💌Podcast The Newsletter💌
Bonjour.
It is my 4 year wedding anniversary next week. I am terrible at buying my husband gifts because he is so much cooler than me. Shopping for Justin is like a dorky, out-of-touch midwestern woman shopping for her nephew. So in lieu of a gift for Justin, I have forced him to write my intro for this newsletter. His write-up is much-too complimentary to me, but I'm going with it.
Justin is the kindest, most beautiful person I have ever even heard of, inside and out. He never does anything selfishly, and none of you know how talented and smart he is because he never brags about it. I have been crushing on him since we were 14-year-olds at Western Reserve Academy, and I cannot believe I tricked him into marrying me. I love him more every day. Every day, I realize how lucky I am to have him, and how perfect he is for me. Justin has always encouraged me to share my voice, take up space, and be myself. I couldn't do anything I do without him. Happy anniversary, buttbrains. I love you.
And without further ado, here's Justin!
In our household, eating food sets the stage for sharing the day’s events, world news (read: Trump), memes/jokes and general happenings in the zeitgeist. It brings Lauren and I together pretty much every night where we break bread, unwind, and battle our cat for tableside dominance. While our workdays may vary the one thing – aside from food – that brings us together is catching up on the 👏day’s 👏podcast 👏listening. Thinking back to when this started is a little blurry, but what I do know is that it began predictably with Serial’s episodic adventure and evolved into a world of amazing voices with hot takes, bad inside jokes, and fun storytelling.
Our family loves telling stories and podcasts are the stir-fry to my rice. For the record, I make good ass rice, but podcasts always turn that shit up to 11. Lauren put me onto Serial and that dinner conversation turned from breaking down crime scenes to The Champ’s legendary POC interviews to cultural mischief on The Daily Zeitgeist. In between all that though, Lauren has been instrumental in doing what she does for y’all, which is giving me the rundown of all things podcasting. It’s pretty much been Podcast the Newsletter at our dinner table for the last four years. It gave us, and still gives us, a very substantial bit to talk about. Even more, it has strengthened our relationship to the point that I’m not sure we could not talk about Miles Gray’s stance on a born-again Kanye, bringing down the patriarchy with Jamie and Caitlin on Bechdel Cast, or Nicole Byer doing anything. Stir. Fry. 🔥Debate, wonder, laugh, cry, we discuss all these podcasts because it helps us to understand each other and the world around us.
Lauren introduced me to podcasts and I couldn’t be more grateful for it. It started with Serial, a show that everybody listened to, and has opened a platform for me to grow, learn, and my favorite thing: be curious. My curiosity has led me to shows like The Culture Kings with Jacquis Neal and Edgar Momplaisir where they flip the script constantly and are always trying new things in the booth, giving shine to under-served creators, writing conceptual bits, and weaving in their humor-filled perspectives into the pop culture fabric. Discovering new shows is such an overwhelming rabbit hole in the current landscape, but it’s such a great feeling to know that there are shows out there for anyone and everyone. For me it starts and ends with Lauren, so let’s get on with it!
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👋q & a & q & a & q & a👋
Culture Kings + The Wokest's Edgar Momplaisir
Edgar Momplaisir is co-host of Culture Kings and host of The Wokest. Follow Edgar on Twitter here and follow Culture Kings on Twitter here. (And listen to my favorite episode of Culture Kings here.)
I talked to Jacquis about Culture Kings. Tell us about The Wokest. How did you get the idea?
The idea kind of came from me calling myself out. I know I’m wild on Twitter but I used to be insufferable on Facebook. I would write these long, self-righteous Facebook posts about police brutality, feminism, Kanye West. You name it. I started realizing I was setting myself up as this center for the right take for so many things. Then I got dragged a few times for a few different things and I realized, oh shit. I’m not right all the time. So if anyone is a target of the show, it’s kind of my own hypocrisy. I’m basically trying to realize how many times I have 3 fingers pointing back at myself whenever I try to be “performatively” woke. Zig and I worked very hard to make that distinction. We’re not calling out social justice warriors who are doing amazing work or laughing at people who are trying to better themselves. Shit! I’m trying to better myself. I’ve discovered a lot of blind spots that I’m deep in therapy trying to help. But more so, how some people can kind of take that self-righteous approach to almost mask this hidden guilt of theirs or attack others.
Do you have favorite episodes of Culture Kings or The Wokest?
For Culture Kings, the Church episode and the tour of Chicago are two of my favorite big jumps we have ever taken. We were just having fun and I’ll never forget realizing the secret message of Jacquis’ “sermon”. I laughed so fucking hard. For The Wokest, it’d have to be the Ayo Edebiri episode for me. Like I said above, I’m not doing too much to change me so I think for maybe one or two guests, they were like—I’m talking to Edgar. But Ayo leaned into the bit in a way that really made me laugh and blew my mind. Those are my favorite kind of episodes. Rae Sanni did the same. Andrew Ti as well. The Boys, Gabrus, Sean O’Connor. I guess a lot of people did but also—I think I’m attached to the sort of message we reached at the end of Ayo’s episode. Which like gave me a huge inspiration for where to take the second season. If that happens......
Your girlfriend Anna is an amazing artist. How do you two talk about work and inspire each other? How has she changed your work and how have you changed hers?
We mostly talk about our work by texting each other “Is this crazy? I want to do X and is that crazy?” And the other person is like nah, go for it! I don’t know if I’ve had as much of an impact on Anna’s work as she’s had on mine. For me, she’s totally made me think about the more weirder sides of myself. I think a lot of Anna’s best jokes go unnoticed cause they are on her Twitter. Look, I love her comic but on her Twitter, she puts up these weird, absurd jokes that I get so jealous of. So I think Anna has made me embrace the more absurd side of myself. Me to her? One time, I told her lose one word on her comic cause I thought it was too wordy. She reluctantly did so and it’s her least liked comic to date. So, pretty one-sided.
What do you do to take care of yourself?
This is something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. I hit a massive depressive down swing last fall. I know depression is as popular as Taylor Swift these days (one might argue that those two things are connected) but my downswings can get rough. I don’t shower. I sit in my room. I let trash pile up all around me. And I just order food. At the time it was Domino’s: one medium thin crust Mushroom pizza, cheesy bread, and wings! Almost every day!!! I hit a point where I was just tired and signed up for a great therapist via @blackmarkettherapy on Instagram. And together, we just set goals on like breaking through that stuff. Right now, I’m trying to figure out what a solid routine is. I think I’ve nailed it to four things: I write (in any shape), I limit my video game time, I workout or play basketball, and I do some work on this app Sanvello. Listen, if you take anything from this long, winded interview: use the app Sanvello. It has changed my life! It’s a cognitive behavioral therapy app that like helps you combat negative thoughts, set goals for yourself, and helps you realize which days are healthy and which days are rough. Everyone, please use it!
I am such a fan of podcasters like you, Jacquis, Anna and Shereen, Miles and Jack, Jon Gabrus, Jackie Johnson, Laci, Ryan Stanger and Eugene Cordero, Mike Mitchell, Nick Wiger, Lauren Lapkus, Alison Rosen, Brandie Posey, Teresa Lee, so many many! I picture you all out in LA hanging out all the time, bopping in and out of each other's apartments, kind of like an episode of Friends. Is any of this true? Please say yes. Wouldn't it be a good TV show?
When I saw this question, I was like—man, she’s gonna be disappointed when she realizes none of us know each other but I would say that I hang out with some names on this list a lot. I see Laci at least twice a week. Shereen, I consider a very good friend. I’ve hung out with Teresa quite a few times. I always run into her randomly. There’s quite a few of us that are good friends off the mic.
💎BTW:💎
🎙️One of the most exciting moments of my week (I am serious) was turning on Have You Heard Of George's Podcast? for the first time. I was talking with a podcaster in the UK who recommended it, and it reminded me that I had heard of George The Poet but because my brain is hardwired to run away when I hear the word "poet" or "poetry" I didn't think I would like it. But that is so silly of me. I love hip hop. And George The Poet is a spoken word artist and rapper who is pushing the culture forward with his art. Have You Heard Of George's Podcast? isn't a thing I can compare to anything, it hasn't been done before. It's a combination of beautiful and sharp sounds, careful and soft words, soothing music, hip hop, tiny/perfect sound effects, beautiful cadence, and social commentary. Paul Carter, who produces Who Is George The Poet, refuses to call himself a podcaster (he's "making audio stories,") which I think is snobby. None of us like the word, Paul, but we love the art that the word represents. I'm kidding, sort of. This "podcast" does feel different, but it won five British Podcast Awards, the word "podcast" is in the name of the show, so maybe we can feel comfortable considering it a podcast. Apologies if this is old news to you, but Who Is George The Poet is ::chef's kiss::, go listen.
🎙️Have you listened to Have You Heard Of George The Poet yet? Okay good. Because I think you should listen to Culture Call's interview with George The Poet first. Culture Call (Financial Times) is new to me and I'm obsessed with it, and the interview with George The Poet doesn't feel like an interview it all. It feels like a story or maybe a painting. George The Poet is the opposite of a gimmick, so everything he says seems so weighty and valuable. I made sure to listen at 1x speed only, and I recommend you do the same. (My #1 takeaway was that George The Poet is inspired by Walt Disney.)
🎙️I enjoy The Worst Year Ever but I am begging someone who works over there to please change the theme song. I have never had such a terrible, physical reaction to the sound of podcast music! I basically am forced to tear my headphones off my head and chuck them out the nearest window every time I hear it, hoping nobody gets injured. Right now, I should be talking about how smart Robert Evans is, how funny and friendly his chemistry is with co-hosts Katie and Cody. But instead, all I can do is obsess over this awful song that gives me nightmares. Please, someone, do something. (And while they are doing that, everyone else should listen to the recent episode that gives Tulsi Gabbard the Behind-The-Bastards treatment. If you know me, you know it is hard for me to admit that Tulsi Gabbard is a bastard. I will continue to be sexually, but not politically, attracted to her.)
🎙️The new season of Slow Burn is here. Season one dealt with Watergate, season two with the Clinton impeachment (both good ones to relisten to now or to listen to for the first time.) But I'm excited about season three, which explores the murders of Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G. I have picked so many details about this mystery from various articles, books, and interviews, (when I was a dumb college student I started writing a novel about a fictional world in which they lived to their 80s and the impact their lives would have on East Coast / West Coast hip hop) but I'm looking forward to letting Slow Burn take me through it more thoroughly. I love what it did in the first two seasons, which were informative and worthy of multiple relistens. I've only listened to episode one of season three, but I'm down with host Joel Anderson and the style of the storytelling. It's especially captivating to hear the audioclips from Tupac himself.
🎙️I have complained that nothing Still Processing has done in the last two seasons has held up to season one, but the latest episode comes close. Titled Straws, it talks about the cost of progress, how we make changes that last, and the problem institutions present in changing the world for good. This is all told through the stories of the #MeToo movement, the straw ban, California's new legislation allowing college athletes to make money off endorsements, and this meme. I had just listened to George The Poet on Culture Call, and couldn't stop thinking about how George The Poet is fighting for change (sweeping the ocean) with his art. What he's doing feels much more powerful than banning plastic straws.
🎙️If I haven't already convinced you to listen to Anna Hossnieh and Shereen Lani Younes's Ethnically Ambigoius, perhaps this episode with Sasheer Zamata will entice you to dip your toe in. Ethnically Ambiguous, as I've said countless times, addresses underreported stories from the Middle East, which can be, well, a bit of a bummer sometimes. But Anna and Shereen are delightful, funny friends. And the show can be funny, too. (See Sasheer's episode.)
🎙️It's November 1st and I have just spent a month listening to every single podcast's special Halloween episodes, and so I'm convinced that ghosts are REAL. I have been listening to old episodes of Ghosts in the Burbs, which has been reaffirming this belief. These are just fun (true?) ghost stories, told in a 'round-the-campfire style. Episode five, The Family Home, is so terrifying and disturbing and there's a REAL ZINGER at the end. I am so glad I have so many episodes of this show to listen to. If you're new to Ghosts in the Burbs, like me, you're in for a treat, too!
🎙️Over the weekend I binged Season 1 of The Horror of Dolores Roach, a fiction podcast from Gimlet, a "macabre urban legend of love, betrayal, weed, gentrification, cannibalism, and survival of the fittest." Dolores Roach is a woman who gets released from prison to find her Washington Heights neighbor has been gentrified. She's has the spirit of an entrepreneur and "magic hands"—she gives famous massages, and she finds herself in a humungous pickle (heads roll—and are baked into the empanada filling at her friend Louis's shop) trying to get back on her feet. According to Vulture, the story began as Aaron Mark's a one-woman play called Empanada Loca that starred Daphne Rubin-Vega, who was Mimi in the original Broadway production of Rent. It's a fun story and the acting and dialogue are what made me unable to stop listening. I love that a one-woman show could be so beautifully transformed into an incredible podcast. It makes me even more excited about the future of podcasting than I already am.
🎙️Comedian Chris Garcia's father has passed, and now he is unraveling his father's story, Nancy Drew-style, via Scattered. Chris's dad had a dying wish—that his family scatter his ashes off the coast of Cuba. Chris's mom doesn't ever want to go back to Cuba again. With Scattered, Chris is retracing his father's life, unearthing disturbing details about what the man endured in Cuba under Fidel Castro. It's a very personal mystery. This show lets Chris's talent as a storyteller shine.
🎙️Adam and Alan revisit all their favorite Bible stories from childhoods through the lenses of adulthood, and explain them to their clueless friend Nick, to produce The King James Virgin podcast. I love The Bible and all its juicy, fucked-up stories, and it's so much fun for me to revisit them in detail with these funny and nice dudes. Justin asked if I thought he would like the podcast, considering that he doesn't know much about The Bible. I thought it would be a great introduction for him, but he was having a hard time staying engaged. What I love about the show (and maybe you will too, if you have nostalgia for old Bible stories) is how it reminds me of my own experiences with The Bible. Every time I listen to an episode, an illustration from the pages of my childhood Bible, My Book of Bible Stories, pops into my mind. (I was not Jehovah's Witnesses, but a friend gave me the Bible and it quickly became my favorite storybook.) Listen every Sunday, like me, in lieu of church.
🎙️Benjamen Walker's Theory of Everything "plunges listeners into a whirl of art, journalism, fiction, interviews, and exploding pipe dreams. Host Benjamen Walker connects the dots in a world of information overload, featuring conversations with philosophers, friends, and the occasional too-good-to-be-real guest." I don't know what this means, but I do enjoy Theory of Everything, it's a mix of philosophy and tech and personal storytelling. I think it's just, like, Benjamen Walker's brain. I especially loved the breakdown of his favorite year, the year 1984. The episode reads like his childhood diary from the 80s.
🎙️"There used to be life on the other side of the overgrown field, before the Goddards moved away. It was the year before Dad left." This sentence says so much and invites so many questions about the story about to unfold in this episode of Constants, a ten-part fiction anthology series featuring original stories "from across the collapsing omniverse." It's the writing that got my attention—it's some of the best I've heard on a podcast. Listening, I felt like I was transported to a campfire, each story has a creepy / paranormal / occulty feel.
🎙️Last week I interviewed Reset's Arielle Duhaime-Ross, and have been listening to each new episode of Reset. In the interview, Arielle mentioned that she wanted to elevate voices that don't often get heard, and host a diverse collection of guests. On Instagram's Nipple Ban, Arielle talks to a transgender artist challenging Instagram's "no female nipple" rule. It's a fascinating and important story, and says so much about art and social media.
🎙️Podcast-lovers, Kate and I interviewed Kristen Meinzner (By The Book, We Love You And So Can You, So You Want To Start A Podcast) on The Shelf-Care Podcast. It's a fun conversation about plants, Dolly Parton, that great By The Book episode about leeks and French women's diet tips, and more. Listen here.
🎙️Rooster Teeth's Good Morning From Hell is such a great idea for a show. It's "Hell's #1 Podcast"—news updates from hell, with guest interviews (like Napolean Bonaparte and Harrison Ford) and community updates. At first, I was disappointed that the show leans so heavily on hell stereotypes. But I started to really enjoy the ridiculousness of it. It's absolutely absurd.
🎙️I considered going on a hunger strike until my entire family listened to episode two of Finding Fred, the podcast about Fred Rogers. That is how important it is to me. Again, I cried. Feed The Fish talks about the importance of that legendary foot-bath episode with Officer Clemmons, describing Mister Rogers as a christ-life figure, and his radical message of loving yourself as religion.
🎙️ Joel Kim Booster and Mitra Jouhari's new show Urgent Care launched today—"unqualified advice for people who apparently have nowhere else to turn." I'm a big fan of these comedians (Joel was the voice of Paul in Moonface) and although the format of this show isn't new, the first episode felt different, perhaps because Joel and Mitra are laughing at themselves the whole time. The first question (from listener "Icelandic Meat") is hysterical. Two weeks into a man's relationship with his boyfriend, he went on a trip to Iceland, and never told him. (He was trying to keep things private at the beginning of the relationship.) Now, the relationship is ten months in, Icelandic Meat is bringing his boyfriend to meet his mom, who made a scrapbook about the vacation, and Icelandic Meat is worrying that his boyfriend will find out that he went to Iceland in secret. Should he tell his boyfriend about the Iceland trip now? Will that make his boyfriend doubt everything? Or should he ask his mom to keep quiet about the trip and hide the scrapbook in a drawer? Traditionally I love all stories that include boyfriends, Iceland, and moms who make scrapbooks. Joel and Mitra are very different and give different advice. (My advice: let your boyfriend listen to this episode and if he doesn't think this whole situation is hilarious, dump him because, bad sign.)
🎙️The Whisperforge recently released Remarkable Providences, a history of Salem and the witch trials. I have listened to many podcasts about the Salem Witch Trials, and read many books about it, too. But this is the first time I've been able to imagine the social and political context brewing in Salem in the late 1600s. In order to understand why Bible stories were written, you have to know what the people were dealing with day in and day out. (If my memory serves me correctly, one of Paul's letters in The Old Testament tells us not to fuck goats. Clearly, someone was fucking goats.) Similarly, if we want to understand why the Salem witch trials occurred, we need to understand the government and political structure of Salem Village. Hearing about it historically, with less emphasis on the "witches," we see that it was a perfect storm of incidents that allowed this all to happen. (And not, as first reported in the 70s, the consumption of LSD, a conspiracy I liken to Oprah warning midwestern moms about rainbow parties in the 90s.)
🎙️Kaitlin Prest (The Heart) announced a new project, a new company, Mermaid Palace. ICYMI in HotPod, "it’s meant to be an entity that will house a group of artists, associated with Prest, and foster an operating environment where they can collaborate, share skills, and develop works in a way that can hopefully relate to the needs of the marketplace on their own terms." The website fills me with excitement and questions. Go play on it, scroll down to learn about the upcoming shows. (I am particularly excited about Asking For It, "a queer, contemporary take on the Goldilocks tale: about love, music, intimate partner violence and breaking the cycle of abuse." 👈I couldn't have thought of anything cooler-sounding in my wildest dreams.) Click the "this is what we sound like" button to get a cool audio experience right off the bat. It's cool, but again one of the voices says "this is not a fucking podcast." What's wrong with calling something a podcast? I am seriously asking.
🎙️I love two things more than most people I know: Twitter and Reddit. So the following story warmed my heart: In 2013, the podcast Kind World had an episode about something that happened on Reddit, which made the team at WBUR realize that a Reddit story isn't an episode idea, it's a podcast idea. Someone at WBUR tweeted at Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian to float the idea of a WBUR/Reddit podcast and Endless Thread was born. There have been episodes about the #MeToo movement in China, audio erotica, a mysterious pile of dishware found in the woods, a board game that was thought to have predicted the attack on Pearl Harbor, a fungus that takes control of ants' bodies AND MORE. Host Amory Sivertson told me, "we're told that we should never stop learning in life, and I hope that Endless Thread supports that mission in a really fun and engaging way." Fun. Love.
🎙️Dr. Laurie Santos's The Happiness Lab had an interesting episode about positivity. Manifesting and positive thinking are powerful, sure, but equally powerful is imagining the worst-case scenario. One example: Michael Phelps, who visualized winning a gold medal in his 2012 200-meter butterfly event at the London Olympics, and he also visualized a terrible race. So when his goggles slipped off his face during the race, he was prepared. The more interesting person Laurie interviewed was Kristen Beck, a retired Navy SEAL who came out as trans in 2013. Kristen was an expert in problem-solving around disaster when her life was on the line. But is she able to use those skills standing up to anti-trans bigots?
🎙️ Laci Mosley and Billy Wayne Davis are regular guests on The Daily Zeitgeist, but they had never met until this week, when they appeared as guest co-host and guest on the show. They come from different places —Laci grew up with money in a town full of white people, Billy Wayne grew up white and poor, surrounded by white people. But they both were raised in the South, and their perspectives come together in an interesting way. They were kind of disagreeing on The Daily Zeitgeist, which actually is unusual for the show. But I loved it. I think they should have a show of their own.
🎙️Clevelander (❤️) Elizabeth Emery read that 44% of athletes are women and only 4% of sports media covers them, so she started Hear Her Sports, a show that talks to badass female athletes. Before I listened, looking at Elizabeth's list of guests, I felt inspired to stand up and start doing squats or something. Listening, I am reminded what a blessing it is to be able to move and push my body. (I went straight to a conversation with a 77-year-old triathlete.) I love what Elizabeth told me about her guests. "They are dedicated to their sport but have so much more to say."
🎙️DUST Studios is producing a podcast called Horizons, an anthology of dystopian thrillers with fantastic production and voice actors. (The first few episodes tell stories from Ray Bradbury and Alex Irvine.) I know this sounds corny, but I felt like the show was a portal to another galaxy. Extreme escapism. Extreme
🎙️My dad recommended I listen to Talib Kweli's The People's Party—hip hop, politics, and politics with people like Bun B, Jemele Hill, and Too $hort. I listened to the episode with Neal Brennan (whom my dad loves) and per usual, I thought Neal came off as kind of a dick, but he's honest about his hot takes, and it's interesting to hear a smart person talk through them, even when I disagree. I fell in love with Neal when he hosted The Champs with Moshe Kasher (it was one of the first shows I loved), his 3 Mics performance was beautiful (I saw it live twice,) and I love a lot of things he's been a part of, like All That, Half Baked, and The Dave Chappelle Show. Neal's podcast makes me feel icky, I enjoy him more on other people's shows.
🎙️I got to meet Ma'ayan Plaut, Radiotopia's Podcast Librarian. It is a TREAT and a gift to get to talk to Ma'ayan (I should have paid her) because she knows more than anyone about all the shows that are popping up. During the chat, she casually mentioned a new show, Love and Passports, a travel podcast told through literary fiction. Each episode is split into two parts. First, listeners travel on a journey to a new destination via a short fiction story. Then, they get travel tips on where to stay, eat, and explore at each destination. I appreciate how unique this concept is and got totally lost in the first episode about Monaco. I immediately texted my family, "um, do we need to go to Monaco now?" I wish I could have talked to Ma'ayan for 18 hours so she could tell me about zillions of other shows like Love and Passports, inventive projects that not enough people know about.
🎙️Just a few days after tweeting "podcasts are so bad," Chelsea Peretti is back with her podcast Call Chelsea Peretti. The last episode was in June, 2017. I can remember thinking the show was funny (Chelsea answers phone calls and goes off on tangents) but this episode (CESSPOD) was so bad. I don't like to write about podcasts I don't like but this episode was so bad, nobody on earth could argue otherwise. Not even Chelsea. She's answering fan questions about her upcoming music album (?) but it's terribly done, unfunny, and a waste of your precious podcast-listening time. Maybe there is someone smart who can draw something intelligent from it. If you are that person, please let me know.
🎙️I wrote about Mija, Horizons, and The Horror of Dolores Roach in . Please support this wonderful organization and subscribe to the newsletter.
🎙️Is this newsletter too long, or do you love all the recommendations? Please let me know.
🎙️I love you!
💎If you binge one thing this week...💎
The B-Sides is "a podcast for progressives who love pop music" and it is a podcast I have been waiting for. I have always hated how pop music isn't taken seriously (mostly by older white men) even though it's a powerful tool that young people use to shape the world. Why is something so enormous, that is such a big part of our culture, considered silly? Is it because many fans of pop music are young women? MAYBE!
Want to talk about the moral necessity of Carly Rae Jepsen albums to pull us through the careening emergency that is American politics? The B-Sides share biweekly musings about pop’s place in our world, and the music you should put in your ears to fuel your reckoning with the trashfires all around us. Recent episodes: The history of resistance music Who (and why) is Jack Antonoff What is pop music today What Lizzo means in Trump's America.
Very smart conversations about very fun stuff. Listen here.
Forbes wrote about Tink! Check it out.
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