The Pitt News T h e in de p e n d e n t st ude nt ne w spap e r of t he University of Pittsburgh
Shedding some light
Pat Narduzzi discusses Hawkeyes and injuries.
September 15, 2015 | Issue 22 | Volume 106
Pitt women’s Faculty art reverberates in Frick basketball player facing charges Dan Sostek Sports Editor
Pitt sophomore women’s basketball player Yacine Diop faces charges after an undisclosed incident on campus last month. Pitt police arrested Diop on Aug. 28. Diop faces three counts of aggravated assault, three counts of recklessly endangering another person, one count of disorderly conduct and two counts of sale and use of air rifles, according to a court docket. According to the Pitt Executive Associate Athletic Director for media relations E.J. Borghetti, the court issued Diop 100 hours of community service. All charges will be dropped after she completes the community service. Borghetti said Diop expressed her “sincere regret for her involvement in this situation” and that the school is “confident she will exercise better judgment moving forward.”
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Pitt Studio Arts is hosting the first faculty art exhibit in four years. COLIN VAN’T VELD | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Mark Pesto
Senior Staff Writer
The pieces in this fall’s Studio Arts faculty exhibit “Reverberations” do not have a connecting motive or medium but work together to represent the similarities between artists and teachers. Clark, a Pittsburgh based inde-
pendent curator responsible for organizing the Studio Arts faculty art exhibition in the Frick Fine Arts Building, named the exhibit “Reverberations” after she struggled to find a theme for the work that is only united by the artists’ connection to the University. “Reverberations,” which features
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14 members of Pitt’s Department of Studio Arts, opened last Thursday, Sept. 10, in the University Arts Gallery at the Frick Fine Arts Building. The exhibition is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, until Oct. 23. “There’s no real visual or concepSee Art on page 2
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Art, pg. 1 tual basis for this show, so what I get to do — and it’s wonderful — is find connections between the works that weren’t actually planned,” Clark said. “By working together, seeing and talking about each other’s work, conscious and subconscious connections emerge.” Delanie Jenkins, associate professor and chair of the Studio Arts Department, said the Studio Arts faculty usually holds a collective exhibition every two or three years, but they delayed this show by a year to coincide with Pittsburgh’s hosting of the Southeastern College Art Conference’s annual meeting. SECAC, a coalition of college visual art departments of which Pitt is a member, will hold its meeting from Oct. 21 to 24 at the Wyndham Grand Hotel downtown. Clark is the first faculty exhibit cu-
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rator to have no University affiliation. “We’re a pretty collegial bunch,” Jenkins said. “This year we decided to try something a little different.” As curator, Clark wrote the exhibition’s 84-page official catalog and discussed with the artists which of their pieces would go in the gallery. Some artists repurposed older pieces for the exhibit. Jenkins originally designed his mirrored sculpture, Snow Fence, to reflect the dramatic sunsets and wide-open spaces of Wyoming, where she first displayed it. “Interacting with the glass of the cloister gives it a sense of play, and this is one of the only places we could put it where it would reflect the Cathedral of Learning,” Jenkins said. The centerpiece of the exhibition is “Portal,” a mixed-media installation crafted specifically for the Frick gallery by three collaborators: studio arts members Michael L. Morrill and Aaron Henderson as well as Mathew
Rosenblum, director of graduate studies in the Music Department. “Portal” features four abstract paintings by Morrill, a series of spotlights set up by Henderson and an ambient musical score by Rosenblum. Located in the gallery’s high-ceilinged rotunda, “Portal” uses Henderson’s spotlight array to mimic the way sunlight naturally illuminates the room through its many high, circular windows. “Morrill’s four abstract paintings, based on annual solstices and equinoxes, anchor the space and provide sites for the reflection of the paths of light … That slow, rhythmic movement is enhanced with Rosenblum’s score, a sound piece that seems to emanate from the celestial spheres,” Clark wrote in the exhibition’s catalog. Creating “Portal” required attention to every minute detail of the piece’s environment. According to Jenkins, the trio spent two years cre-
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ating the installation, and Henderson said he started installing the lights back in June. To accurately determine where the sunlight falls in the rotunda on each day of the year, Henderson created a miniature 3-D model of the rotunda, which used to be a music room, and wrote his own custom software to power the lights. “They’ve used a very awkward space in a very wonderful way. It echoes what the room was meant to be,” Clark said of the “Portal” team. Henderson said he’s glad he sweated over the details. “It’s one of those things where you feel a little bit of pride whenever you think of it,” Henderson said. Clark said the gallery represents the passion the artists put into their work as creators and teachers. “As a teacher, you put something out in the world and don’t always know what will come back, and the same is true for artists,” Clark said.
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Opinions
Column
from the editorial board
Fund public defenders more, or pay for unnecessary prison sentences According to the Social Science Research Center, more than 80 percent of people charged with felonies are indigent — or poor. These people cannot afford attorneys, and therefore, must rely on public defenders. However, since Pennsylvania is charging indigent people at such a high rate, 73 percent of county public defender offices exceed the maximum recommended limit of cases set by the American Bar Association — 150 felonies a year. As per the Sixth Amendment of the Constitution, if you are accused of a crime and don’t have the money to hire your own attorney, the state will assign a public defender to your case in order to ensure that you are given a fair trial — one in which you are viewed as equal to your fellow citizens in the eyes of the law. This is part of the Miranda Rights that the police officers on TV recite when arresting suspects — i.e., the “if you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you,” part. In Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, however, three indigent criminal defendants and former chief public defender, Al Flora Jr., argue that the state violated the constitutional right to counsel. On behalf of the indigent criminal defendants and Flora, the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania filed a class-action lawsuit in 2012, pittnews.com
claiming “the office of the public defender could not adequately represent its clients with the level of funding that it received,” according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. After going through a series of state courts, the Pennsylvania State Supreme Court has finally agreed to take the case last week. ACLU attorneys will argue that, because of low funding, the public defender’s office in Luzerne County lacked sufficient resources and time to fully represent its clients, which resulted in defendants being incarcerated for longer periods of time. This is problematic for states like Pennsylvania because, as the ACLU explains on its website, we are “one of only two states that provide neither state funding nor state supervision for indigent defense,” thus shifting the burden “entirely to the counties, which set their own public defender budgets.” Our system means that the poorest counties will have public defense offices with the least amount of funding. Consequently, public defense lawyers may not have enough staff, resources or even time to fully represent defendants. Ultimately, this makes it much easier for a person charged of a particular crime in a poor county to go to jail than for a person charged of the same crime in a richer county. Since poorer counties have such
a hard time representing defendants, this only exacerbates their economic situations, as it impedes the employment of their citizens. As the Urban Institute found in 2008, eight months after being released, only 45 percent of former prisoners were employed. Prison helps to keep counties and the people who live in them in cyclical poverty, as it keeps them from obtaining the opportunities to advance themselves economically. One way to help alleviate the pain our poorer counties feel is transferring funding for public defendants to the state, rather than putting it onto the counties. This will ensure that every county will receive an appropriate amount of funding for public defense, rather than just a privileged few — meaning that all defendants, regardless of economic background, receive equal legal treatment. Of course, politicians in Harrisburg may be wary of spending state money on public defenders. However, more money for public defenders will mean less money for the state prison budget — simply because less people will go to jail or will ultimately serve shorter sentences if the state provides access to adequate legal counsel. We all have the right to a lawyer, and if that lawyer doesn’t have enough funding to properly execute our case, we shouldn’t have to remain silent.
September 15, 2015
Kim Davis is not worth the Fight Henry Glitz
For The Pitt News
Mike Huckabee calls it “the most important issue in the [2016] presidential election.” Ted Cruz thinks it’s an issue so important that it merits a radical reorganization of the judicial branch of the federal government. What issue could possibly be such a calamity that it merits the forceful rhetoric and campaign promises from such politicians? Hint: it’s not about crushing college debts, massive federal deficits or even an unfair tax code. According to Huckabee and Cruz, Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples because of “God’s authority,” represents the most important issue of the 2016 presidential election. There are innumerable issues that have a direct and negative impact on everyday life in the United States, but the fight for Davis’ religious freedom is not one of them. Nonetheless, after a judge sent Davis to jail for refusing to issue marriage licenses, politicians became convinced this is all a result of the government’s ongoing “criminalization of Christianity,” as Huckabee calls it. Despite another judge releasing her just five days later, the govSee Glitz on page 4
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Glitz, pg. 3 ernment is attacking our religious liberties, they say. Yet, as much as Huckabee and some social conservatives want to focus on this imagined violation of Davis’ religious liberty, this issue is too far removed from America’s real problems to be either necessary or helpful to spotlight. Davis is merely a distraction from the issues that matter. The GOP simply cannot win using Davis and “religious liberty” as its primary issue, as it is largely unimportant both for Republican voters and the electorate as a whole — and rightly so. Whether you agree or disagree with Davis’ course of actions, outside of herself and the couples whose licenses she denied, the controversy will have little effect on anyone’s day-to-day existence. That hasn’t stopped Huckabee from making Davis’ experience an issue, however.
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Kim Davis being freed from jail. TNS
In a Sept. 6, interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, Huckabee compared the Supreme Court’s 1857 Dred Scott ruling, which denied citizenship to black Americans, to the Court’s
decision this past June to legalize samesex marriage nation-wide. “Was that a correct decision? Should the courts have been irrevocably followed on that? Should Lincoln have been
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put in jail because he ignored it? That’s the fundamental question,” Huckabee said of Dred Scott. Basically, Huckabee believes that Davis is comparable to a modern day Lincoln — ignoring a Supreme Court decision that he views as immoral. If this comparison represents the quality of argument this “issue” draws from its most ardent believer, it certainly can’t help American voters’ interest in a problem that, for most, might as well be hypothetical. Huckabee’s misguided crusade against what he theatrically calls “judicial tyranny” is inescapably wrong. Of course, there are people on both sides of the political dialogue who, in the name of minority rights, claim that a case like Davis’ is important because it might lead to more widespread injustice. Some socially conservative Christians are certainly worried that they are in danger of imprisonment for their beliefs because See Glitz on page 10
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Culture
Up for grabs
Share Fair features myriad of Free Trash turned treasure Britnee Meiser Staff Writer
A string of pearls lay unattended in Schenley Plaza pavilion Friday afternoon, as a prowling student circled the luxury, snatched it up and continued on his way. This wasn’t some great jewel heist— the student was participating in the Share Fair, hosted by the Pittsburgh Student Solidarity Coalition. The fair was a three-hour community outreach event where trade is key — people brought items they want to give away and take anything that catches their eye, regardless if they leave anything behind. According to the event’s Facebook page, 2,000 people RSVP’d the event, but PSSC member Raghav Sharma estimated that only 150 people participated. This was the third fair that the coalition hosted PSSC is a coalition of students from Pitt, Carnegie Mellon and Point Park.. The group aims to bring people together to form solidarity within the community. Though the free items draw people in, the real purpose of the Share Fair is to establish public spaces like Schenley Plaza as a space for social interaction for students, rather than just something to pass through on the way to work or class. “It’s important for people to come away with an understanding of the community they live in and the multiplicity of perspectives that exist there,” pittnews.com
Sharma said. “Understanding those different perspectives is the only way we can form serious relationships.” The fair was lively with chatter between friends and new acquaintances, but the real action occurred in the search. People traded everything from clothes, books and DVDs to big ticket items, like TVs. Everything was splayed out under the pavilion in an unorganized, free-for-all style. At first, people sifted through the free items timidly, as if they were feeling shy or didn’t know what to make of the chaos. In a half hour, though, everybody got the hang of it — shirts started flying, students scattered magazines across tables and somebody made a mad dash toward the TV. Don’t worry — nobody got hurt. “You’ve heard the saying, ‘one man’s trash is another man’s treasure,’” said Zane Zheng, a program coordinator at the Pittsburgh Science and Technology Academy who attended the fair with a Pitt student. “But it’s true. You find cool stuff here.” Zheng walked away with a digital photo frame and some fresh eggs, but comparatively, he had a modest haul. “We hope to shed some light on the scope of stuff people have that they don’t need or use,” Sharma said. PSSC’s fair draws attention to recycling as a way for college students to save money on basic appliances while
Passersby check out the loot in Schenley Plaza. Britnee Meiser Staff Writer
also saving the world. “[College students] are victims of an endless cycle of consumerism, and Americans produce more trash than anywhere else in the world,” Sharma said. “Rather than relying on traditional avenues [to rid of unwanted items], we decided to make the change and give the power back to the people.” The fair’s atmosphere emulates a strong sense of community. Complete strangers chat like longtime friends. September 15, 2015
Some people had armfuls of goodies, while others seemed content just standing around, enjoying the positive atmosphere. There are no official plans for a fourth Share Fair yet, but Sharma is confident it will come. In the past, the fair has happened approximately once per semester. “It seems like we struck a nerve,” Sharma said. “It’s amazing. If people are interested, [the Share Fair] should continue.”
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Hosting away from home: Students celebrate Jewish new year
Students help themselves to a potluck-style dinner on ward Street. .Photo courtesy of Sami Sheinwald
Emma Solak Staff Writer
Sami Sheinwald stood in front of her dinner table FaceTiming her mom, flipping the camera to proudly display the food-laden, friend-filled Rosh Hashana celebration. “Look mom, here’s mine,” Sheinwald said as she compared pittnews.com
her spread to her mother’s table in New York. This year, Sheinwald, a junior studying nursing and women’s studies, hosted her own Rosh Hashana, or Jewish new year dinner, at her friend Josh Robertson’s house on Ward Street for twenty of See Rosh Hashana on page 7
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Rosh Hashana, pg. 6 their friends. Away from home and without a break from class, students who want to celebrate the holiday must step up and prepare the feast, or dine on free fare at the Hillel Jewish University Center. “Hosting on my own gave me a sense of growing up which, although scary, is also very exciting,” Sheinwald said. “It’s nice to see a group of young adults come together with such respect for ancient traditions.” In the Jewish faith, the new year is a time for renewal, forgiveness and reflection. Rosh Hashana falls on the first day of Tishrei, the first month in the Jewish calendar, which does not line up with the Gregorian calendar since the Jewish year is longer than the secular year. The holiday begins
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at sundown and continues until sundown the next day. In Judaism, the day begins at dusk rather than at midnight, so all Jewish holidays start the night before their calendar marking. Rosh Hashana marks reaching the end of the Torah, the old testament, and starting it again. As the guests trickled in, they greeted each other with “Shanah Tovah” or “Good Year,” towing customary Jewish dishes with them. The friends enjoyed apples with honey, representing the sweet new year, as they sat on mismatched furniture and talked about classes, Greek life and their families. Sheinwald usually rings in the new year with brisket prepared by her grandfather, but chose to cook
chicken and cornbread. Other people brought noodle kugel, potatoes, vegetables and shakshuka — a dish of poached eggs in tomato sauce. Robertson, a senior finance major, said the evening was a little
“I said to Josh [Robertson], ‘Think of how little people we are, and look at what we’re doing right now,’” Sheinwald said. To help students feel comfortable during the High Holy Days, the period from Rosh Hashana until Yom Kippur — a holiday 10 days after the new year when Jews repent for their sins in the past year — Hillel and Chabad, two Jewish organizations on Pitt’s campus, host their own celebrations. Hillel serves dinner at the Hillel Jewish University Center on Forbes Avenue while Chabad hosts dinner at an assigned house. After dinner, students walk in groups to different temples in the area to attend services. Each service begins and ends with a prayer and song session with a sermon in the middle of the ceremony. During the sermon, the rabbi imparts an important lesson for the congregation to carry with them to the new year. The lesson varies based on the rabbi and the context of the time. The rabbi will often find a way to connect the Torah’s teaching to current events and
“I think everyone really does miss their family dinners. They don’t want to say it, but they really do. Everyone secretly wants the kugel.”
-Sami Sheinwald
more relaxed than what he’s used to at home. Yet he added that ambience wasn’t as important as the cultural connection between the students. “Being able to have everyone over in general was great,” Robertson said. “It’s more about the people we were spending our time with.” A special moment for him was when all the nights’ attendees said prayers at the beginning of the meal, even though not all of them knew Hebrew. Sheinwald stood outside, listening to her friends chatter inside — and she began to tear up.
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See Rosh Hashana on page 8
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Rosh Hashana pg. 7 explain how the Torah’s lessons can still teach us today. Traditionally, Jewish people also attend services the next day, where they read the opening passage of the Torah. While many students attend these community dinners, some people would rather spend the holiday in the comfort of a famil-
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iar home. Sheinwald said several people thanked her for organizing the dinner. “I think everyone really does miss their family dinners. They don’t want to say it, but they really do,” Sheinwald said. “Everyone secretly wants the kugel.” For Erica Schwartz, a junior nursing student who attended the dinner, the friends she spent Rosh Hashana with felt like family.
“No one wants to feel alone,” Schwartz said. Schwartz said her family was having its own celebration at home in New Jersey, but Sheinwald’s dinner was “more college-friendly” and casual. “We had a lot of potatoes, not proper utensils, salad without dressing,” Schwartz said. Schwartz’s family dinner would be more formal, with a properly set
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table surrounded by family in suits and dresses, wearing kippahs, a traditional brim cap worn by Jews to satisfy the orthodox requirement of covering one’s head. For Sheinwald, hosting runs in her blood. She plans to continue hosting holiday dinners, just as her mother does. “Jewish people love people,” Sheinwald said. “My mom even moved into a bigger house so she could throw more parties.”
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Sports
Pitt football notebook: Week three
Pat Narduzzi talks quarterbacks, injuries and help for Boyd Dan Sostek Sports Editor
Before Pitt sets off for Kinnick Stadium, questions about position battles and health linger following a 24-7 win at Akron on Saturday. Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi addressed his team’s quarterback controversy, injuries and depth at his weekly press conference Monday at the UPMC Sports Performance Complex in South Side. QB by Thursday? Through the first two games of the season, the Panthers have surprised onlookers, shuffling their two quarterbacks, juniors Nathan Peterman and Chad Voytik, in and out of contests. After seeing the majority of the snaps against Youngstown State in week one, the coaching staff benched Voytik in favor of Peterman on Saturday against Akron. With both players listed as co-starters on the weekly depth chart, Narduzzi said he’s in no rush to decide who will be under center against the Hawkeyes. “We’re gonna wait until Thursday,” Narduzzi said. “[On Thursday] we like to make sure we’re sharp and detailed. There’s no question we’ll wait until that day.” Narduzzi did concede that repittnews.com
gardless of who starts, the other will likely still see the field around the third series of the game. Still, he would like to see one of the quarterbacks separate themselves from the other. “Yes, you always hope for that. I think both of those Nathan Peterman is embroiled in a quarterback controversy. Jeff Ahearn ASISSTANT VISUAL EDITOR guys are preting spot handed to him when he for Akron, as the backup at free ty equal back returns from his undisclosed insafety to junior Terrish Webb. there,” Narduzzi said. “We’ll find jury. While Narduzzi didn’t give an upout in the heat of the battle.” “I’m happy with where Terrish date on Mitchell’s availability, he On the Mend is. He’s doing a nice job,” Narsaid the depth chart was due to Star running back James Conduzzi said. “Reggie will have his not only Mitchell’s injury, but to ner’s season-ending right knee hands full when he comes back.” Webb’s play as well. injury grabbed most of the headAs for James, Narduzzi said the “Reggie Mitchell is a guy who lines, but a few other Panthers sophomore running back could started off in spring ball as the are nursing injuries of their own. have played against Akron, but starting free safety. Then in camp Narduzzi provided status updates the lack of practice time during he got banged up a little bit,” Narfor safety Reggie Mitchell, runthe week leading up the game — duzzi said. “T. Webb came in, and ning back Chris James and offenas well as the weather — was a deWebb has been one of those guys sive tackle Adam Bisnowaty, none ciding factor. Narduzzi said James that plays better than he practices of whom saw the field against Akis “100 percent ready to go” this at times, which is great for him.” ron due to undisclosed injuries. Narduzzi noted that Mitchell Pitt listed Mitchell, the only See Notebook on page 10 won’t necessarily have the startone of the three who did not dress September 15, 2015
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Glitz, pg. 4
Notebook, pg. 9
precedents like Davis’ five-day stint in jail. But let’s not forget that Davis abusing her elected position to enable her personal prejudices is possibly representative of a widespread disregard for LGBTQ citizens’ right to equal protection, as well. We shouldn’t absolve Davis’ situation of any moral connotations, but it also bears repeating that it’s the specifics of this situation that make it a unique scenario. Ms. Davis wasn’t simply practicing her freedom of religion in isolation from the rest of the world — she was a public servant who obliterated the separation between church and state by abusing public office for religious purposes. Regardless of how much Huckabee and other social conservatives argue otherwise, this is clearly not how the vast majority of religiously affiliated Americans observe their religious opinions. A poll conducted by Gallup in early June open-endedly asked participants what they thought was the country’s “most important problem.” Only five percent were most concerned with “moral decline,” the issue that horrifies traditionalist Huckabee. On the other hand, 86 percent of Gallup poll respondents said economic issues were “extremely/very important” to their decision, a number even higher among Republicans — 89 percent. Even if Huckabee’s concern with religious liberty held weight, his and other social conservatives’ positions are aimed at very narrow segments of the population, and have predictably narrow appeal. Therefore, it’s time the Republican Party abandoned its deluded culture warriors and focused on issues a little more connected to reality. That is, if it wants to focus on representing, rather than clinging to old gripes. Write Henry at hgg7@pitt.edu
week. Narduzzi wasn’t quite as bullish on Bisnowaty’s availability, but he still expressed some optimism that the junior would see the field at Iowa. “Biz is getting healthy, I think. Shoot, I thought he was healthy last week, but he didn’t practice,” Narduzzi said. “Hopefully he’ll get some reps in this week and we’ll have him back.” Backing Boyd Despite missing the first game of the season because of a suspension stemming from an offseason DUI, standout junior wide receiver Tyler Boyd looked confident in his return to the field. He hauled in 11 receptions for 95 yards and now leads the team in both categories, even though he’s played in one less contest than his fellow wideouts. Although the team’s apparent lack of a number two wide receiver opposite Boyd — no other wideout on the roster has more than two catches — seems concerning, Narduzzi contended the talent is there. “I really like what Dontez [Ford] has done for us,” Narduzzi said. “Zach Challingsworth is a player. It’s just a matter of who you’re showcasing. Some guys do need to step up and we have to get the ball to those other guys.” Following a season in which Boyd totaled 52 percent of Pitt’s total receiving yards, Narduzzi knows that Boyd won’t be able to carry the entire offense forever. Teams will begin to adjust — he pointed out that Iowa will likely double-team the Panthers’ star. “If we try to go to Tyler the whole time, we’re gonna have problems,” Narduzzi said.
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