🌍 GGTM Turns 90 — What Do You Do With a Free Afternoon?

🌎 90 Years. One Planet. One Good Thing.

Earth Day turned 56 this week — and GGTM turned up with a room full of good intentions.

Interim President Alex Wu opened the evening by asking guests to share one good thing they do — or would like to do — for the planet. The answers came quick: Sery sorts her trash. Marta is cutting out plastic. Dennis buys local. Ari walks everywhere he can. Chris is working toward ditching his car entirely. Ten guests joined us this week — proof that GGTM's gravitational pull hasn't weakened in 90 years. 🌍

With good intentions on the table, Alex handed the evening to Toastmaster Caitlin Brown.

🎤 Toastmaster of the Evening: Caitlin Brown

🎙️ Prepared Speeches

🧊 "Nothing Left Out: The Complete and Unauthorized Biography of Harris Levin" — Harris Levin

Harris has been a member for nearly two years — but you wouldn't know it from his attendance record lately. So he did what any resourceful speaker would do: dusted off his original icebreaker and delivered it again. "Two birds, one stone," he said. "I don't need to write another speech, and you get to re-meet me."

What followed was an absurdly detailed biography — born in Sacramento at 7:37 AM on July 9, 1992 (99 degrees, low of 66), second child, started tennis in '96, quit in '97, started trumpet in 2003, quit in 2010. Days spent playing competitive soccer, floating the American River, and hanging out with his golden retrievers Scout and Sophie.

He met Human Sophie (not to be confused with Dog Sophie — different spelling, S-O-F-I-E vs. S-O-P-H-I-E) at Pomona College. He waited until 2022 to marry her. She promptly moved to Zurich. They spent two years 5,000 miles apart. "Luckily for me, she didn't leave me for Hans or Franz."

And then came the closer that brought the house down: Harris read out his full credit card number, security code, and expiration date. The room erupted. "Please take a moment to write this down."

💬 “I've gone to great lengths to make sure I left nothing out. The goal is that by the end of this speech, you'll be able to impersonate me online — or even in person, if you're adept at hair and makeup.”

🌱 "Lessons from My Father's Garden" — Ryan Davis

Ryan wasn't supposed to speak this week. But when a slot opened up, he stepped in — and delivered something genuinely beautiful.

Every spring, his father would come home with a special kind of cargo: fruit trees, red flowers, and packets of seeds. For a child, that garden wasn't a patch of dirt — it was a gateway to understanding Mother Earth. The earth gave them sweet fruits and beautiful blooms, but only with attention. And the most important lesson didn't come from the flowers. It came from the weeds.

Ryan's father taught him to be a steward of the ground. The backbreaking work of pulling weeds. Picking fruit on time before the birds got to it. The garden doesn't stay beautiful by accident — it stays beautiful because someone cares enough to protect it.

And there was the plastic. Frustrating, stubborn, refusing to dissolve. "In my father's garden, there was a clear line between what nourishes and what poisons."

💬 "You don't need a massive orchard. You just need the willingness to steward the ground beneath your feet."

🏆 📚️ "Three Books" — Alex Wu

🌍 Table Topics: Earth Day Edition

Benzi Blatman took the reins for Table Topics, calling Earth "a bespoke oasis in space" (snap!) and inviting the room into some of the night's most imaginative impromptu moments.

🚀 Frankie | If aliens visited, who would you send as ambassador? Frankie volunteered herself — and a road trip. She'd load them into her Route 4 and drive four hours to the Avenue of the Giants, where 2,000-year-old trees and Sasquatch sightings await. Soundtrack: Mariah Carey and Britney Spears.

👶 Shubham | Same question, different answer. She'd send the cutest baby on Earth. If the aliens are kind, they'll melt. If they're hostile — well, what's the point of conquering a planet run by infants? She almost spoiled a Trevor Noah special in the process.

🍂 Vedant | A childhood memory in nature. A fall hike in Atlanta — red and orange leaves everywhere. A thrill-seeking friend convinced the group to climb rocks instead of taking the path. Someone broke a shoulder. But it taught Vedant something: "take new routes and paths in life."

📱 Ari | What modern convenience would you sacrifice? His phone. Gladly. He'd give up most technology, honestly. Growing up in Iowa, Amish roofers helped build his house — and their peaceful existence left an impression. "If we could exist in a very peaceful and happy way without all of this, I would totally go for that."

💉 Gautam | Most impactful technological innovation? Modern vaccines and immunizations — millions of lives saved. Runner-up: generating electricity, the power behind everything else.

🧬 Harris | Would living forever improve how we treat the planet? He agreed with Brian Johnson's take — if there's no exit from Earth, we'd probably take better care of it. Then the conversation took a turn into Brian Johnson's more... unusual measurement protocols. Harris gave the guy credit for building community despite the criticism.

🌉 Ella | A man-made structure that complements nature? No specific landmark — but a powerful framework. In an eco-art history class in Asia, she learned that creating art that is "purely nature" disconnects us. The binary between man-made and natural is a modern construct. "There's a need for more interconnection between us and our environment — and that's what artists can do."

✉️ Chris | If Earth could write a letter to humanity? It would say: appreciate what you have. Live in the moment. Stop worrying about what's coming. The distinction between Earth and humanity is itself a construct — "perhaps the letter would be one of understanding."

🎯 Evaluations

🧭 General Evaluator — Albert Yan

🧊 Vedant Bothikar — Harris

🌱 Katie McCann — Ryan

🏆 📚️ Blair Vorsatz — Alex

📝 Bespoke Made the Rounds

A crisp night on language and timing — bespoke made four appearances, standout lines landed, and only one clock ran over.

🧠 Pop Quiz Highlights

⭐ And the Votes Are In...

🎂 GGTM 90th Anniversary Update

GGTM is celebrating its 90th anniversary throughout April — and the party isn't slowing down. This week, Club President Shubham Saloni announced that the officer group is sponsoring refreshments at the post-meeting hangout at Irish Bank. Because after 90 years, the least we can do is buy each other a round.

Earlier in the month, the club hosted a time capsule panel with some of its longest-standing members, a social hour, and last week's milestone celebration complete with cake. Ninety years young. 🎉

📣 What's Next at GGTM

💚 Thank You

🥂 Cheers to 90

Questions? Feedback? Email us at [email protected] — we'd love to hear from you!