Documenting my journey as a female Muay Thai fighter in Thailand, sharing techniques, culture and personal perspective - over 250 fights fought
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November 30, 2021We’ve heard how much everyone has been enjoying the Muay Thai Bones over the years, thank you for sending us messages on how you listen to our epic deep dives into Muay Thai. We know the podcast is super long, but that’s the way we love it. Got to be committed. So we’ve done a quick turn around and put together yet another Muay Thai...
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November 11, 2021Our newest Muay Thai Bones podcast is out, and it is a good one. We really wanted to take our time to talk about this first subject right. We take a very deep dive into all the changes that have been coming to Lumpinee, as a New Lumpinee image is taking hold. For us this revolves around the fact that female fighters are becoming integrated...
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October 6, 2021We’ve noticed that there was a pretty big chunk of fights which never made it to YouTube, existing only on Facebook in their live stream version, so I’ve made a project of voicing over those fights, fights 178-204 in 2017. You can find my complete record here, if interested in following along. Be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel if you don’t want to...
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August 15, 2021This is something that I’ve battled with myself, many times and in many iterations over the years, and I know for sure I’m not unique or alone in it. This video is to offer encouragement to those of us who don’t identify as “Naturally Aggressive,” which in full contact sports can feel like a serious deficit. It isn’t. But it is something you can work...
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May 23, 2021It’s strange, in a way, that there are things about us that we ourselves do not know. I am both fond of reminiscing and also allergic to it, happily recounting memories from my childhood to my husband about my brothers and friends, but I prickle and have sudden amnesia when it comes to a question that raises something more difficult. Recently we were talking about...
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The first time I met Dieselnoi for real, meaning I got to talk to him rather than just a...
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I’m not a Kru. I’m not a teacher. I’m still a full time fighter, I’m still a student, I’m...
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The work we are doing with the Preserve The Legacy project not only includes the building of the immense...
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The newest Muay Thai Bones podcast is up, another epic podcast clocking at 3 and a half hours, full...
5 Minute Documentary on Sylvie
My Latest Posts
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Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu August 28, 2023After my last Kard Chuek fight, I had a decent black eye and some scratches on the left side of my face from the rope wraps. The impact had occurred mostly in the first round, while I was tense and my guard was up, but rather porous due to being very stiff. But by the middle of the second round I’d adjusted my guard to be more flexible, so I could see and strike out of it, and after that my opponent was landing most of her attempts straight...
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Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu February 8, 2023see Kevin’s beautiful photos from the event here Some of my thoughts and experiences of this past weekend, as part of a big event. The Tourism Authority of Thailand has a catchphrase, which I think is common of tourism to have – something catchy and memorable like, “Virginia is for Lovers” – which is, “Amazing Thailand.” The first annual “Amazing Muay Thai Festival” in Hua Hin this past weekend is named this way because of the participation of the Tourism Authority, along with the Thai Military and WBC as...
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Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu January 22, 2023I listened, recently, to a book about how women are mostly concerned/afraid about protection and men are mostly concerned/afraid about feeling shame. There was interesting research into how babies, just naturally, fall along the male/female line in tendencies to maintain or break eye contact. Because female babies can maintain eye contact, their caretakers gaze into their eyes lovingly for long stretches. Because males don’t maintain eye contact well (although after looking up or down or away, they do return to eye contact) their caretakers also look away. When the...
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Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu December 30, 2022I’m startled awake by a sound on the front deck of my kuti, a little stand alone, elevated, single-room hut. This is a meditation center and there are maybe 5 kutis on this side of the property, separated by 50 feet or so. This side is only women and I believe there are maybe 4 other women staying in the other huts at this time. Why would anyone be coming to my door in the dark? We’re not permitted to speak to one another and it’s 2AM. My mind...
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Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu December 26, 2021Fight #269 – The plastic I sat cross-legged on crinkled as I changed position, the hard blades of grass that sat outside its limits bit at my thighs with every shifted pose. A group of high schoolers sang and danced on the stage in a “mini concert,” they called it, before the fights started. Only a minimal audience was allowed at the live show, so maybe a dozen people were spattered throughout the plastic chairs around the ring and the distance between those of us getting ready and them...
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Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu November 30, 2021We’ve heard how much everyone has been enjoying the Muay Thai Bones over the years, thank you for sending us messages on how you listen to our epic deep dives into Muay Thai. We know the podcast is super long, but that’s the way we love it. Got to be committed. So we’ve done a quick turn around and put together yet another Muay Thai Bones, right after the last. There are just so many things happening in Muay Thai right now, especially with Lumpinee and personally as well,...
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Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu November 11, 2021Our newest Muay Thai Bones podcast is out, and it is a good one. We really wanted to take our time to talk about this first subject right. We take a very deep dive into all the changes that have been coming to Lumpinee, as a New Lumpinee image is taking hold. For us this revolves around the fact that female fighters are becoming integrated into its promotions after women being barred from the ring for more than a half century, due to superstitions about gender and pollution. But...
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Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu October 6, 2021We’ve noticed that there was a pretty big chunk of fights which never made it to YouTube, existing only on Facebook in their live stream version, so I’ve made a project of voicing over those fights, fights 178-204 in 2017. You can find my complete record here, if interested in following along. Be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel if you don’t want to miss any of these commentaries. In commentaries I talk about my experiences in and around the fight, my thoughts on how the fight is...
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Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu August 15, 2021This is something that I’ve battled with myself, many times and in many iterations over the years, and I know for sure I’m not unique or alone in it. This video is to offer encouragement to those of us who don’t identify as “Naturally Aggressive,” which in full contact sports can feel like a serious deficit. It isn’t. But it is something you can work on and you don’t need to change your “nature” or even necessarily get comfortable with aggression itself. In this vlog I lay out some...
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Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu June 26, 2021The criteria and thinking behind this list Female Muay Thai has always been in need of positive rankings. In the history of the sport as far as we’ve experienced it, orgs have taken turns becoming the relative arbiter of excellence for female fighters. It was the WMC, lacking in accurate rankings and their turn of titles about 10-15 years ago. Then the WPMF attempted to create more updated, performance oriented rankings, but the task proved difficult, very hard to remain current, and (likely) driven by connections and politics, as...
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Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu May 23, 2021It’s strange, in a way, that there are things about us that we ourselves do not know. I am both fond of reminiscing and also allergic to it, happily recounting memories from my childhood to my husband about my brothers and friends, but I prickle and have sudden amnesia when it comes to a question that raises something more difficult. Recently we were talking about the sleeping arrangements in the house I grew up in. With 4 children and large house, there was a reshuffling several times throughout my...
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Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu May 18, 2021May 2021 saw the first announcements for women to be allowed to, invited and booked, to fight at Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok. Famously, women are barred from the Bangkok National Stadia, Lumpinee (Military) and Rajadamnern (Police), both of which are seen as the ultimate goal for young fighters all over Thailand. One of the first women to be invited to fight is Petthae Sor Sopit (or Teptong, above) and, in interviewing her, she expressed what I had already suspected but had not heard outright: this dream is one imparted...
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Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu May 16, 2021There are few Muay Thai krus who still carry a stick while supervising their students. Off the top of my head I know Rambaa, Sagat, and Sangtiennoi. Of the 3, I’ve only ever been bitten by the stinging whip of Sangtiennoi’s switch, right on my ankle, as he scolded me for not getting up on my toe for a knee. His eyes are kind, he’s tall and feels more towering than his actual stature, and you want to be correct in equal parts to avoid getting hit by the...
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Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu May 13, 2021Do read the (free) Patreon post which talks much more about this amazing video and has lots more on Dieselnoi and the 123 Book. When I’m able to make historic videos like this they are for everyone. In this interview with Dieselnoi we get the amazing view of the history of Thailand’s fighters from one of the best who ever fought, and who lived through the Golden Age of the sport. And, you get to know him as one of the most passionate men in the world about Muay...
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Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu May 10, 2021Anime is absolutely incredible, both visually and in what stories are told. The opening to Those Snow White Notes has some of the most beautiful animation that I would never even imagine myself, this soft gust blowing gently falling snowflakes into a dance. I’ve seen that, but I would never think to draw it. And the story is so simple that it seems like you could never make a whole show of it: a young man’s grandfather was a master of an outdated instrument, he knows how to play...
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Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu April 28, 2021The downstairs floor of the house I grew up in was always significantly cooler than the upper floor of the house. The floors were concrete, whereas upstairs was unfinished wood that offered splinters and creaky betrayals of each footfall. A long crack ran along the length of what we called the “downstairs kitchen,” but was more or less an extension of the “laundry room,” which really was just a little extra space next to the enormous octopus-shaped central furnace to the house; behind that was my room, which was...
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Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu April 25, 2021I woke up shivering, my teeth ground together and my temples aching from the pressure. My fingertips felt numb as I consciously uncoiled them from the sleeping bag, which I was clutching around my body. Only a few feet from me was a black pot-bellied stove, a pile of wheat-colored wood next to it. I took a breath and peeled the sleeping bag from around my shoulders, kicking my legs to escape the pupal casing. A thick cloth, not unlike an oven mitt, wrapped around the coiled handle of...
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Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu April 19, 2021I’m starting to write again on my blog. There is a lot of amazing content on my Patreon, which I spend most of my off-training hours creating for my wonderful patron supporters, but I want to get back to writing. These posts won’t have a purpose, or maybe even a focus, just me sharing my thoughts and writing for myself, and for you too. Dusk is falling like a cloud over the landscape around the taxi, which is chewing through the road in front of it. The glowing green...
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Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu April 17, 2021Much has happened in the last weeks, some of it quite painful. This post is about my return. I had a chance to train with Karuhat for a few days following our attendance of Namkabuan’s Funeral in Nongki, Buriram. We drove back down to Pattaya and he stayed with us for a couple of days. I wanted to spar with him lightly, and even more just work with him and move. It’s been a while. Above are my thoughts on the first day, so many things coming back to...
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Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu December 1, 2020*The phrase “Female Fighters” is used in the title for brevity and discovery, read as: “People Who Menstruate”. Read more of my Gendered Experience articles here. There are a lot of reasons why talking about the menstrual cycle – the whole thing – is important for athletes. Firstly, the “this is super private and should be kept private” approach keeps us from acknowledging that our bodies are going through some serious swings throughout each month, and not just our bodies but our brains are actually generating and responding differently...
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Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu October 16, 2020We shot more than an hour of my training at Sangtiennoi’s gym about 40 minutes north of Bangkok, just to give everyone a sense of what it is like to train there. It is one of the more authentic Thai gyms, run by a legend of the sport. Kevin’s beautiful photography captured the feeling of the space in the morning, and I put my commentary over it all, talking not only about the training itself, the great padwork, Sangtiennoi’s instruction, but also broadly about training in Thailand itself, the...
Sylvie’s Technique Vlogs
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Using Your Legs in Muay Thai Clinch & Clinch Basics
Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu August 29, 2020It is no exaggeration to say that there is nowhere else in the world like Thailand to teach you how to clinch. Yes, it’s the high level of technique and deep pockets of knowledge, the sheer... -
Sylvie Clinch Seminar – Teaching My Basics of Muay Thai Clinch
Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu February 23, 2020I’m not a Kru. I’m not a teacher. I’m still a full time fighter, I’m still a student, I’m still nowhere near the Legends and Krus and fighters who have taught and guided me. But, that... -
The Incredible Kru Diesel – Muay Khao Master
Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu February 6, 2020One of the great instructors of the Muay Khao and clinch style of Muay Thai is Kru Diesel of FA Group, having trained some of the very best of modern Muay Thai clinch monsters, from Yodwicha... -
What High Level BJJ Can Teach Today’s Muay Thai
Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu August 13, 2019Guest Post – Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu A Husband’s Point of View Above are kind of my reading notes on a really good Joe Rogan podcast with his long time Brazilian jiu-jitsu instructor Jean Jacques Machado who...
A Husband’s Point of View
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Ode To Sylve – Strongest Fighter On Earth
Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu November 24, 2019A Husband’s Point of View is a series of my thoughts on watching Sylvie, as her husband, throughout the years. You can click on that link and see the collection of philosophical thoughts, technical thoughts, but... -
What High Level BJJ Can Teach Today’s Muay Thai
Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu August 13, 2019Guest Post – Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu A Husband’s Point of View Above are kind of my reading notes on a really good Joe Rogan podcast with his long time Brazilian jiu-jitsu instructor Jean Jacques Machado who... -
Kru Syndrome: The Pitfalls of Being Taken On By a Thai Trainer as a Woman
Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu February 18, 2019guest post, Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu – I’ve been wanting to write something on this for several years now. In fact, I’ve urged Sylvie to write about it herself, because I feel like she has special insight... -
The Ethics of Muay Thai Propagation: Changing What We Love
Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu January 27, 2019above, a nearly 2 hour discussion on the spread of Muay Thai This video is an unscripted, free-form discussion between myself and Timothy Micias who is writing his thesis on the problems involved in the western... -
A Breaking Point – The Fine Line of Performance and Re-Making
8Limbs.Us January 23, 2019Guest Post – A Husband’s Point of View This morning Sylvie left for her 3 day meditation retreat here in Pattaya. She had assembled her things the night before, bare minimums in her little bag, and... -
Man vs Woman Fight – What Does it Mean?
8Limbs.Us January 8, 2019Guest Post – Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu This is my interview of Sylvie on what was an extraordinary event that happened this week as Tara, a student at the gym and an attendee of the Women’s Muay...
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Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu October 28, 2019My arms are burning and I’m thirsty. The soft, pudgy flesh of my clinching partner pillows under my forearms as I snake and move and turn him, the insides of my legs slapping the sides of his body and occasionally his elbows, where he drops his arms down to try to protect his body. I feel his resistance, which is manifold: he’s resisting my movements, but he’s also pouting. He’s expressing his dislike of this experience with every cell in his body, but he cycles through going limp to...
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Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu July 7, 2019My last fight – you can watch it here – left me with a souvenir of 8 stitches, right between the eyes. That’s a lucky number for me, I’m into it, but returning to training with a cut on my face is always a slightly tricky process. Surely, everyone who has been with me in the gym for these past 5 years is used to me by now – I’ve been called “Cyborg” and “Iron Lady,” “The Machine,” and “crazy,” because I’m always right back at it. Most of...
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Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu January 22, 2019There’s a phrase, “it’s 90 percent mental.” I’m coming to realize that the more experience you gain. the more time you spend on a single, focused endeavor, the closer that 90 percent goes toward 99.9 percent. Or maybe it’s even all mental and we can escape the body in some kind of Nirvana-state of Muay… I don’t know yet. The other day an Instagram post from Mental Coach, Kara Loewentheil came up on my feed. I needed it. I have needed it: yesterday, today, probably a bunch of tomorrows. It’s an important...
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Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu October 16, 2018We are doing a Muay Thai Mental Training Reading Group, together. On Facebook for everyone – you can join here – and on Patreon in live video conference call with my supporters – you can see our first session here. We’ve covered the first two chapters of the book The Inner Game of Tennis, and on Friday morning (Thai Time), we’ll meet and talk about chapters 3 & 4. This is a small, short book that changes people’s lives, as it teaches us to quiet down our Inner Coach,...
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Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu August 12, 2018The Keto Diet, ketogenesis: The keto diet features very low carb (- 20 g), moderate protein, and high fats, designed to switch the body from sugar-burning to ketone-burning, with suggested benefits of mental clarity, recovery and anti-inflammation, and weight loss (for those that need it), making use of hormone and metabolic responses evolved in humans through long periods of fasting or lean eating. What follows is not an expert telling, you can Google about and find more on all the things I bring up, but it is my telling....
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Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu November 14, 2017So starts my path to enlightenment. Kevin and I turn down the street indicated on our Google Map directions and it’s pretty clear, immediately, that this isn’t what we’re looking for. Kevin immediately suggests we ask someone, which is super easy for him to suggest because he doesn’t speak Thai, so he never has to do the asking. I’m shy, so I decide to creep down the street on the motorbike first, seeing if maybe, somehow, this street lined with bars might suddenly turn into the kind of street...
The Muay Thai Bones Podcast – Us on the Road
My Muay Thai Vlogs – Experiences and Thoughts
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The Comeback – Time Off and Getting Back On
Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu June 19, 2016In afternoon training I’m dripping wet from both sweating and repeatedly rinsing myself off under the hose at the corner of the gym – it’s what I call a “courtesy rinse,” where Thais will rinse their... -
Why “Train Smarter” Has Always Bothered Me and the Rule of Longer
Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu September 17, 2015I’ve always had an internal objection to this phrase, “train smarter, not harder.” On the front of it, I think people should train however makes them feel the best and that can be from minimal to... -
The Art of Sucking – What Matters is Showing Up
Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu September 3, 2015Some days you don’t feel like training. Like, even just getting out of bed is so exhausting and emotionally difficult that you’re on the verge of tears just getting ready to go. Then, when you get... -
Vlog #126 – Battling a Mental Dimension of Fatigue Lately – Realization
Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu April 7, 2015Today’s vlog after morning training at Petchrungruang. I talk about my struggles with fatigue, which in part may come from real sources like being out of training for a stretch, monthly cycle, recovering from an illness,...
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April 15, 2020
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March 17, 2020
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January 21, 2018
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June 25, 2017
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September 8, 2016
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August 5, 2016
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August 1, 2016
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June 14, 2016
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December 1, 2020
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November 8, 2019
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January 8, 2019
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October 29, 2017
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September 22, 2017
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September 11, 2017
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June 15, 2017
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May 24, 2017
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November 24, 2019
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August 13, 2019
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February 18, 2019
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January 27, 2019
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January 23, 2019
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January 8, 2019
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September 20, 2018
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October 5, 2017
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August 26, 2017
Preserve The Legacy Project