MFA THESIS PROJECT BY ASHLEY NG
PREFACE Today, Asian Americans are the largest and fastest growing minority group in America, and yet most Americans will hardly ever read a word of Asian American history. Thus many Asian American’s are not even seen as American. They are often seen as foreigners from another land. Most students have to wait until they enter college to learn about Asian American history; and that’s only if they choose to take a course that specifically lectures about Asian history. This means that the majority of children in America will go through at least fourteen years of schooling without learning apart of their national history.
If you look at U.S. History textbooks of today, you will be lucky to find a few paragraphs explaining monumental events regarding Asians that changed the course of American history. Events such as, the Chinese Exclusion Act, Japanese Internment, or Asian American civil rights movement are all skimmed over or never even mentioned. Although we learn a vast amount about the hardships of American slavery, the brutal colonization of Native Americans, and the waves of ethnic European immigration, there is rarely any discussion on the history of Asians in America. Why is Asian American history left in the dark?
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1 2 3 4 5
p. 14–19
SPEAK UP THE PROBLEM & WHY IT MATTERS
p. 20–27
BE PATIENT RESEARCH & DISCOVERIES
p. 28–65
WORK HARD PROCESS & EXPLORATION
p. 66–107
ALWAYS PERSEVERE FINAL DELIVERABLES
p. 108–125
BE HOPEFUL FIELD TESTING
TIGHTLY KNIT
Asians were pioneers, whose contributions helped make the American dream possible.
Chinese laborers pose for the camera in California, 1880s. This was during the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad.
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But their hard work and determination has remained absent from education in American history.
A group of wounded Nisei veterans at a Hospital in Palo Alto, California. Photo credit: The Regents of The University of California.
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說 出 Speak Up The Problem and Why It Matters
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CHAPTER 01 / SPEAK UP
WHERE ARE YOU REALLY FROM? The Perpetual Foreigner Although America is known to be one of the most diverse cultures in the world, our knowledge of these cultures is definitely not as elaborate. In American schools, children hardly ever read a word about Asian Americans. Often times Asian Americans are asked the question, “Where are you from?” The majority of the time this question is aimed towards the assumption that we are Asian, so we must not be born in America. This assumption is called, the perpetual foreigner stereotype. The question “Where are you from?”, this benign question is commonly asked during social interactions, and the answer often leads to interesting conversations with strangers or acquaintances. But what if an answer like “Lincoln, Nebraska,” “Baltimore, Maryland,” or “Modesto, California” does not suffice for the questioner? Indeed, ethnic minorities, especially Asian Americans and Latino/as, are often asked follow-up questions like, “No, where are you really from?” or “No like I meant, where are you originally from?” At least under some circumstances, experiences such as these may be perceived by some ethnic minorities as a message that they do not share the American identity or have in-group status; therefore, these experiences may have negative implications for their identity and adjustment (National Institute of Health, 2011).
Pledge of Allegiance. April 20, 1942. Dorothea Lange, photographer. Gelatin silver print. Collection of Oakland Museum of California. Gift of Paul S. Taylor.
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Trouble Learning What We Don't See We receive most of our education from schooling and most schools don't teach anything about multicultural heritages in America, especially Asian Americans. People need to learn that we are not all foreigners that have journeyed from a far away land. The perpetual foreigner stereotype stems from not learning about the centuries of struggle and perseverance that Asians have contributed to the American soil. And right now, there is a lack of resources for people to learn or teach about the history of Asian Americans.
Lack of Multicultural Children's Books Finding multicultural books is like playing Where's Waldo— it's really difficult to find them. A study by the Cooperative Children's Book Center found that in 2013 there was an estimated total of 5,000 children's books published. But out of that 5,000, only 69 of them were about Asian Americans. Their findings show that Asian American children's literature is not the only ethnicity being left out, but that there are hardly any children's books about people of color. If children don't have the tools to learn about other cultures, then it's even more difficult to teach them the importance of diversity.
Effects on Asian Americans Not being able to learn about Asian Americans effects both Asian Americans and non-Asian Americans. Despite high levels of residential integration and out-marriage, many Asian Americans continue to feel a degree of cultural separation from other Americans. Not surprisingly, these type of feelings are highly correlated with nativity and duration of time in the U.S.
Effects on Non-Asian Americans In America, many people inadvertently or subconsciously acquire stereotypical perspectives. The assumption that ethnic minorities do not fit the definition of what it means to be American may manifest itself in subtle, covert marginalizing incidents, such as questioning an individual’s home-town
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complimenting his/her command of the English language, or mistaking him/her as a foreigner. These type of behaviors comprise a contemporary form of racism called racial micro-aggression, whereby racism is disguised in supposedly benign behaviors and comments (e.g., Where are you from?) that convey strong messages of exclusion and inferi-
By ages 5–8, it is vital for children to learn accurate information to deepen pride in their identity, and to learn authentic information about others. ority (Sue, Capodilupo, et al., 2007). Even when the intent of perpetrators, who can be of any ethnic or racial group, is not malicious or racially motivated, it is in these seemingly harmless occurrences that ethnic minorities are told that they are somehow less American than European Americans (National Institute of Health, 2011).
Effects On Children Children are like sponges and what they see and hear really effect their perspective on society. They are easily influenced and starting at a young age, it's important to teach our children what's right and what's wrong. It might be cliché, but it is definitely true that the children are our future. To change this intolerance and stereotype of Asian Americans, it all needs to start from the very beginning, which would be the early stages of childhood. By focusing on young children, it will help create a platform of tolerance. This platform will then lead to an established perspective of understanding and accepting of other people with different backgrounds.
A GRADUATE THESIS PROJECT BY ASHLEY NG
EFFECTS ON ASIAN AMERICANS TOTAL ASIAN AMERICANS
17.3 Million
ASIAN AMERICAN KIDS BOOKS Out of the 5,000 children's books published in the U.S. in 2013, only 2% were about Asian Americans. So for every 50 children's book published, only 1 was written about Asian Americans.
ASIAN AMERICANS SELF-IDENTIY Although they are American, the majority of Asian Americans identify themselves as the country that their relatives or ancestors immigrated from.
14%
IDENTIFY AS AMERICAN
19% IDENTIFY AS ASIAN / ASIAN AMERICAN
62%
IDENTIFY AS COUNTRY OF ORIGIN
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耐 性 Be Patient Research and Discoveries
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CHAPTER 02 / BE PATIENT
GETTING MY FACTS STRAIGHT History Research Much of my research included finding resources to learn more about Asian American history. It was quite difficult to find things that's not really in educational materials in the first place. But I was able to contact educators in Asian American Studies to find out where to begin. I found a lot of books at the library as well as articles Online that were really helpful. I learned a lot of information that I never knew before. There were so many stories, so many people, so many events that I learned about. It was almost overwhelming because all this information was never taught to us in schools. There were so many fascinating things that I know I would have really enjoyed learning at school.
Learning to Teach Since I am not a professional educator, I had to go out and seek help from someone that was a teacher. Three different teachers were kind enough to help me out and tell me the do's and don'ts of teaching children. They helped teach me the basics of what goes on when planning out different lessons plans for their classes.
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Karen Wong was one of my Directed Study Advisors during the research process of my thesis. She is an ESL Teacher at Kohwles Education Center in Renton, Washington. She helped teach me about the different tools that teachers use to educate children on history. During one of our conversations she was talking about how museums and libraries carry kits for teachers to borrow. This was the beginning of my idea of creating a history kit that educates kids about Asian American history.
I discovered so much history that I've never been taught before. It was difficult to chose what to include in my kids book. Sally Matsuishi is the founder and executive director at Next Generation Scholars. Next Generation Scholars helps Marin County's brightest undeserved students gain access to America's top universities. Sally's teaching has won the Human Rights award called The Martin Luther King Humanitarian Award. She also has a bachelor's degree in Asian American studies and her parents have first hand accounts of living in the Japanese Internment Camps. All of this was helpful in making sure I had the correct facts in my design materials.
Opportunity Gap Since I knew that I wanted to teach children through literature, I had to figure out what types of Asian American books were already available. Although I expected there not to be much to find, I didn't expect my findings to be so minimal. When I went to my local library in Novato, it was like finding a needle in a haystack. Even if the section of the library was labeled "multicultural," most of those books were about traditions in other countries. I also ended up finding some books that were fictional tales of children who shared stories about their cultural traditions. There were also books with fictional characters that were based on a historical period, like the internment camps during WWII. I not only researched Asian American stories, but also other multicultural stories like Hispanic American and African American stories. This helped me understand how authors and illustrators explained historical events to children. When I went to the library, I noticed that there was more selection of Hispanic and African American books. It was kind of hard to find books that educated kids about Asian Americans. A lot of what I found was about things like Chinese New Year or kids in Asia.
Annie Tong is a kindergarten teacher, who helped educate me on how to educate children. She is a kindergarten teacher at Merryhill Elementary School in San Jose, California. Her and her school were nice enough to come in and share a rough draft of my children's book.
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勤 勞 Work Hard Process and Exploration
TIGHTLY KNIT
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LOGO EXPLORATION The title of my project is called Tightly Knit. The name came about while thinking of a way to describe community and togetherness. One could think of it as literally knitting. But another way of thinking of it is that the American society is filled with different people that have different backgrounds and traditions. Although we all may be different, together we create something strong and beautiful. Together, we are all tightly knit. I began by thinking of concepts that represented links and togetherness. I wanted the logo to look friendly, and still reiterate togetherness.
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THIS IS THE FINAL MARK The final mark was developed from it's name. I initially thought of doing something with yarn and connecting loops, but I felt it was looking too literal. So I began to think of other ways to show interwoven links. I wanted everything to look as though it was all tightly knit together, which is why there are connections between different letters. The typeface is based on the font Brownstone Slab. I chose that face because of its slab serifs and because I could tweak the letters to link them together. The top version on the right is the primary logo. The horizontal logo is to be used when there is not enough room for the stacked primary version.
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LOGO STRUCTURE
3x
3x
x
x
x
3x
3x
x
The primary logo structure. There should always be at least 3x amount of white space around the logo at all times. This will help make logo usage consistent.
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x
x
x
x
x
x
When there is not enough vertical space available for the primary stacked logo, then the horizontal logo should be used.
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BRAND COLORS The colors of Tightly Knit represent fun and playfulness. Each color is used to represent a specific section of my thesis project. Blue is the primary color of the brand.
Primary Colors
Blue
Green
Light Brown
Secondary Colors
Orange
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Pink
Red
Brown
Dark Blue
Dark Green
A GRADUATE THESIS PROJECT BY ASHLEY NG
SPOT
CMYK
RGB
Blue
638C
90/0/10/0
0/176/236
Green
361C
75/100/0/21
43/150/61
Light Brown
7414C
27/50/97
193/136/52
Orange
1505C
0/72/100/0
243/108/33
Red
711C
12/98/92/2
209/40/47
Pink
709C
0/77/37/0
241/98/120
Brown
7558C
35/51/100/16
153/113/43
Dark Blue
7461C
85/44/4/0
11/125/187
Dark Green
7725C
87/24/84/9
0/134/85
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TYPOGRAPHY There are two different typefaces depending on if we are talking to children or adults. The first typeface is called Print Clearly. It should be used for all children's materials such as, story books and flash cards. The roundness gives character to the letters and express playfulness. There is also a bold weight of the typeface that can be used when necessary. The second typeface is called Josefin Sans. It is used for the adult materials. Josefin also expresses a friendly tone, but is a bit more refined and mature.
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PRINT CLEARLY / TYPEFACE FOR CHILDREN
A N a n
B O b o
C P c p
D Q d q
E F G H I R S T U V e f g h i r s t u v
J W j w
K X k x
L Y l y
M Z m z
1234567890,.?!@#$%^&*/:-+
Print Clearly is the primary typeface used for kids. JOSEFIN SANS / PRIMARY TYPEFACE FOR ADULTS
A N a n
B C O P b c o p
D E F G H I J K Q R S T V W X d e f g h i j k q r s t u v w x
JOSEFIN SLAB / SECONDARY TYPEFACE FOR ADULTS
L M Y Z l m y z
A N a n
B O b o
C P c p
D Q d q
E F G H I J R S T V W e f g h i j r s t u v w
K X k x
L M Y Z l m y z
1234567890,.?!@#$%^&*/:-+
1234567890,.?!@#$%^&*/:-+
Josefin Sans is the primary typeface used for adults.
Josefin Slab is the secondary typeface used for adults.
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ILLUSTRATION EXPLORATION I knew I wanted to do an illustrative project because my thesis revolves around teaching young kids. So, I felt that illustration would be the most effective when teaching history. I've played around before with vector illustrations, but never an entire project based on it. So it was time to really study the type of illustrations that were out there and what made them work. I was inspired by a lot of vector illustration by artists like Huck Gee, Sanjay Patel, J. Otto Seibold, and Appley Rotten. All the illustrations have a quirky kind of look to them with distorted features in their characters. I studied what it is that makes their illustrations eye catching and what details went into making the illustration look complete. I also noticed their use in colors and shading. They all made it look like simple illustrations but what made them so great were all the little details that they added. After studying their work it was off to try some iterations of my own.
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I pulled a lot of illustrations by Huck Gee, Sanjay Patel, J. Otto Seibold, and Appley Rotten to look at for inspiration. They are all vector based and I noticed that they used simple shapes.
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Sketches and notes I took during my explorations of illustration styles.
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CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT I wanted to develop two main characters that helped guide readers throughout the storybook. I learned that children pay more attention when there are characters that they an relate to pictured in the story that they are reading. I decided to design characters based on a grandmother and granddaughter.
Why Po Po? The idea of creating the character Po Po came about when I was talking to one of my cousins and told her about my thesis project. She suggested that I create a story based on the experiences that my grandmother endured during her childhood growing up in San Francisco, California. I took her suggestion and created a grandmother character that would become the main character in my storybook. According to Brigham Young University, "Grandparents have been found to be influential in some of the fundamental aspects of their grandchildren's lives, namely in helping them form their identities and in transmitting values, ideals, and beliefs to them. These areas have been described in family research over several decades." Children can relate to being a grandchild and having a grandmother. Most grandmothers love to share stories and teach lessons to their little ones.
Pictured is my Po Po and myself when I was about 3 years old. In the background are photos I found of her when she was younger.
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The first sketch of the main characters of my story. The grandmother character is inspired by the characteristics of my own grandmother.
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Some of the very first explorations of illustration styles that later transformed and become much more refined.
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毅 力 Always Persevere Final Deliverables
TIGHTLY KNIT
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PACKAGING
LEARNING KIT The Po Po Says Kit is designed to look like a vintage suitcase. The concept is to have the look and feel of a vintage suitcase to reiterate that everyone in America is an immigrant or the descendant of an immigrant. Even Native Americans originally migrated to the Americas more than 15,000 years ago. It helps explain to children that we all have come from different places, but we are all still American.
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FINAL STYLE OF ILLUSTRATION After some refinements, I was able to arrive at an illustration style that I really liked. It's a flat vector illustration style, with small refined details. I was really happy with the style that I arrived at because it was colorful, playful, and interesting.
I was able to go from one historical story to the next and continue to develop illustrations for them. I began with the Manila Men story. And from there, I just kept drawing. 64
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Some of my illustrations was inspired by different historical photography that I found during my research. Above is an image of a family waiting for departure to the Japanese Interment camps during WWII.
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Above is an image of the Vietnam War. This image was a part of one of the stories regarding the Vietnamese Boat People who fled Vietnam after the war left them with little food and money. 70
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CHILDREN'S BOOK
PO PO SAYS Po Po Says is designed for children ages 5 and up. Po Po means grandmother in Cantonese. Every weekend her grandaughter Ella comes to visit her. Ella's favorite part of visiting Po Po is when Po Po shares her history stories about Asian Americans and teaches her words in Cantonese. Po Po and Ella help guide readers through 8 different Asian American stories. Each story begins with the moral of the story in Cantonese and what it means in English. The book is meant to be read as a chapter book and needs an adult to help children with any difficult vocabulary. Throughout the story Po Po knits a scarf. As the reader precedes to the end of the story the scarf has gotten longer and longer and is finally done. Po Po gives Ella the scarf and tells her that just like the scarf we are all tightly knit. Each loop represents a different person and together we all make something strong and beautiful.
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FLASH CARDS
A HELPING HAND The Po Po Says Flash Cards help reiterate the 8 morals of each story told in the book Po Po Says. Each moral corresponds with 4 different cards that teach about the people, event, activities, and the moral in Cantonese. Each set of 4 cards is also color coded. For example, the cards about the Chinese Gold Rush workers are pink, the brave Nisei soldier cards are orange, and the Vietnamese Boat People cards are blue.
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TIGHTLY KNIT SCARF
PO PO'S SCARF The Tightly Knit Scarf is a fun way for kids to feel apart of the story. The scarf allows children to receive the scarf that Po Po made in the storybook. In the story, Po Po tells Ella that the scarf she made represents the different people in America. Each loop is a different person and together the loops make something strong and beautiful. The scarf allows children to become a part of the story. It also helps reiterate that they are a part of something strong and beautiful.
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ACTIVITY GUIDE
JUST FOR ADULTS The Po Po Says Activity Guide for Parents & Teachers has two different sections to it. The first section is filled with 8 suggested activities that meet common core educational standards. It gives parents and teachers activities like writing, reading, social studies, and visual arts. The second section is filled with in depth detail about the historical stories taught in Po Po Says. This is to help parents and teachers have a better understanding of the stories they are reading to their children. The layout has a scrapbook type of feeling that represents an old photo album that a grandparent would have.
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TIGHTLY KNIT WEBSITE
INTERACTIVE EXPERIENCE The Tightly Knit website is to help parents and teachers learn more about it and also to purchase any of the products such as the kit, books, scarf, and flash cards. The website also allows parents and teachers to download worksheets they would like to use to help reiterate the stories in the children's book. Worksheets also include how to write the morals in Cantonese.
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希 望 Be Hopeful Field Testing
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MERRYHILL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
FIELD TESTING It was important for me to try and see how children would respond to my book. This would help me figure out if I should make any edits and changes. It was great to see that they really enjoyed my reading. They all answered questions very intelligently and could understand what I was reading. They were all very adorable and addressed me as Ms. Ashley. The first class I read to really loved hugging and were full of questions and statements. The second class was much more quiet, but were very good listeners. Most of the boys in each class loved the story about the Nisei Soldiers.
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Ms. Annie Tong and I pose with the children's book. She was kind enough to let me read to her kindergarten class.
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The students loved the stickers that I made for them. They stuck them on their bags, pencils boxes, and even stuck them on themselves.
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After I read a few of the stories in my book, I was able to create an activity for the students to do. One of the stories I read to them was about being brave. So, I had them write about who they thought was brave.
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MERRYHILL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
ACTIVITY SHEETS Before going to read to the classes, I met up with one of the kindergarten teachers and she suggested I do some kind of activity for the kids to do after I read. I created a simple activity sheet. The teacher also wanted the ruled lines on the sheet because she wanted to make sure that her kids wrote a lot. As an activity I had the kids write about they thought was brave. This related to one the stories told in my children's book where the moral of the Nisei Soldiers is that they accomplished their goal by being brave.
After I read a few of the stories in my book, I was able to create an activity for the students to do. One of the stories I read to them was about being brave. So, I had them write about who they thought was brave.
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THANK YOU My Parents & Family Thank you for the support and always believing in me.
Instructors & Advisors Thank you Dave Gottwald, Karen Wong, Sally Matsuishi, and Annie Tong. I’ve learned so much in such a short amount of time, thanks to all of you. Thanks for always pushing me when I thought I couldn’t be pushed any further.
Merryhill Elementary School Thank you for letting me visit. It was great meeting your extremely intelligent/curious students.
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MFA Thesis Project of Ashley Ng
Written and Designed by
Ashley Ng
School
Academy of Art University School of Graphic Design
Student
Ashley Ng 191 Butterfield Dr. Novato, CA 94945 415-425-7475 ashleyng415@gmail.com
Website
ashleyng.com
Printing & Binding
Blurb.com
Typefaces
Josefin Sans, Josefin Slab
Software
Adobe Creative Cloud
Š2014 All rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced without express permission from Ashley Ng
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As Maya Angelou said, “We all should know that diversity makes for a rich tapestry.” Within it there is strength and there is beauty. And together, we are all tightly knit.
Text copyright © 2014 by Ashley Ng Cover and interior illustrations copyright © 2014 by Ashley Ng All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission. Typefaces: Print Clearly, Print Bold, Josefin Slab Printed in the United States of America October 2014 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 FIRST EDITION
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