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In this episode, we welcome our friend, colleague, and local Victorian expert Megan Ward to discuss Old Ass Essays: what that means, how old we’re talking, and a few examples from the 1830s by none other than Charlie Dickens himself. Also: our spelling bee failures, a special lightning round, a dog in a unicorn costume, and an authentic (sorta) Victorian cocktail that we light on fire!

Episode links:

Megan’s faculty profile: https://liberalarts.oregonstate.edu/users/megan-ward

Megan’s book, Seeming Human: https://ohiostatepress.org/books/titles/9780814213759.html

Dickens’ Sketches by Boz (free online edition): https://www.gutenberg.org/files/882/882-h/882-h.htm

The Dickens Punch recipe, as much as we can remember:

1. Peel a lemon and a raggedy-ass orange and put the peels in a basin (we used a dutch oven with some leftover Indian food in the bottom).
2. Dump a shitload of light & dark rum into the basin, along with a lot of sugar.
3. Float a few bar spoons of Everclear on top and light on fire.
4. Let it burn for a minute, then cover to extinguish.
5. Squeeze the lemon and citrus into the mixture, add some hot tea, and ladle into whatever mugs you peasants have laying around.