Sherman Ave Homecoming Court Interviews: Nevil George

Last month Sherman Ave interviewed the 12 members of Northwestern’s 2015 Homecoming Court to have them reflect on their Northwestern experience, Hoobastank's place in the pantheon of rock legends, whether I could do a backflip on a trampoline if I absolutely had to, and how the dog Old Yeller was probably super racist.

In this final installment of the interviews, we talk with Nevil George about being a "cool RA," the impending destruction of Northwestern by meteor, and cornering the nerd vote.

Genghis Leprechaun: I guess we’ll lead off with where are you from

Nevil George: I was born in India, but I moved to Mozambique, which is a country in southern Africa, if you didn’t know that. And I grew up there basically until I went to college. And I also did two years at a boarding school in Swaziland, which is an even smaller country in Africa.

Pip Sleazy: I hear it’s the Mozambique of southern Africa

NG: Oh yeah, basically. It is, it is. Swaziland is tiny, while Mozambique is not that small, I guess, but it’s not very popular.

Ladysmith Black Tar Heroin Mbaso: So during Welcome Week, when people asked you where you were from, did you immediately kick on “Mozambique. Which is in southern Africa,” or did you let people ask?

NG: I think in the beginning, I was just like “Mozambique,” and eventually, eventually people just kept giving me really weird looks. I feel like that happens really often. Like last week, I was flying to Mozambique from SFO, and the person who was checking in was like “hmmm… Mozambique… Where is this?” And I had to tell him, “Mozambique is in Africa,”

PS: The Swaziland of northern Africa… I know it’s southern. I learned.

GL: Follow up question: How’s Mozambique?

NG: Mozambique is beautiful. It’s a really nice place. People are happy. It’s kind of a poor country. It’s a third world country, so what you’d expect. But people are like really happy. Really good beer. So I’m a big fan of that. It was really fun to grow up there, but it’s also really nice to be here. There’s a lot more opportunities here.

PS: And going off of that, you’re from a pretty unique place. Why’d you pick Northwestern?

NG: So this is weird. I applied to a bunch of random schools that had good engineering programs, and I hadn’t been to the US before college, so it was pretty much like a clusterfuck of schools and I got into Northwestern and I got a scholarship, and I was like “it looks like this is where I’ll be going,” and so I came here, not knowing much about it. It worked out, though.

PS: Yeah, absolutely.

LBTHM: So what is your proudest moment at Northwestern?

NG: Proudest moment. Can I say being part of Homecoming Court? That could be one. Let’s say that. It’s a big honor.

PS: Totally sell out your real moment for some votes.

GL: Going off of that answer, what makes a good homecoming queen or king?

NG: I think I represent a very different part of Northwestern that people don’t really see. I don’t think there’s been that many international students in general who’ve been involved a lot, let alone being a part of Homecoming Court, so I think I’m in a unique position, and I that’s kinda cool. I’m pretty proud of the fact that I can be this position, I guess. So, I think I represent a part of Northwestern that really isn’t seen in public that much, or at least in high positions and in Northwestern, and I think it’s a huge honor for me to represent that part of society.

PS: Absolutely.

GL: What are you involved with on campus?

NG: It’s in the past, I used to do ASG and stuff. Most recently, I’ve been working with Hack Northwestern and Epic, and it’s super nerdy, but I’m a computer science major, and I like nerdy things. I’m working on building the hacking culture, which is basically just getting more people to code and build cool shit. I’ve also been a PA and an RA before, so I’ve been really involved  at Northwestern.

PS: What are you doing to get the freshmen vote? Can freshmen vote?

NG: I’m sure they can, right?

LBTHM: I didn’t vote last year, but I didn’t know if that was a choice.

PS: Let’s just pretend they can. What are you doing to get the freshmen vote?

NG: What can I do to get the freshmen vote? What should I do, I don’t know. Freshmen. Let’s see. I worked with a bunch of freshmen last year because I was a PA. I can say this. I know how it feels to be lost in a different place because I was really lost in the US when I first came, so I can empathize with them and hopefully that’s good enough for them to vote for me.

LBTHM: So were you like… a cool RA?

NG: Definitely. I was already in Plex, so it was a lot of older kids. They just did their own thing and as an RA, I did my own thing, and it worked out. I didn’t mess with them, they didn’t mess with me.

LBTHM: So you didn’t get a high off of random dorm checks?

NG: Definitely not. I wasn’t a bully.

PS: Did you use your residents ever make an example of what you’d do if--

NG: No, no, no. I was not mean. I was friends with my residents. I think it sometimes got kinda weird to be friends with them because it got weird to actually impose rules, but I think I was cool. I think I was more friendly than an RA.

PS: Absolutely

GL: Where were you on the night of May 20th, 2013?

NG: 2013. I was probably at home in Maputo. Why? Why that day, though?

GL: We’re asking the questions here.

NG: Fine. I’ll zip it. Don’t worry.

PS: What’s your favorite type of cereal?

NG: Cocoa Puffs

GL: Who’s your favorite serial killer?

NG: I don’t think I have a favorite serial killer. I’m sorry.

GL: Okay, okay.

PS: All of them. There are too many good ones to pick.

LBTHM: Your LinkedIn says that you care about human rights.

NG: Yeah.

LBTHM: Do you have a least favorite human right? What is it?

NG: That’s an interesting question. I don’t have an answer to it. I was reading through old interviews, and someone said gun laws, and I think I agree with that because I think that’s an American thing and I don’t think any other country has such common gun laws.

LBTHM: That’s because they’re not as *~FREE~* as we are.

NG: uuAAughha. Let’s just agree to disagree there.

LBTHM: We agree, I promise.

NG: Glad we’re on the same page--Are you guys stalking me right now? Is that what’s happening?

GL: I just pulled up your resume.

NG: Oh my god.

LBTHM: How was working at Uber.

NG: It was really fun. It was long hours, but it was very enjoyable.

PS: Was it uber fun?

NG: It was uber fun, yeah. I was super pumped to do that.

PS: Were you responsible for that terrible carpool idea?

NG: It works well in cities, I think. I carpooled a few times and met some really attractive women, so it was pretty nice.

PS: I pooled one time, and there was a 90-year-old man in the car with me, and he kept calling me “Mike.” It really bothered me on my ride home.

NG: I’m sorry about that. I’ll make sure to tell--

GL: Who should he contact?

PS: Yeah, can you write down their number?

NG: ...You can just tell me, don’t worry, I’ll pass on your message.

PS: I doubt that.

LBTHM: Are you prepared to take personal responsibility?

NG: Yeah I will.

PS: Give him a one. Write down a one on a scale of one to ten.

NG: I definitely will. Don’t worry.

PS: I have something I’ve just been wondering, and you seem like a smart guy, so I’m gonna ask. If a meteor just takes out Northwestern’s campus--no one dies--but the  campus is gone, what happens?

NG: What happens? I would hope that they would shift the campus to a warmer place.

PS: Rebuild it?

NG: Rebuild it, yeah.

PS: Somewhere like Palo Alto?

NG: Dude, that would be amazing. I spent two summers there, and the weather was like 10 times better than Illinois. It’s a much nicer place than Illinois. I’m sorry, I don’t know if anyone here is from here, I didn’t mean to offend anyone.

(Ladysmith raises hand)

NG: I’m sorry.

LBTHM: It’s fine, I didn’t know where your country was, so I think we come out even.

PS: Kind of in that same vein, do you think Obama had anything to do with the Kennedy Assassination

NG: So I have to confess, I actually never did US History--

GL: Obama is the president right now

NG: Oh, thank you. I wasn’t sure about that. I don’t think so, but I also don’t know a lot about about the Kennedy Assassination, so I’m probably the worst person to ask this question to.

LBTHM: I don’t think you’d have to look that hard to find someone who’s ready to draw the connection.

NG: Oh yeah. I’m so sure. There’s so much conspiracy. Recently I was reading Malcolm X’s autobiography, and for the longest time people thought Malcolm X was involved with the murder.

LBTHM: A bunch of people died in the same chunk of time, and apparently they all killed each other.

PS: It was kind of like that bullet in the movie Wanted that just circled around and killed everyone. It was exactly like that, but a little bit further apart.

LBTHM: This is all according to web forums under YouTube videos.

NG: And those are all truth.

GL: Quote: “Dealing with failure is easy. Work hard to improve. Success is also easy to handle: You’ve solved the wrong problem. Work hard to improve.” Who said it?

NG: Donald Trump.

GL: The correct answer was Alan Perlis. That quote is on your personal website. You said it was inspirational.

NG: Me?

GL: Dealing with failure is easy: work hard to improve. Success is-

NG: Oh, is that from an article that I posted on my website?

GL: You said it was like, inspirational to you.

NG: There’s no way I like quoted that on my website! It’s like probably because on my website I have a bunch of articles that I read, and it might be one of those? Are you on my website?

GL: Yeah.

PS: Great looking website.

NG: I don’t think that quote is on there.

[source: www.nevilgeorge.me/#/readings]

PS: What do you think of Kale?

NG: Uh, mixed feelings. I think it’s healthy, which is good, but I don’t think it tastes good.

PS: Who or what is your arch-enemy?

NG: My arch-enemy?

PS: Common answers include, “The Arch”.

GL: (Does rimshot on studio drum set)

NG: That was good. Uh, let’s see...my arch-enemy. Should it be someone on the homecoming court ‘cause I’m worried they’ll beat me?

LBTHM: We’d love that, we’re tryna start something.

GL: But I’d advise you to pick someone you think you can beat in a fight. People get very violent about this.

LBTHM: And no one takes this more seriously than Sherman Ave.

NG: Okay...I’m not gonna mention anyone on homecoming court.

PS: Because you can beat them all up?

NG: No, no, please don’t say that!

[Editor’s note: Nevil George can and will beat up anyone running against him for Homecoming Court.]

NG: So who or what?

PS: You can pick like world hunger. You can cop out if you want.

NG: I don’t wanna cop out...but let’s say world hunger, yeah!

LBTHM: That lines up pretty well with your LinkedIn.

NG: Yeah, it’s perfect.

LBTHM: So it says on your LinkedIn that you are proficient in Microsoft Office. In what other ways do you stand out among Northwestern students?

NG: I’m really good at Facebook. You should endorse my Facebook skills on LinkedIn.

GL: You have one tweet, ever, and it’s “Testing Twitter API”. And it’s recent. Why?

PS: You were like an adult when you wrote that and it’s still there.  

NG: Okay, this is really nerdy. I was building this app that lets you like Tweet a title of a song, and this app will listen to your Tweets and play the song using Spotify. So I was testing it, and it works. It’s very nerdy, I’m sorry.

PS: It’s not okay.

NG: I’m sorry!

PS: We know you’re trying to lock down the nerd vote, and we do not appreciate it.

GL: This is not a place for grandstanding, Nevil.

NG: Gee, Nerdwestern.

PS: We have time for one more question, what has been your favorite thing about running for Homecoming Court?

NG: Well, to be honest, I didn’t have Homecoming at my High School. So I don’t even know much about what Homecoming is, or didn’t know before I got nominated for it. So I’m still trying to figure out what I should do. If you guys have any tips, I’d love to hear them.

PS: I like you wearing the button-down, but I see one-two-three-four-five six too many buttons. Unbutton all of those buttons. It’ll be sexy as fuck.

NG: Well, thanks for the tip, that’s more than I’ve done for this entire campaign so far.

PS: Nah, don’t thank me, it’s all for you. Do you have any questions for us?

NG: Was this a good interview?

PS: Did you think it was a good interview?

NG: I thought it was funny, I enjoyed giving the interview, so…

PS: And we enjoyed interviewing you.

GL: Never speak on my behalf. But I agree I had fun.

PS: Well I know Ladysmith Black Tar Heroin M’Baso didn’t have a good time.

LBTHM: (Laughs)

PS: Well, thanks for taking the time to be interviewed, man.

NG: Thanks for taking the time to interview me!