Greetings again. Allow me to present the final part of Rav's celeb-packed semester update. For those who need a recap, see www.casleygera.com. Harvard students on this email, ignore it, as you were there for all of this.

Item! (I got bored of red) Who's the professor of Herbology with the mostest? Who's not really as funny as they used to be but still cutting-edge over here? That's right, Ali G, who bizzarrely addressed students of the H-Bomb at the pre-graduation festivities. As well as bigging up Princeton and fondly remembering President George Clinton, Ali praised the progressive politics of Harvard's student community: "A lot of you is probably feminists, or as we call them in England, lezzies."

Item! As if that wasn't star-studded enough, things got really silly the next day when - I'm not joking - Koffi Annan came to speak. The king of the world orating literally two hundred metres away from my very face. He slipped in lots of skilful barbs about Georgey B. to please the liberal Massachusetts crowd, getting hearty applause when he pointed out, "It is in the interest of every country to have international rules and to abide by them... All great American leaders have understood this."

Well, that's the full gamut of my year at Harvard wrapped up. It's been a blast. Stay tuned, as I'm finally going to start filling you in on my current travels soon. Send addresses for postcards.

Best,

R x

Rav in celebrity shocker!

Oh my God it's been soooooo long! I'm so sorry, I had no idea I had let my correspondent duties slide so! I have a whole semester to fill you in on. Best get on with it, then! Read this in a comfy chair - it's gonna be a long one! It's been a celebrity-filled few weeks, so I'm going to write this email in the manner of a dopey InStyle Magazine-type hollywood gossip column. So hold on tight - it's gonna be a helluva ride!

Item! How many of you had a drink with bona fide rock stars in February? Oh, just me, then. Yes, after the Cambridge, MA leg of their second US tour, flush from the thrill of their second single in the UK charting at a spectacular number three, and with the whole transatlantic music media snapping at their heels, plucky Anglo-Hiberian art-rock winners Franz-Ferdinand took time out from their busy touring schedule (well, they had an hour to kill till the bus to Philadelphia) to sink a couple pints (they're not big on of's here) with yours truly, and two similarly not-famous Harv grads. In case anyone's interested, the bassist, though he always looks bored on stage, is really friendly, funny, and has lovely hair close up; the guitarist is super-nice and gave me his autograph, but didn't come to the pub; the drummer has a horrid Kevin Rowlands mustache and is clearly mental; and the singer is a good few years older than the others, friendly but a little reserved. So now you know! Of course, we couldn't hold their attention forever, and gradually they drifted into the company of some simpering drunken girls before heading back to the bus. But we took them to the pub, dammit! We showed them a good time. And they have pictures of us on their mobile phones.

Item! Despite its delusions to the contrary, Boston isn't actually the center of all that is influential and powerful in the United S of A. That honour goes to Washington, D.C. A supplementary honour for the city was a visit in late April from a band of marauding Kennedy Scholars. DC is an odd town, sort of the USA in micro - ostentatious, horridly unequal, but somehow glorious nonetheless. Our hotel was a literal stone's throw from Congress, but unfortunately in a dubious area, where one would in fact expect stones to be thrown. The government buildings are impressive, although not beautiful; the Lincoln memorial, and view along the reflecting pool past the monument to Congress, is seriously lovely, although marred by the new WW2 memorial which, although way overdue, is in a bloody stupid place. Standing on the steps of the memorial imagining being Martin Luther King is quite a feeling. There are pictures to see here.

Item! Remember John F. Kennedy? He was the president that got killed, remember, the pretty one. Now, for those of you that have forgotten, he's the reason I'm here - the Kennedy Scholarships, which make my adventures possible, were set up in his memory. A much-valued supporter of the scholarships has been JFK's little brother, the not-as-famous-but-very-important-in-his-own-right Senator Edward Kennedy. And in late April, just a week after visiting the Senator in his office in DC, we took a day trip to the Kennedy compound in Hyannis. That's right - President Kennedy's brother showed me around his house. What a strange world I have come to live in. Jack's house - the former Summer White House, where the president planned the passage of the 1963 Civil Rights Bill - is quite empty now, as Caroline Kennedy, its sole owner since her brother John Jr's death in 1999, prefers to summer (Americans always turn nouns into verbs) in her mother's former home in Martha's Vineyard. The main family house, where the Senator spnds much of his spare time in Summer, is much more lived in, as is Robert Kennedy's former home, now used by his surviving children and grandchildren. Cape Cod is seriously beautiful in the sun, as evidenced a little, I hope, by these photos.

Ted was in fine fettle, with his boating vest and his shades on. On the other occasions we've met him, he's always seemed a little reserved, and very overshadowed by his brothers' memory, even in his own senate office. At home, however, he was far more comfortable and, even though the houses are all full of 60's-era Kennedy pictures, you got far more sense of him as his own man, with his own impressive political career. Ironic really.

We looked around all three houses - the main house, where the brothers spent their childhood summers, now Ted's; Jack's old house, the Summer White House from the early 60's, now Caroline's, and Bobby's old house, now shared between his children. They're much smaller than you'd expect, just two stories and one bedroom each, and fairly sparsely furnished (Caroline's is basically empty as she now summers at her mother's old place in Martha's Vineyard). It felt very odd sitting in the kitchen where Kennedy and Johnson discussed the drafting of the Civil Rights Bill (although, being at Harvard, you get somewhat acclimatised to that star-struck feeling).

We took a walk along the beach; it was a fine day and the sea glistened quite beautifully. Cape Cod is a really remarkable place! Then we had lunch (catered), and I got my first chance to try proper lobster (lobster rolls from Charlie's Kitchen don't count). Vicky, Ted's charming and friendly wife of 12 years, gave us instructions on how to crack and scoop. I struggled but I filled myself with lobster to spare; imagine my horror when they came around offering us another lobster each! I politely declined.

After that we moved to the living room and chatted for an hour or so, about the current political situation in the UK and US, and the situation in eastern Sudan, which Ted is understandably very concerned about. I talked too much and Tom said very little, so no change from seminars there. Then we had to leave, with just enough time for a frantic round of postcard-signing (bizarrely, my mother now has a message from Senator Kennedy inviting her to "come and visit us sometime").

And that was that - a whirlwind trip but lovely one. It was nice to see him seeming so much more at ease than our previous meetings. I'm still mildly disappointed he didn't grab a guitar and sing "Danny Boy," but then he only had three glasses of wine.

Item! No celebrity news this time, although some people involved might just become famous in the future. This term's dramatic extravaganza for little old me (come on, admit it, you were wondering) was Billy Shakes' Measure for Measure, performed in a gorgeous neo-classical courtyard off the Harvard campus. I played Escalus, the old guy who doesn't say much but knows a lot, and gets passed over for promotion in favour of an up-and-coming young turk who turns out to be a bit of a shit. He's a bit like Gordon Brown. Anyway, it all went well despite us not knowing our lines until the second performance.

Item! Well, that's just an overview of my headbanging, guitar-twangin' adventures since February. But it's all you're gona get, because I've got to get to Graceland before it closes. Yes, you heard me right, Graceland...

To Be Continued!

Rav x

photos

Hello there, boys and girls! how's everything back in sunny blighty (or wherever else you are)? It's so cold here it's not even funny. But i have something that will warm the cockles of your hearts: photos! yes, thanks to the wonder of the internet i have pictures of my little jaunt around south america! click to http://photos.yahoo.com/ravargentina.

also now visible: pics of the theatrical highlight of last year, starring yours truly, six degrees of separation! see here: http://photos.yahoo.com/sixdegreesplay
on the subject of thatre, i have been frantically auditioning for a week or so now, and have been cat in a few shows! so stay tuned for details of my next thrilling board-treading adventure. betcha can't wait! possibly.
x!

christmas greetings n all that

helllooooooo boys, girls and those of indeterminate gender (not that i know any of those)! sorry to anyone who didn't get any of the previous emails, technical problems i'm afraid which have now been resolved. don´t forget anything you´ve missed can be perused at www.ravgera.com. Ich bin tech genius. anyway, so much to tell.
First of all, more clubbing! Confirmed status as super house poser Saturday by going to the Latin American branch of Ibiza fun house Pacha (pronounced "Patchar" in Buenous Aires and "Pasher" everywhere else). As odd as it feels not getting to a club till three in the morning, there´s a certain genius in in dancing on a terrace overlooking the river while the sun comes up! as for the crowd, well, such a glamourous bunch you never did see. how is it possible to dance sweaty and shirtless in the early morning light and still look great? you wouldn´t catch me trying, but this lot carried it off. lots of big sunglasses and uber-trendy haircuts, and the muscles on display, goog grief, it was like Mr. (and in some cases, Miss) Universe. Shook my big brown bum till eight in the morning - a new Rav record. I think I finally see what all the fuss in the last few years over dancing all night to house music has been about. Shallow as a puddle in the sahara, of course, but what fun!

Sunday was a bit random, all things considered. Had a nice look around San Telmo, the boho area near our then-hostel, where they have a nice indoor and street market. lots of touristy trinkets but also some wonderful little oddities, decrepit old electronic goods for strangely high prices, and alarmingly large japanese knives. An attempt to mark James´ and John´s birthdays by taking in some tango in the evening was spoiult by the fact that the tango club turned out to be a seedy bellydancing show in a hollowed-out community hall in the most "vibrant and working-class" (read: horrible) bit of town. We did discover a bar with the fearsome name of "El Samovar de Rasputin," but it unfortunately was (a) a dive and (b) empty. Ho hum! Bought J&J epic argy ice creams to rescue the evening.

Monday was a lovely day trip over the Rio Plate to Collonia, a lovely little Uruguayan port town with a rich history of colonial struggle. (it really was lovely). Beautifully quiet, although sitting on the beach staring at what appears to be the sea is a bit wierd when you realise the "sea" is brown because it's actually the river delta. still dead clean tho, but unfortunately we didn't take our swimming stuff. doh! still, it's a wonderfully unspoilt little town, and definitely on my holiday-home-when-i'm-rich list. Migration toi Uruguay also means FOUR - count ém! - extra stamps on my passport. Monday was also the day we moved into a new hostel. The old one was nice but a bit quiet, whereas this one is packed with a frankly overwhelming number of british people, which should greatly increase the cultural import of our trip.

tuesday was a slightly frustrating day as we've had to alter our travel plans somewhat, owing to lack of busses to iguazu falls until january we're going to have to go after new year, which means we might not make it to rio. the good news, however, is that in lieu of this (i believe my legal terminology is accurate, tariq i'm sure you can correct me if necessary*), we are off to uruguay to the puerte del este, a lovely seaside resort full of rich argentinians, sort of the st. tropez of the southern hemisphere. in these balmy climes i will attempt to knock off a 25 page paper on the presentation of femininity in the narrative of sojourner truth. so you see life isn't all ha ha hee hee.

Wednesday - Feliz Navidad! Chrimbo is celebrated on the 24th here, see? So it was a quick meal (with yet another serving of bad fried fish for yours truly - being veggie has never been so limiting), and then at three o clock on christmas day morning (a very odd time to be going out, i can tell you), it was back to Pacha to relive the joys of saturday evening, with the added dubious attraction of a thousand drunk brits from the hostel singing christmas songs. Unfortunately, much like the remake of Miracle on 34th St, this couldn´t quite add up to the original - a little too crowded, and the "serious fun" atmosphere wasn´t topo suited to the occasion, despite them having hung baubles from the ceiling like disco balls. We´re looking for somewhere a bit more party for New Year´s. Still, we did dance till past 9am - the new record smashed in just days! huzzah!

Thursday. Sleeping till 4pm on Christmas Day may sound frankly immoral, but believe me we needed it! Attempt to join others form hostel for picnic in park degenerated to two-hour wondering of park half-heartedly, but gave us chance to enjoy last of sunshine. a quick drink, a quick kip, and it was off to party again! At this point a collective cry went up (ok, a cry from me went up) of "no more house music!" sometimes you just need songs, y´know? so after a lot of wondering and a lot of taxi rides (use ém while they´re cheap, can never afford em at home), we stumbled into a small indie bar-club thing, where local music (including a bizarre spanish version of the Byrds´ "the reason why i love her") rapidly gave way to guns n roses, the stones, and, astonishingly, roxette! never have you seen such a goofy smile on my face. the fun was only enhanced by a mad local girl who kept dancing with me with mocking eyes, then demonstrating her flexiblility byhooking her foot to the pool tabnle and doing splits! and, a granbd madness. Goths have tans here, which is just wierd. The only slight downer on the night is that it ended at - gasp! 5am! Making it the first time all holiday I´vce been required to leave a club before wanting to! Still, it was christmas day, i suppose.

Friday, Boxing Day, and we´re on the move again! An early start (muuuusst sleeep) and we´re on the boat-bus combo to Puerta Del Este, the St. Tropez of the Global South. Boat ride distinctive only because of duty-free cadbury´s whole nut and the fast and the furious in spanish! always a treat. On arrival find Beautiful beaches are distinctly marred by hideous apartment buildings and casinos (blech) and most minging of all, it´s cold! On the bright side, the boys kindly suggest awe try a sea food restaurant and I end my dogy food glut with swordfich in red pepper sauce and octupus stew! phwoar! a fanstastic treat and one served by dazzlingly attractive wait staff. go to bed contented and eager for sun tommorrow.

Saturday - it´s raining! grrr! why didn´t we check the weather before spending $100 on a boat to the beach! lazy day of failed attempts to do workj and lots of lovely Kerouac (On the Road, i mean, it´s not some Uruguayan drink). While the boys go out in the evening to party and chase girls I stay in with chocolate, Kerouac and the Kinks - alliterative paradise.

Sunday - right, this isn´t funny any more, where´s the sun? Wander down to bottom of peninsula to see Rio del Plata meet Atlantic ocean in epic wave-contest. Is suprememly windy. Fortunately this is quite nice bit with nice holiday apartments and no hideous hi-rise (why oh why do seaside towns let developers build above 5 storeys?) am bit stiff from loads of sea-air-induced sleep so go to Golden Beach hotel (isn´t that where Balrog fights in Street Fighter II?) for first proper massage! administered by enormous huiman teddy bear with fingers like cumberland sausages. lovely, and a bargain compared to prices in civilisation. Leave hotel and, in the words of the polyphonic spree, Yes! It´s the sun! finally come to greet us. So squeeze in a couple of hours tan-base establishing and then- joy! - it´s off to Hoyts cine´ at Punta Shopping for... ta ta ta ta ta ta... Los Senor de los Anillos: El Retorno del Rey! And if anyone can´t fugiure outwhat that means, stop reading now - you´re not my friend any more. I won´t start talking about how ace it was because i would litterally never stop (look inside your hearts, peopl,e you know it´s true). Suffice to say I have never enjoyed watching a film that much before, nor will I ever again.

And now it´s monday! Up early (well, 10am) and it´s beach beach beach! Have got loads of reading done and am super-brown! Mixed racial heritage comes in sooo handy when it´s tan time. If I run up to you the next time I see you and start frantically pulling my trousers down, worry not! I´m just going to show you my dazzling waistband tan line.

And now, boys and girls, a lesson. I was standing at the edge of the sea today watching the waves lap back and forth over my feet,. feeling the pull of the sand from under me as the water receded, only to be deposited over my feet as it returned. And I noticed that as the water went away, and the powder-fine golden sand dried ever so briefly, beautiful crystalline patterns of gold appear in the sand, only to be washed away by the next wave and reform in its wake, in new, slightly diffierent patterns. Every little sea seashell or stone alters the pattern around itself, until it too gets washed away. And I turned west to see the waves behind me, and I saw the sun reflected in the water and the wet sand - first broken and shifting in the water, then a shimmering patch of light at the water recedes, then finally - for just a few seconds, on the wet sand as the water gathers its strength for another advance - a perfect reflection on the ground, like a mirage. The sun, just likein the sky above, complete with that little light blue disc that floats in front of it when you glance directly at it, that lingers on your retina like the visual equivalent of ringing ears - it was so bright, so perfect, that even that disc was there just for a second. Then another wave came, and it disappeared, replaced by shifting sdhapes and then by shimmering light.

And I realised something: there´s beauty in this world, folks. We don´t notice it, but it´s there all the time - in the trees and the ground and the sky and the air we breathe. We are incredibly blessed to live on what must surely be one of the must varied, delicate, itricate, ever-changing spheres in this universe. And all our civilisation, our medicine, our technology, our literature - none of it means anything compared to the simple majesty of the sun shining on golden, wet sands.

So that´s the lesson, guys - and my new year´s resolution to boot. Take the covers off your eyes and see beauty, wherever it lies. Because as soon as you see it for the first time, you´ll begin to see it all around you. And you never know, your life might just never be the same.
Right, i´m off for a kip. I think the sun´s gone to my head.

Your loving correspondent
Ravs xx

*other lawyer friends please don't take offence. there are so many of you i had to pick a name at random

Night Life

Luggage arrives next day and met boys OK. Slept in till 1pm the better to get into uber-late argentinian lifestyle. Fannying about by Jamo meant didn{t hit town till 4pm. V. nice, picaresco as they probably say here (figure it out,) went down to new docks which look alarmingly like newcastle. Observations:

(a)everyone smokes
(b)everyone is gorgeous
(c)every man would, anywhewre else, be assumed to be gay (seeing as they're all attractive, well dressed and groomed, and constantly hugging each other and kissing each other on the cheek)
(d)the food is superb and cheap and nicely served but
(e)everything has bloody ham in it

ventured out to clubland last night, initial attempt to go somewhere the guidebook says we might see a film star (i was hoping for gabriel garcia marquez) scuppered by lack of us having remembered to get hold of cash. taxi to ATM takes us to club recommended by waiter in restaurant where boys had astonishing steak and pesto mash and i had to pick ham out cheese calzone. messy young crowd and long queue is offpitting but doubts dispelled on entry when bonkers underwear-clad har mar-typr burlesqu fellow not entirley unlike jim broadbent in moulin rouge beckons us in and through airport-style security gate, which like airport one fails to object to the safety pins in my jeans. more lady-marmalade-types beckon us in to main room, v busy and hot, where we watch breakdancers. soon becomes clear have stumbled into bizarre, unique hip-hop/burlesque cultural nexus. crowd is remarkable mix of black, white, local, tourist, young, old, goth, suit, gay, straight, etc. extensive breakdancing on stage showcases both rubbish arm waving and breathtaking stunts with pantomime shoving each other off stage for good measure; night begims to border on surreal for first (not last) time when "rapper's delight" is accompanied by bewildered- but determined-looking old man with trumpet. he was very good and looked just a little like miles davis.

around four am (we didn't turn up till after two), burlesque dancers who have been sashaying about upstairs in VIP area begin umbrella-waving parade around room to stage, culminating in pantomime sing and can-can-a-long to unknown argentinian song. then continue to dance for several more hours, gradually becoming less clothed (the breakdancers appear to have been given a rest) and employing beach balls to roll around on. At this point Jamo decides to attempt with his stilted-to-the-point-of-nonexistence spanish to pay for upgrades to VIP status to enable us to go upstairs, and somehow achieves it, although ascendancy still requires endurance of hideous hillsborough-style crush. upstairs is cooler and has better view of stage, but just as we have settled in, junior har mar, a prince lookalike in gold lame trunks and a six-foot possibly-woman with big red heels start bringing vol-au-vents out on stage on silver trays and dropping them into the mouths of the eager crowd. if only we'd styed downstairs a little longer! mind you they'd probably have had bloody ham in. John who has been to manumission in ibiza says this is better, despite lack of actual on-stage sex acts.

watching with delight at 5.30am am unable to decide whether this is Future Of Clubbing (TM) or daft gimmick to breathe life into dying scene. certainly music was very good as well (blue monday clashed with adam f's "we want your soul" was a highlight, pop pickers) and crowd seemed amused by stage stuff without it defining the event. the face can witter all it wants about "the new burlesque" but i got the impression that they{ve been doing it here for some time.

Left at 6.30; John and Jamo stayed till till ended at 8. never come out of a club into broad morning daylight before, so that was fun. off to pacha on saturday for j&j's birthdays. so am super raving clubber now that everyone cool's stopped doing it, typical. tonight, however, i m mellowing with Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man, thanks to the evil machinations of Prof. James T. Kloppenberg. (he's a Harvard History Honcho. Not head Harvard History Honcho, alliterative tho that would be. We don't know what the T stands for. We're hoping "Tiberius"

feeling hot hot hot

¿who in argentina?


¡me in argentina!


¡who in argentina?


¡me in argentina!


for the slower ones out there, i am in argentina. my rucksack is in new york, which is a downer, but you can blame american airlines for that. it´s hot and crisp and lovely, which makes a nice change from boston, which has been cold and wet and rather like the subterranean ocean on jupiter´s moon europa, except they think that might hold life. anyway i don´t know how long my pseo´s going to last at teh internet cfe - the money i changed this morning´s probably worth a quarter now of what it was worth then - but keep posted for updates when i´ve been here long enough for something to actually happen. excelsior!

Ravs x

news!

Hello! i know it's super-rare to hear from me twice so soon together, but i have important news. First, some less important but still no doubt fascinating cultural postcard-type things:

1. noises off is now over, and went very well, thanks for asking. you can read the review, should you wish to (it doesn't mention me): click here
2. I got my first Hannukah card on Saturday. Now feel extremely Seinfeld.
3. No-one here paid any attention to Bush being in the UK whatsoever.

Now more importantly, here's the big news - I'm coming home! Although I won't be around for Christmas and New Year, I'll be back for two and a half glorious weeks in late january - from the 16th jan to the 2nd feb, to be precise. Sheffield people, let me know when exams are etc so i can plan a visit. London people (for you are many, these days) - plan parties. Hertford people - get in the queue at baroosh now! ooh, i'm tingling all over.
Well, gotta go write about the education philosophy of John Dewey. Have a great non-thanksgiving!
And remember, if that elevator tries to bring you down - go crazy! punch a higher floor!
Miss you all,
Rav x

To the Kennedy Scholars on the Anniversary of the death of JFK

In case anyone hadn't realised today's the fortieth anniversary of John F Kennedy's assassination. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be anything official going on around Boston for us to attend, and I haven't been able to arrange anything as I'm acting tonight. But, as the resident Kennedy evangelist and 60's freak, I thought I'd send you a few links and thoughts in case you wanted to take a few minutes to remember the man without whom we wouldn't be here (and, no, I don't mean Lee Harvey Oswald).
http://www.jfklink.com/ is an excellent archive of speeches and documents. browsing a few, i was struck by just how much more progressive Kennedy's rhetoric was than what we hear from politicians nowadays: "To that world assembly of sovereign states, the United Nations, our last best hope in an age where the instruments of war have far outpaced the instruments of peace, we renew our pledge of support - to prevent it from becoming merely a forum for invective - to strengthen its shield of the new and the weak - and to enlarge the area in which its writ may run." Who can imagine Georgy W saying that today? Or, "Let both sides explore what problems unite us instead of belaboring those problems which divide us"?
For those of you less interested in high politics and more concerned with who did it?, here's a good place to start:http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/home.htm
here's some slightly less feasible theories: http://people.fix.no/pudding/burton/kennedy/
personally, i like the mafia theory. Finally, it wouldn't be fair to remember Jack without including the powerhouse of a woman he left behind. No, I don't mean Marilyn Monroe, I mean Jackie. This site gives you a good intro to her life, and lets you vote for her as your favourite "political diva" (whatever this means):http://home2.planetinternet.be/verjans/Political_Divas/Jackie_Kennedy.htm
So there you go, take a few minutes to remember the man and his achievements.
Ravs x

october

helloooooo! yes, i know it's been aaaaages, what can i say except sorrry! i nearly put two exclamation marks at the end of that sentence, but that would have been too california. so, october! it's been cold, hot, dry, wet, busy, and above all, fun. dear god, i sound stupid.

six degrees of separation

...is actually the best play ever written. especially when performed by us. the play was a great success and sold out every night (but then tickets were free). names to watch out for in the oscar list include...

caroline jackson (actress), john carpenter (actor), michael moss (actor), jim stillwell (actor, but look out for him in underwear ads), matt weinstock (tony award for direction by the time i'm thirty or i'll eat my hat, and a shoe-in for "harvard's biggest springsteen fan" to boot).

never meet your heroes...

...or so they say. well i met one of mine: tom hayden, sixties radical hero and author of the Port Huron Statement. he's a senator now, and he was funny and intelligent but... strangely disapointing. i owe him 10 dollars tho for his book, so i'll have to track him down again.

halloween...

...is a real big deal here. Mum and I (for she visited) went to salem, wehere they burnt a load of witches (you know, the crucible). lots of people in crazy costumes, and not just the under-10's like in the Uk, twentysomethings who really should have been in the pub. no elvises, tho, surprisingly.

the gre..

...is an exam you take for applying to grad school. i did it. it's easy. not much to tell there

work...is happening, despite everything else. i got a b+ in my only midterm, so that's a sign that everything is going according to some level of plan. More excitingly, i booked my flights to South America for Christmas. So it's all good.

load in

anyway, i'm here at adams house setting up for Noises Off, my next dramatic adventure. adams is one of the hall-type things that they live in for all four years here. back when you chse what house you wanted to live in, adams was the "dramatic" one, i.e. the gay one. it had a swimming pool but they closed it cos it was being used for orgies. so now it's a theatre, and that's where noises off is on. i'll let the cast introduce themselves.

chris

This is chris. it's his 18th birthday. you can be a student here at 17. that's fucked up. he's from san diego, but his house didn't burn down. everybody say "happy birthday, chris." well done

Hey guys, I've gotta hand it to you all, It's just getting into the freezing tempertaurtes here and my pathetic surfer ass is royally COLD. Don't know if Rav's told you, but we're doin' a play and it's turnin' out awesome. Rav's hysterical as a drunken British actor. Actually caught up on my British news the other day, as we had to purchase a british newspaper for use in the play, found it especially great to see the weather forcast for the states. Glad to know you're keepin' track of us, lol. Well, gotta get back to puttin' up the set, hopefully i'll get out of here with a few hours to spare and actually do something celebrative for my 18th. In the words of Willi Wonka....Adiue, Alviderzerin, Gazoontight, Farwell..

alex

Hey everybody. Rav says hi. He's doing a great job right now, watching everybody else build the set. He loves McDonalds and thinks we're all too athletic. This is Alex, Rav's friend from the show (Noises Off). Rav says he plans to cross out friend in the previous sentence and write "casual aquaintance". Nobody can really believe that his laptop is actually a computer. Pentium One?? what is that??

Rav's a funny fellow really. He thinks you all want to hear about me and what i'm up to, when really you couldn't care less. I often feel with Rav that I've missed something somewhere. But anyway, i'm a senior here at Harvard, a psychology student. I'm in a fraternity, which Rav says you'll find interesting. And aparently, I should've called it a "frat" and said we force-feed Rav beer from a tube and drive motorcycles through walls at our orgy parties. But none of that is true. We mostly just drive cadillacs through walls.

christine & meg

HelloHello ! Greetings from a psychotic Canadian - Long Live the Queen!!!!!

And Texas greets you as well. Hope England is nice and rainy cold! I want to go back to the warm South.... Long live the Republic of Texas!

That was meg and christine. christine is a republican. meg's from texas but not a republican. josh is also from from texas and he's not allowed to be a republican, because he's jewish.

sara

Hi! I'm Sara. I agree with Alex that you probably care more about Rav than me, but oh well. This keyboard is horrible small - I don't understand how Rav can use it all the time. Anyway, I'm in Rav's play. I'm the pregnant stage manager, who no one really cares about. It's a comedy, you see. Myself, I'm from Boston, and I spent most of my fall watching the Red Sox play for the American League Pennant. Do they play baseball in England? It's a religion here in Boston. But the Red Sox break our hearts every year because they always suck! I'm still recovering from the disappointment. OK, no more to say. Thanks for sending Rav over to us! Have a nice day!


she's not really pregnant.

jim

this is another of rav's playmates. except that I'm not an actor, merely stage manager and more. and I'm not pregnant. but I am a bit tired of the theatre. good thing we've got rav to keep things interesting .

oh my god. they just started serving dinner at adams. i'm not supposed to eat it but i do. they have *unlimited* food and food includes really good meals plus burgers, loads of veggie options, salad, soup, bagels.. at breakfast this morning they had smoked salmon, for fuck's sake. now i've got ice cream with m&m's and chocolate sauce on top.l and i can eat as much as i want. i'm so glad i don't eat here. i'd be a whale.

and finally...

i now get really drunk on a bottle of wine. excellent value for money, if a little scary.

Thanks to everyone who's emailed or texted, don't forget you can call for just 3p a minute with a onetel account...

Miss you all loads.

Rav x

big names, hard work, and treading of boards

Helloooo Britain!

Sorry it's been so darn long. Busy busy busy. Classes have started and I have so much work to do it's really not funny. It's all interesting though, so I guess that's the main thing. Having decided to do a PhD last week, have now changed my mind. Unfortunately have already booked $100 GRE test next friday, so might as well attend.
Thanks to all those who signed up for the email contraption. I haven't started using it yet as there are certain people who haven't signed up who i'm sure intended to (kinnaird, i'm talking to you). so if you want to sign up and you've had triuble let me know. i apologise that they appear to want to know your life story, but they haven't sent me any crap since i joined.
Have finally started to get my room sorted out. I have a rug and a mirror and some hanging curtain-like things and have ordered some posters from the internet. Pictures will follow when it's all finished. Unfortunately I may have to move out before then, if only because of dave's musical taste. He had the Pet Shop Boys' version of "Where the streets have no name" on repeat last week. He's not even gay! Now he's listening to evanescence. Ho hum.
More importantly I'm acting again, hoorah! All you theatre knowledgable types out there, I'm in Six Degrees of Separation and Noises Off. In the former I play a South African art dealer who is forced to confront his prejudices, only for them to be confirmed after his exit. This means I spend a lot of time listening to other people and conveying deep emotional turmoil with my face. In Noises Off I play a drunken old fart (I'm modelling him on Adam).
What else to tell...? Well, the building where I have most of my lectures was voted the best American building of the nineteenth century by several leading architects; the security in bars here are nazis; i missed the dalai lama; and yesterday i met a very important person from the department of health, here studying at the Kennedy School of Government (don't ask). He put me in his phone as "Rav," apologising that he couldn't put me in as "Ravi" because that space was taken - by Ravi Guru-Murphy, esteemed civil servant and brother Krishnan Guru-Murphy of Channel 4 news and Metro fame! truly i am moving up in the world.

As for crazy frat boy action, well, it's been a little quiet as i've had so much work on... but a party last week which auditions prevented me from going to featured mad MIT students running around smashing windows (in their own building, so it's not immoral or anything). Several brits got bled on. So this bodes well for the future!
As for the people, well, to cut a long story short... the american undergrads are young, excitable, and super-enthusiastic (they're the ones i've met through acting), or just mental (think ally sheedy in the breakfast club). the american grads are very friendly and very hardworking. the brits are all posh and either extremely hardworking or complete slackers (by harvard standards, eg, not at all). will get more photos and send out some profiles.
well must go. have achieved precisely bugger all today. missing everyone. don't forget you can call quite cheaply with a onetel account or a calling card. 001 617 852 7543. hint, hint.
just remembered! new photos! click here or go to www.ravgera.com and click on "usa: first sights" in the photo albums section.
right you orrible lot. begone. take care. londoners, flash mr. blaine for me. anon.

Rav
mail@ravgera.com www.ravgera.com
ps. i just remembered. the friend in new york isn't an art student. that's terribly important

new york!

I spent last weekend in New York. And none of you did. Ha ha ha ha ha.

But seriously, as much as I've come to love Boston, it really is fantastic the first time somebody tells you you cat get a bus to the capital of human civilisation for ten bucks. And it's even better when another British guy (Tom) says he has a friend in Manhattan we can stay with. And when she turns out to be an art student and takes you to an art school party in a brooklyn loft apartment, that's just dandy. Especially when you get a free capoiera lesson on the roof overlooking Manhattan. Ah, it sucks being me right now.

Now, in the interests of fair and balanced reporting, i should probably admit that it has been pretty quiet around Cambridge, and there have been a few moments of homesickness and what-am-i-going-to-do-with-my-time. Having central air is lovelely, but it would be nice to be in dorms right now as you meet a lot more people that way. Having said that, things are starting to pick up, had a party organised by the graduate student's union-type thing yesterday and a few of us are going to a free rock festival thing this afternoon and to a club (alarmingly called "Pravda") later, so clearly not everyone here is quiet and german.

"Shopping week" next week. that's the one where you run around like a headless chicken attending five hundred lectures to decide which courses you want to take. This unfortuantely means I won't be able to see the Dalai Lama make a speech on Monday afternoon (don't kill me, Zee). Then it's auditions in the evening, as I've decided to restart my stalled amateur dramatics career. So should eb thoroughly knackered and uncommunicative by the next time I write.

One dull, technical fact - you should all get an email from Topica, a list management thing. If you want to keep recieving these little postcards from the edge, do whatever it tells you, as i'll be sending via that from now on. It makes it a little easier to email you all from anywhere. Of course if you'd rather not keep getting'em you can ignore it, and just check the letters out at http://www.ravgera.com/

I'd also like to thank (how oscars was that?) all the people who helped me out in the first few weeks, getting here, settling in, and staying sane- Siddharth Dhar, Tariq Baloch, Xiaonen Cao, Robert Humphreville, Carey Morewedge, Anna Mason - you're all complete and utter stars, and I'm sorry i haven't acknowledged it before. Thanks also for all the mails from back home, they're all appreciated.

I get the impression this may be a rather downbeat email. If so, dont be alarmed, i think it's just my stinking hangover shining through.

xx
Rav x
mail@ravgera.com http://www.ravgera.com/

on the up

i have an apartment, i have a bed, i have wireless internet, and i have a big orange bin! Things are really progressing here. Pictures of the apartment are attachedl. My flatmates are Dave, 28, MIT business student, engaged, goatee, reminds me of Dave Grohl; and Justina, also 28, also MIT Business, also engaged, also goatee (joke). The TV is still terrible - MTV plays precisely no music, just episodes of The Real World from six years ago. Although last week they took a break from all this to show the Video Music Awards and associated buildup constantly from the actual live coverage on Wednesday right through to Saturday. I saw Britney snogging Madonna before any of you, though, so ner.
More rewardingly, I went to Provincetown yesterday. For those who don't know (I didn't), Provincetown is where the Mayflower landed. It's also the gay capital of New England, which must really annoy Republicans. In fact it's like the whole gay population of Brighton moved to St. Ives for the summer. I spent a while complimenting a local artist on his work in the hope he'd give me a cheap painting. Got his smallest down from $575 to $350 but then thought better of it, told him I'd come back when I'm rich and blew 35 bucks in a bookshop! I am know the proud owner of the Reverend T. Troy's "inspiring" Profiles in Gay & Lesbian Courage. I also swam in the atlantic, which was bloody cold. All this while getting to know two Germans and two Hungarians. It was quite a day and now I'm exhausted.
Thanks to those who've texted or emailed. Keep it up as I'm missing everyone already. Which reminds me, my cellphone number has changed as I switched to AT&T Wireless(incidentally, AT&T is the telephone company set up by Alexander Graham Bell, so I'm supporting small inventors in a way). It's 001 617 852 7543.
Tommorrow's shopping list includes a duvet, a bike, and if an insane plan hatched by myself and another kennedy endures, trainers and a squash racket. We're gonna win the ladder. Well, we might. So stay posted for sporting updates.

Hey You Guys!

American enough for ya? Well, here I am! Cambridge is hot, busy and (mostly) beautiful. The flight was fine and I've been busy all day sorting things out: I have a bank account, a cellphone, an adapter for all my appliances, and a computer account with the university. Unfortunately I don't yet have anywhere to live! But I've looked at a few OK ones and I'm sure I'll get somewhere soon. A little contact info: a few people have asked about email addresses - pretty much any one I've ever had will be OK as they all go to the same place. If you want to be super-official my harvard address is gera@fas.harvard.edu. You can text me on my old UK number for not much more than a normal text (15 from Orange, dunno for others) and I can text you back cheap from the internet so that's still a good option. (I'm convinced I'm talking like the Kennedy Scholars Tips Book). My US cellphone number is 001 617 388 3488. Calling a US cellphone costs the same as calling a US home phone.Therefore if you get a calling card which gives you cheap calls to the US you can call me cheap with that. Alternatively you can get a one.tel account, they're free and you don't have to plug a box in or anything, and then calls to the US are 3p. Of course, this is all assuming any of you actually miss me and aren't already forgetting the sound of my voice. A few other quick observations: (a) no one actually says "have a nice day". (b) people really are friendlier here. (c) people really are ruder here. On the one hand somebody stopped me to ask if they can read my t-shirt (the "that's the way you spell new york" one). On the ohter hand if you're in a queue and they say "who's next?" five people will invariable say "i was totally next!" (d) there are no McDonalds' anywhere. I find this very wierd. Anyway, I'm busy, having fun but looking forward to the other british students getting here, to starting classes and generally getting on with it. Miss everyone already - get intouch and let me know what you're all up to. x