Class News

Gus Speth ’64 reads his poetry “On the Eve of Success: An Octogenarian Views the World”

June 26, 2025

On June 26th, the Class Author’s Zoom meeting featured Gus Speth ’64 and his poetry, moderated by Bill Woodfin ’64. An audience of 57 classmates and guests heard Gus read thirteen of his poems, which ranged from protests about environmental issues to humous accounts of aging. Gus talked about his epiphany that scientific writings about the risks of climate change do not touch the fundamental cultural awareness issues that need to be mobilized to effect meaningful change. The discussion was prompted by Bill and questions from classmates.

Toward the end of the session, Gus discussed how he used AI to create a song of one of his poems, entitled “Hopium.” Gus supplied the lyrics, and the AI crafted the tune and created a singer. The song was played toward the end of the session. Several of the attendees requested a link to the song, which can be heard here.

The following 86-minute video starts with brief introductions by Don Van Doren ’64, our Class Authors Chair, and Bill Woodfin ’64, who moderated the Q&A.

The next talk in our Class Authors series will be by Harvard professor and Pulitzer Prize winner Stephen Greenblatt ’64, who will be discussing his latest book, Dark Renaissance, about Christopher Marlow, one of Shakespeare’s great rivals. Pete Putzel ’64 will be the moderator. That session will be on November 6 at 4:00pm Eastern. Registration information will be forthcoming.