Author: Roger

I'm a librarian. I hear music, even when it's not being played. I used to work at a comic book store, and it still informs my life. I won once on JEOPARDY! - ditto.

More of the 36 questions

Here are more of the 36 questions

A study by the psychologist Arthur Aron (and others) explores whether intimacy between two strangers can be accelerated by having them ask each other a specific series of personal questions. The 36 questions in the study are broken up into three sets, with each set intended to be more probing than the previous one.

Set II
13. If a crystal ball could tell you the truth about yourself, your life, the future, or anything else, what would you want to know?
I don’t know what “the truth about myself” means. Certainly, I have no interested in knowing the future.
14. Is there something that you’ve dreamed of doing for a long time? Why haven’t you done it?
I wanted to visit all 50 states and several countries, but it hasn’t happened because of time, money, and changing priorities.
15. What is the greatest accomplishment of your life?
I have no idea. Blogging every day for over 19 and a half years?
16. What do you value most in a friendship?
Honesty, comfort.
17. What is your most treasured memory?
Probably when the kid was born.
18. What is your most terrible memory?
Quite possibly, it was when my wife was having some oral surgery. I saw her give birth, which was a piece of cake compared with that. She was sweaty and uncomfortable.
And If I Die
19. If you knew that in one year you would die suddenly, would you change anything about the way you are now living? Why?
I have a project that would be accelerated, for sure, because I want to finish it, and I’m the one in the best position to do so.
20. What does friendship mean to you?
A safe place.
21. What roles do love and affection play in your life?
It is an outsized role. I’ve managed to remain friends with some of my exes, or at least Facebook friends. I’m good friends with my high school sweetheart. Getting married at 19 to the Okie, and then… other stuff was complicated. The deaths of two of my exes still resonate.  My first girlfriend recently discovered my blog because she was making a point about Popeye and Binghamton television.
22. Alternate sharing something you consider a positive characteristic of your partner. Share a total of five items.
I’m not doing any of that stuff that obligates my wife.
She’s good at dealing with insurance companies. She used to work in insurance. That stuff makes MEGO.
She’s a very good baker and a good cook, too.
Our daughter would agree that she’s a great mom, teaching her enough culinary tricks to help her survive college.
As her mother ages, she’s shown to be a great daughter.
She’s an excellent driver.
Family matters
23. How close and warm is your family? Do you feel your childhood was happier than most other people’s?
I don’t think of my family as warm. We got along well enough. My father was a disciplinarian for stuff I didn’t think it was worthy of being disciplined. My sisters and I all had different issues with him. My mother was kind, but I think he could have been overbearing towards her.
Yet, when I talk to people about their families, I think most of them have their own ghosts, their own skeletons. So I don’t know that our family was less happy than most. You often think everybody else’s lives are much easier than yours.
24. How do you feel about your relationship with your mother?
Things were generally quite good with my mom, but I felt bad about the last weekend I saw her not in a hospital bed. It was in Charlotte, NC, in 2009 when I visited her, my sister Marcia, and my niece, who graduated from high school. My sister Leslie was there, too. We went out to dinner after the ceremony.
There was a point at which my daughter, who was with me, needed to take her medicine, so I asked my mom for the key to the house so that I could take a bus to the house and get my daughter’s nebulizer going. She said No and gave me this “why don’t we just get along” talk. It infuriated me. I bit my lip. That weekend was the last time I talked with her in person.  The next time I saw her was when she was in the hospital bed in 2011, the day before she died; she was not particularly responsive.

Roberta Flack (1937-2025)

with Donny Hathaway

The first Roberta Flack album I ever heard was Chapter Two (1970). It belonged to my sister Leslie.  The opening track was Reverend Lee (Gene McDaniels), a PG-13 song about a “sexy Southern Baptist minister.” My all-time favorite Roberta song is Gone Away (Donny Hathaway, Leroy Hutson, Curtis Mayfield), which I’ve used in my depressing quartet of songs when I broke up with someone.  A song I didn’t appreciate as much at the time as I did subsequently is Business Goes On As Usual, a song by Fred Hellerman and Fran Minkoff,  which is a stark reflection of consumerism and war. I eventually purchased it and every other album mentioned here. 

I bought Quiet Fire (1971), her third album, which starts with the anthemic  Go Up Moses (Roberta Flack, Jesse Jackson, Joel Dorn). There are some lovely covers, but my favorite is To Love Somebody (Barry and Robin Gibb), especially the second half.

Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway (1972) paired two Atlantic Records artists to great commercial success, reaching #3 pop and #2 RB. The first single was You’ve Got A Friend (Carole King), #29 pop, #8 RB, #36 AC.  Be Real Black For Me (Charles Mann, Donny Hathaway, Roberta Flack) would appear on the six-CD anthology 100 Years of Black Music. But the hit was Where Is The Love (Ralph MacDonald, William Salter), which got to #5 pop and #1 RB and AC. 

Finally

I finally purchased First Take (1969), which reached #1 on the pop and RB album charts. It was propelled by The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face (Ewan MacColl) after Clint Eastwood included it in his 1971 film Play Misty for Me. The single went #1 pop and AC for 6 weeks, and #4 RB.  The first song on the album was Compared To What (Gene McDaniels).

The Killing Me Softly album (1973) went to #3 pop and #2 RB. It featured Killing Me Softly With His Song (Charles Fox, Norman Gimbel) that went to #1 pop, #2 AC. 

Rubina Flake

Feel Like Makin’ Love (1975) is the singer’s first album, under the pseudonym Rubina Flake, to be produced by Flack herself. I Can See The Sun In Late December (Stevie Wonder), at nearly 13 minutes, is about 6 minutes too long, but interesting.  She’s Not Blind (Stuart Scharf) is my favorite song on the album. The title track (Gene McDaniels) went to #1 on pop, RB (5 weeks) and AC (2 weeks) charts. 

Blue Lights in the Basement (1977) starts with the song Why Don’t You Move In With Me (Gene McDaniels); the intro is grand. When I saw Roberta at First Night in Albany, NY, in the late 1990s, she could not replicate the great piano line. The Closer I Get To You (Reggie Lucas, James Mtume) is a duet with Donny Hathaway that went to #2 pop, #1 RB for 2 weeks, #3 AC

Roberta Flack (1978) was a contractual obligation album. If I Ever See You Again did go #1 AC for 3 weeks, #24 pop, #37 RB

Dakota

Roberta Flack Featuring Donny Hathaway (1980) featured only two pieces with her old singing partner. You Are My Heaven (Eric Mercury, Stevie Wonder) #8 RB, #46 AC, #47 pop, is the last song Hathaway would ever record. “After having dinner with Flack at her residence in the Dakota,  Hathaway had then returned to his suite on the fifteenth floor of Essex House, later fatally falling from the window of his suite.”

I missed buying a couple of her albums before Oasis (1988). The title track (Marcus Miller, Mark Stephens) went to #1 RB, # 13 AC

The last album of hers I bought was Let It Be Roberta: Roberta Flack Sings the Beatles (2012). Roberta lived across the hall from John and Yoko in the Dakota building in New York City. Here, There, and Everywhere is the only live track.

My post from 2012. Obits from Variety, Rolling Stone, and THR. From the latter: “In November 2022, it was revealed that she had been diagnosed with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, and could no longer sing. In 2016, she suffered a stroke, and she retired from performing two years later.”

Roberta Flack Performs “Killing Me Softly” and “Just Like a Woman” | Carson Tonight Show. Air date: July 13th, 1973

Coverville 1524: Roberta Flack Tribute and Mitch Ryder Cover Story

March rambling: Latibulate

a new Rebecca Jade song!

Latibulate: To retreat and lie hidden; to hide in a corner, which I’m trying very hard not to do.

Feb 28 Economic Blackout

A Paul Tonko Town Hall in Albany

As Suppression of Dissent Increases, Know Your Rights If the FBI Comes Knocking

TIME Women of the Year

Facebook & Content Moderation: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver; the 60 Minutes interview with John Oliver

EVERYTHING IS TUBERCULOSIS, Chapter 1, read by John Green

Two-time Oscar winner Gene Hackman, 95, was found dead alongside his wife Betsy Arakawa,64, and their dog, at their home in Santa Fe, New Mexico. I only saw him in The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), Antz (1998-voice), The Birdcage (1996), Crimson Tide (1995), The Firm (1993), Unforgiven (1992), Postcards from the Edge (1990), Mississippi Burning (1988), Hoosiers (1986), Reds (1981), Superman II (1980), Superman (1978), Young Frankenstein (1974), The Poseidon Adventure (1972), The French Connection (1971), and very likely some episodic television in the 1960s. I’ve been to Poughkeepsie but never picked my toes there. 

HELLO! MY NAME IS BLOTTO THE MOVIE trailer.

The Birth of a Community: Early Black Churches, Schools, and Organizations that Built Binghamton, NY

Are You Lonely? Adopt a New Family on Facebook Today

The State of American History: Lincoln and Immigrants

Now I Know: Dead People, Supporting Each Other and The Loophole That Gets You Paid for Riding a Bike and How To Plant Nearly 1,000 Trees an Hour

If You Ever Stacked Cups In Gym Class, Blame My Dad

Them. Again.

2.0: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

Muskrat’s Billionaire Welfare: How the world’s richest man built his empire on government funds while attacking public workers

FOTUS Says He’s Above the Law in Social Media Post Invoking Napoleon: If you haven’t started worrying yet about his plan to destroy democracy and crown himself king, start now.

Commander in Cheat: How Golf Explains Trump (2019) – Rick Reilly: “If you’ll cheat to win at golf, is it that much further to cheat to win an election? To turn a Congressional vote? To stop an investigation? If you’ll lie about every aspect of the game, is it that much further to lie about your taxes, your relationship with Russians, your groping of women?” 

The Presidency and the Constitution: Mike Pence, Vice President of the United States (2010). “Those who are entrusted with [power] must educate themselves in self-restraint. A republic is about limitation, and for good reason, because we are mortal, and our actions are imperfect.”

Can Ethical People Work in the Administration?

The Republican Party’s NPC Problem — and Ours | The Ezra Klein Show

DOGE’s Illegal Takeover Pulls From Fascist Playbooks. When we see a parallel government taking shape, we should not refrain from calling fascism what it is.

FOTUS Puts America in the Axis of Evil

And. More.
From Fear and Loathing: Closer to the Edge
“We should have seen this coming. [FOTUS]…  has finally cut out the middleman and put U.S. citizenship up for sale like a clearance item at one of his bankrupt casinos. For a mere $5 million, the world’s wealthiest tax-dodgers can now purchase a ‘Gold Card’—a visa so opulent and sleazy it might as well come with a free timeshare in a collapsing Florida high-rise.
That’s right, [he] has replaced America’s immigration system with a Black Friday deal for billionaires. Who needs democracy when you can just PayPal your way into the country?”

Plus, a bunch of other stuff, including his now-confirmed, terrible Cabinet. But I highlight this because I had read it in only one place, the hardly liberal Foreign Affairs: 

U.S. government escalates feud with Pretoria by cutting aid and offering refugee status to Afrikaners. “Few would have foreseen an executive order awarding refugee status to Afrikaners—the white South Africans descended mainly from Dutch settlers who dominated the country’s politics and led the apartheid regime from 1948 to 1994. South African media queried whether he was even aware that Afrikaners differed from English-speaking whites like his South African-born billionaire advisor Elon Musk, whose criticisms of the South African government appear to be the source of the idea. It is ironic that the executive order makes provision for refugee status in the US for a group in South Africa that remains amongst the most economically privileged, while vulnerable people in the US from other parts of the world are being deported and denied asylum despite real hardship,” South Africa’s foreign ministry responded in a statement.” 

And yet

Rep. Earl “Buddy” Carter, R-Ga., proposed a measure that would empower FOTUS to begin negotiations with the Danish Government to acquire Greenland. The bill would also rename the territory “Red, White, and Blueland.”

MUSIC

Hello, It’s Me – Evan Marks & Rebecca Jade.  Vote in this year’s San Diego Music Awards for this song in Category 21 every day through March 27!

Hostile Government Takeover (EDM Remix)

Black Bottom by Nkieru Okoye

He Will Break Your Heart – Jerry Butler, who died at the age of 85

The Message -Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five

I Put My Ring Back On – Mary Chapin Carpenter

Cabo Frio – Peter Sprague

Starburst by Jessie Montgomery

Coverville 1522: The Peter Gabriel Cover Story III and 1523: Cover Stories for Howard Jones, Steely Dan, and Smokey Robinson

Another Day In Paradise – JOYNER (from the Hulu Original Show “Paradise”)

Careless Whisper – Wham

American Eagle Waltz by Jacques Offenbach

Why Wasn’t I More Grateful (When Life Was Sweet) – Maria McKee

Suite from The Wind and the Lion by Jerry Goldsmith

Green Grass Grew All Around – Pete Seeger

Creep – [fan edit] I’m not a robot

Everybody Wants To Rule The World -SOFTBARDCORE (cover in Classical Latin) 

You Make My Dreams (Come True) · Daryl Hall & John Oates

I Want To Know What Love Is – Foreigner

97th Academy Awards picks

Anora, The Brutalist, A Complete Unknown, Conclave, Emilia Pérez, I’m Still Here, Nickel Boys, The Substance, Wicked

My 97th Academy Awards picks for film year 2024 will be based on the fewest nominees I’ve seen, probably since the early 1980s. I saw them all in cinemas. Part of it involved distractions from life. The * means I watched it. The first mention directs to my review of the same.

Best Picture
*Anora, Alex Coco, Samantha Quan and Sean Baker, Producers. It took me a while to warm up to this film.
*The Brutalist, Nick Gordon, Brian Young, Andrew Morrison, D.J. Gugenheim, and Brady Corbet, Producers. The AI “brouhaha began when The Brutalist’s Oscar-nominated editor, Dávid Jancsó, gave a rather candid interview with video tech publication RedShark News. In it, he revealed that the production used Ukrainian software company Respeecher, which specializes in AI voice-generating technology, to make Jones and Brody sound more authentic when they spoke Hungarian in the film.” I’m not sure how to feel about this. But I liked the film well enough.
*A Complete Unknown, Fred Berger, James Mangold, and Alex Heineman, Producers
*Conclave, Tessa Ross, Juliette Howell, and Michael A. Jackman, Producers. I saw this film in the autumn of 2024 and highly suggested my wife see it in February 2025; she did, and she liked it, too.
Dune: Part Two, Mary Parent, Cale Boyter, Tanya Lapointe, and Denis Villeneuve, Producers. A buddy of mine from church suggested we go see this in the theater, but I declined because I hadn’t seen the first film. I regret that.
ALSO
Emilia Pérez, Pascal Caucheteux and Jacques Audiard, Producers. I assume it played here, but I missed it.
*I’m Still Here, Maria Carlota Bruno and Rodrigo Teixeira, Producers. The first Brazilian film to be nominated in this category. It’s a very good story about a government gone amok. I just saw it.
Nickel Boys, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, and Joslyn Barnes, Producers. It came and went in my busy time.
The Substance, Coralie Fargeat, and Tim Bevan & Eric Fellner, Producers. My wife and I thought about going to what is, in essence, a horror movie, and then it left the theater.
*Wicked, Marc Platt, Producer
Conclave would be my favorite, but A Complete Unknown is much better than anticipated.
Actor in a Leading Role
*Adrien Brody, The Brutalist
*Timothée Chalamet, A Complete Unknown
*Colman Domingo, Sing Sing. I love this performance.
*Ralph Fiennes, Conclave
Sebastian Stan, The Apprentice
Actor in a Supporting Role
*Yura Borisov, Anora
*Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain, Is his supporting nomination category fraud?
“Jesse Eisenberg has more screen time (62 minutes and 29 seconds) than Culkin does (58 minutes and six seconds), but the film is obviously about the relationship between two cousins who are almost always on screen together.” And it is his character who was the heart of the movie character. (Shrugs.)
*Edward Norton, A Complete Unknown. The first nominee of someone playing a person I’ve met IRL, Pete Seeger. He was good.
*Guy Pearce, The Brutalist
Jeremy Strong, The Apprentice
Culkin would be my pick, the controversy notwithstanding.
Actress in a Leading Role
*Cynthia Erivo, Wicked
Karla Sofía Gascón, Emilia Pérez. The controversy over comments made by the performer shouldn’t have affected the Academy voting, but it probably did.
*Mikey Madison, Anora
Demi Moore, The Substance
*Fernanda Torres, I’m Still Here
I would select Torres, who had the most significant arc.
Animated Feature Film
*Flow, Gints Zilbalodis, Matīss Kaža, Ron Dyens and Gregory Zalcman
*Inside Out 2, Kelsey Mann and Mark Nielsen
Memoir of a Snail, Adam Elliot, and Liz Kearney
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, Nick Park, Merlin Crossingham, and Richard Beek. I LOVE Wallace and Gromit! I’ll probably have to see this in the Regal Theatre in a mall.
*The Wild Robot, Chris Sanders and Jeff Hermann
I like all the ones I saw, but I’m leaning towards the robot.
Cinematography
*The Brutalist, Lol Crawley
Dune: Part Two, Greig Fraser
Emilia Pérez, Paul Guilhaume
Maria, Ed Lachman
Nosferatu, Jarin Blaschke
Costume Design
*A Complete Unknown, Arianne Phillips
*Conclave, Lisy Christl
Gladiator II, Janty Yates and Dave Crossman
Nosferatu, Linda Muir
*Wicked, Paul Tazewell
 The three I saw were good in such different ways. Wicked was the flashiest.
Directing
*Anora, Sean Baker
*The Brutalist, Brady Corbet
*A Complete Unknown, James Mangold
Emilia Pérez, Jacques Audiard
The Substance, Coralie Fargeat
The Brutalist had the most scope, with several locations.
Film Editing
*Anora, Sean Baker
*The Brutalist, David Jancso
*Conclave, Nick Emerson
Emilia Pérez, Juliette Welfling
*Wicked, Myron Kerstein
The early parts of Anora were dizzying, which I expect was the point.
International Feature Film
Brazil: *I’m Still Here
Denmark: The Girl with the Needle
France: Emilia Pérez
Germany: The Seed of the Sacred Fig
Latvia: *Flow
This is a very interesting category, with films from Brazil and France up for Best Picture. Does the Oscar go to Emilia Pérez, improving the odds for The Brutalist or Anora? Does Flow’s selection here enhance its chances for Best Animated Feature? I dunno.
Makeup and Hairstyling
A Different Man, Mike Marino, David Presto, and Crystal Jurado
Emilia Pérez, Julia Floch Carbonel, Emmanuel Janvier and Jean-Christophe Spadaccini
Nosferatu, David White, Traci Loader and Suzanne Stokes-Munton. Anther movie I was on the fence about seeing.
The Substance, Pierre-Olivier Persin, Stéphanie Guillon and Marilyne Scarselli
*Wicked, Frances Hannon, Laura Blount, and Sarah Nuth
Music (Original Score)
*The Brutalist, Daniel Blumberg
*Conclave, Volker Bertelmann
Emilia Pérez, Clément Ducol and Camille
*Wicked, John Powell and Stephen Schwartz
*The Wild Robot, Kris Bowers
Conclave and The Brutalist were good, The Wild Robot entranced.
Music (Original Song)
El Mal from Emilia Pérez; Music by Clément Ducol and Camille; Lyric by Clément Ducol, Camille and Jacques Audiard
The Journey from The Six Triple Eight; Music and Lyric by Diane Warren. I would like to see this film, presently on Netflix, which I don’t have. Some visitors to the IMDb site feel the TRUE STORY is too woke. ..
Like A Bird from *Sing Sing; Music and Lyric by Abraham Alexander and Adrian Quesada
Mi Camino from Emilia Pérez; Music and Lyric by Camille and Clément Ducol
Never Too Late from Elton John: Never Too Late; Music and Lyric by Elton John, Brandi Carlile, Andrew Watt, and Bernie Taupin
Production Design
*The Brutalist, Production Design: Judy Becker; Set Decoration: Patricia Cuccia
*Conclave, Production Design: Suzie Davies; Set Decoration: Cynthia Sleiter
Dune: Part Two, Production Design: Patrice Vermette; Set Decoration: Shane Vieau
Nosferatu, Production Design: Craig Lathrop; Set Decoration: Beatrice Brentnerová
*Wicked, Production Design: Nathan Crowley; Set Decoration: Lee Sandales

I’m leaning toward Conclave

Sound
*A Complete Unknown, Tod A. Maitland, Donald Sylvester, Ted Caplan, Paul Massey and David Giammarco
Dune: Part Two, Gareth John, Richard King, Ron Bartlett and Doug Hemphill
Emilia Pérez, Erwan Kerzanet, Aymeric Devoldère, Maxence Dussère, Cyril Holtz and Niels Barletta
*Wicked, Simon Hayes, Nancy Nugent Title, Jack Dolman, Andy Nelson and John Marquis
*The Wild Robot, Randy Thom, Brian Chumney, Gary A. Rizzo and Leff Lefferts
At that moment, while watching the film, I loved the sound of The Wild Robot; it was visceral.
Visual Effects
Alien: Romulus, Eric Barba, Nelson Sepulveda-Fauser, Daniel Macarin and Shane Mahan
Better Man, Luke Millar, David Clayton, Keith Herft and Peter Stubbs
Dune: Part Two, Paul Lambert, Stephen James, Rhys Salcombe, and Gerd Nefzer
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, Erik Winquist, Stephen Unterfranz, Paul Story, and Rodney Burke
*Wicked, Pablo Helman, Jonathan Fawkner, David Shirk, and Paul Corbould
Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
*A Complete Unknown, Screenplay by James Mangold and Jay Cocks
*Conclave, Screenplay by Peter Straughan
Emilia Pérez, Screenplay by Jacques Audiard; In collaboration with Thomas Bidegain, Léa Mysius and Nicolas Livecchi
Nickel Boys, Screenplay by RaMell Ross & Joslyn Barnes
*Sing Sing, Screenplay by Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar; Story by Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar, Clarence Maclin, John “Divine G” Whitfield
My rooting interest clearly is for Sing Sing, though I think it’ll be Conclave or A Complete Unknown, the consolation prize for losing out Best Picture to Anora or The Brutalist
Writing (Original Screenplay)
*Anora, Written by Sean Baker
*The Brutalist, Written by Brady Corbet, Mona Fastvold
*A Real Pain, Written by Jesse Eisenberg
September 5, Written by Moritz Binder, Tim Fehlbaum; Co-Written by Alex David
The Substance, Written by Coralie Fargeat
The Brutalist, based on the scope. Did I mention it was 3.5 hours?
I have left off the Documentary Feature Films, none of which I have seen, and the various short films, which will get their own posts.

Lydster: Apostille

certified

Thanks to my daughter, I’ve learned a new word, apostille, which I’ll describe in due course. She decided to study abroad in the second semester of this college year. There’s a database she consulted to discern where to go based on her interests in art, black studies, environmental studies, and social justice.

She found one college in Botswana and three in South Africa: one in Johannesburg and the others in Cape Town. So she picked one, and then the process began. Because her current college compiled grades in a non-conventional way, she didn’t get approved for this process until late October. This seems like a reasonable amount of time, except that one has to get a visa to be a student in South Africa.

She made an appointment and was given January 21, 2025, to appear at the South African consulate in New York City. (One has to go to NYC, LA, or DC.) After writing a letter of appeal, the time was changed to January 14, and her February 5 flight was still a tight deadline.

The extensive list

Before the consulate visit, she had to check off items on this list. One item was a Notarized copy of the birth certificate. What does THAT mean?

Since my daughter was away at college, I went to Albany City Hall to get another copy of her birth certificate. We had the original, but I correctly surmised we’d need another one. It was a good thing I went in that direction. Once I got the birth certificate ($17), I got this page from the city clerk’s office. “Once a certified record is issued by the city of Albany, that record must go to the Albany County clerk’s office. The fee is $3 per document. The record must be issued within the last six months.” Fortunately, the city and county clerks are only a short distance apart on Eagle Street.

“The documents must then go to the New York State Secretary of State,  Miscellaneous Records the country where the document is to be sent must be specified. The fee is $10 per document. ” That is at 99 Washington Avenue, not too far away. 

The word at the top of the page the city clerk’s office gave me is Apostille. It is “a document used in international law that is issued by a government in accordance with the Hague Convention, and that certifies that another document has been signed by a notary public.”

Plus

She also needed a “Machine-readable valid passport with at least two (2) unused (blank) pages labeled Visa when presented at the Embassy or Consulate; one page for affixing the visa or permit by the embassy/consulate and the other page for endorsement of entry/departure stamp by the South African Immigration Services. Passport must be valid for 30 more days after the intended return date from South Africa.”

As it turned out, I had… persuaded her to get a passport in February 2024, which allowed her to dream about going abroad.  

  • Two (2) passport photos with white or light background

She got this when she was home for Thanksgiving break. These are for the visa.

  • Medical report on prescribed form (physical). The certificate must not be older than six (6) months at the time the applicant submits an application.

It was also completed during the T-day break.

  • Original FBI certificate (full criminal background check report) and original police clearance certificate from each country where the relevant applicant resided for 12 months or longer after attaining the age of 18 years (for the last 5 years) in respect of criminal records or the character of that applicant, which certificate shall not be older than six months at the time of its submission.

Ditto. This was done in Half Moon, a small hamlet in the metro area that is not especially nearby.

What else?
  • Certified/notarized copy of bio page of the passport
  • Proof of financial means in the form of recent three months bank statements stamped by bank, and notarized letter from the parents stating the financial responsibility.
  • Proof of sufficient financial means available to the learner while in South Africa
  • Certified copy of ID of person taking financial responsibility, with three months statement and stamped letter from the bank.

Our financial institutions (banks, credit unions) handled “certified/notarized” slightly differently. 

  • Proof of itinerary/reservation of round trip air tickets. Please do not purchase air tickets until you obtain a South African visa.

How do we prove an itinerary without buying a ticket? We purchase a (more expensive) refundable ticket.

But we HAVE insurance, don’t we?
  • Proof of medical cover, renewed annually, for the period of study with a medical scheme registered under the Medical Schemes Act.

This confused me somewhat, as the entity arranging the trip provided a policy through a company that “provides a complete network of travel insurance coverage—medical insurance, 24-hour emergency assistance, trip and baggage delay, loss of baggage, and much more!” However, the company was NOT registered under the Medical Schemes Act.

On January 6, I purchased a qualifying insurance policy. I had a copy of my receipt, but we didn’t have a copy of the policy. I wrote to them again on January 10th, and they sent the policy to my daughter, saying they had sent it previously. Unfortunately, it was password-protected, and we had no idea what the password was. Luckily, my daughter wrote to them again, and they gave us a clean copy we could print.

So, on Monday, January 13, my daughter and I took a train to New York City in anticipation of the trip to the  South African consulate with what we HOPED was everything we needed, including a  US Postal Service self-addressed, pre-paid courier envelope “to facilitate return services” and a “non-refundable fee of  $36.00 money order for processing.”

More soon.

Ramblin' with Roger
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