Indi, Darlin', THANK YOU FOR THIS (I appreciated the YT vid even more -- your dry humor's a thing of beauty)!!

In 2010, on my first trip to the Gambia (I've been back a couple times since then), I remember how hard it was to get a visa for a young friend of my friend who'd invited me to come in the first place (we were NEVER able to get that visa by the way -- after a few years of trying). All the paperwork, the hoop-jumping, the sadness flooded back with this post. I felt helpless and hopeless because I just wanted her to know, to see something different -- as did she. Thinking back on it now though, it was probably for the best. As I sit here now, in my 64th season, I realize America's not a lie I should've been trying to sell to anyone...