The 1999 Class Day ceremony, featuring a self-deprecating speaker, nods to the end of Radcliffe College and lots of song, began with a lyric that seniors have heard innumerable times over the past week.

"Tonight we're going to party like it's 1999," shouted Harvard first marshal Baratunde R. Thurston '99 to a near-filled Tercentenary Theater.

The songs continued when the class marshals who introduced Institute of Politics Director Alan K. Simpson, Jante C. Santos '99 and Nicholas K. Davis '99, alternated original rap lyrics to the beat of clapping audience members.

Simpson then assumed the podium, delivering a speech devoid of any political talk and instead focusing on the fact that "humor is the universal solvent against the abrasive elements of life."

Simpson said he recognized that many students were disappointed with what they may have viewed as a B-list choice for Class Day speaker.

He said that Santos and Davis had asked him to help them land Oprah Winfrey, John Glenn or Colin Powell for the speech, but they were unsuccessful.

"So they came to me and said, 'You're it,'" Simpson chuckled.

The theme of humor was apparent throughout the speech, even if some of his jokes were recycled.

"I didn't graduate magna cum laude, but thank-the-lordy," he said.

Simpson's more serious message came later in the speech.

"Striving for perfection--I know it's a noble effort, but give it up," he said. "Learn to take your work seriously, but not yourself."

Simpson said learning to forgive oneself is crucial to a healthy life.

Along with the Class Day speaker, three students also were granted the microphone.

Sharmil Modi '99 delivered the Harvard oration, the speech given by a male student.

Modi related his early Harvard days cowering in his "Canaday cellblock," which he called the "black hole."