spoken word album "GOD Speaks." from his Myspace page.
For more on his album look here.
To listen to his poem "Rocks and Matches," click here.
Here is a little from Leanetta Avery, who helped found and host Mic Check. Avery has also performed at Revolution Café’s Javashock and Speak or Be Spoken 4.
“The cool thing about spoken word is that it isn't the woman in me that you hear. It is the college drop out, the graduate, the rape survivor, the lover, the activist, the revolutionary, the pain, the joy, the artist, the lyricist, the African American, the Spanish, the poet. You could never categorize me in any scene cause I speak truth and its always changing.”
When asked about herself and her poetry, Avery replied:
“I could but then you would hold me to those lines and I am seeking to be more than that. But it began at 9 and my first award at 9 and it hasn't stopped.”
JeFF Stumpo is a poet and activist living in College Station. He strives to create poetry wherein the form and content complement each other. He founded JavaShock, the Brazos Valley poetry slam at Revolution Cafe.
Here's a link about JeFF.
JeFF is also involved in an array of literary publications.
In his own words:
"My poetry, translations, and short stories have been published or are forthcoming in Rhino, Exquisite Corpse, Mad Poets Review, Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review, Karamu, The Lyric, THE STYLES, and others. I am also the co-founder and co-editor of Big Tex[t], an online literary journal.
This is a really interesting poem JeFF wrote about poets called Adaptiveness of Behavior.
His first chapbook is called El Oceano y La Serpiente / The Ocean and The Serpent. Here's a good review on the book.
JeFF talks about his chapbook:
"The left hand page is in Spanish, the right in English, and the typography of the pages is mirrored. If there's a line break on one page, there is on the other, new stanza = new stanza, tab = tab, etc. They're not translations, though, even though they appear to be at first glance. The poems are antithetical, each one unique. One of the major themes of the collection is two cultures coming together and the gap that is inevitably between them. I use the gutter, the space between pages, to physically represent that."
JeFF is also an advocate for innovations in spoken word. He believes his best poetry has to be seen to be fully experienced.
Lately he has been trying to provide a place for deaf poets to perform and to incorporate sign language into spoken word. JeFF said spoken word is something that must been seen as well as heard. For his video incorporating sign language featured on famecast.com click here.
In an effort to mix things up at JavaShock and entice a new crowd, JeFF organized a slam with the theme Inside Voices. JeFF had hoped to begin a scene for the deaf and organized a JavaShock night dedicated to the purpose. Unfortunately, no deaf audience members showed and very few interpreters. A few poems were performed that used ASL as a sort of "hey, check this out" for the hearing audience and JeFF's MCing was translated in ASL. Although there were no deaf performers or audience members, people in the scene are now more aware and educated about the deaf community. Wheels have begun turning, and JeFF hopes for the best.
"What I had been hoping for with the deaf community was to actually do poetry in ASL. Check out www.slope.org/asl for examples. Amazing stuff. I'm not sure what went wrong - I extended invitations to all the right people, and it just didn't work. Ah well. Some of the hearing audience also knew sign, and some of them want to try something on campus. That may be more effective."
A poem and explanation from JeFF:
"I have a piece called I am the Alpha and the Meta wherein I start to approach the microphone like I'm going to launch into a poem, then pull back. Act like I'm thinking it through. Approach in a different pose, pull back. Approach, pull back. Begin moving through the front row, shaking people's hands and thanking them for coming.
Go back to the mic and speak,
"When does a poem begin?
With the first letter of the first word?
No, if a poem is a place for the mind and soul to inhabit,
then the white space before a title is an entryway,
the endpapers a courtyard,
and the body before speaking a long look down a road
at the end of which may be home.
Some poems rush headlong toward their own ending
as though that were all that matters,
but when does a poem end?
Not with a word, but an action.
The poem that calls for revolution ends
the moment the revolution begins.
Poems of sex or hate are inconstantas these things.
And the poem that merely seeks your applause dies
as your applause dies.
But some will ask more
[at this point I step away from the mic and begin
walking through the crowd toward the exit]
Some wander through the mind
as though it were a room much like this one,
reaching out a hand to new friends and old,
reminding them of the great and quiet things
since you last met.
It gathers memories to itself,
moving ever slower,
and somehow, never quite makes it away."
At the end I'm left standing in the middle of the room, looking at the door, then the audience, and taking a seat near someone nearby. It's a transformation of the body into an absolutely necessary part of the poem - it's not so much that the I am a metaphor for poetry, but that, by moving along with the word, poetry becomes a metaphor for me. Which is what a lot of spoken word artists are after and don't realize. Read more!
an end note
Right or wrong, I think spoken word is where it belongs.
Spoken word poets are trying to adapt their image and their art to express themselves in a way that counters the mainstream media. They have been given crumbling shoulders of generations past to stand on and new resources and opportunities unique to their generation.
Each new issue that arises and each new challenge that is met head-on, gives spoken word an opportunity to be more, to grow and overcome the setbacks other movements succumbed to. Spoken word has the self-awareness, the political involvement and the commitment to community that gives it potential to succeed where others failed.
But spoken word is not really something that can fail or succeed. It is merely the reflection of a generation. It can accomplish earth shaking, ground moving things, but only if our generation wills it. Spoken word is a piece of a whole. A thread that weaves many experiences in many cultures together, binding them to create a picture of our world as it is viewed from poets, artists and activists. Spoken word will change as events shape our world. But it cannot be judged as good or bad, it just is.
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