This week Amanda and Victoria unpack Of Mice and Men, the exploitation of the American worker, and the utter exhaustion of existence. CONGRATS TO BARON VON CHEESEPLATE ON COMPLETING YOUR MASTERS DEGREE! To Listen Along: https://anchor.fm/unfortunately-required/episodes/Another-Robbie-Burns-Inspired-Book-Of-Mice-and-Men-e1ihglf To Drink Along: Grab a mini bottle of proseco and drink directly from it. Stuff your face with tortillas.... Continue Reading →

This week, Amanda and Victoria discuss the memoir Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt. To Listen Along: https://anchor.fm/unfortunately-required/episodes/Irish-Catholic-Childhoods-are-Hard-Angelas-Ashes-e1ga4gl To Drink Along: Grab a Guinness, a whiskey, bread, tea, and your tears. Resources: https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/angelasashes/ https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B009DYNAKG/ref=atv_dp_share_cu_r https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_McCourt https://youtu.be/SskmdYBkNs4 https://youtu.be/Yr4pVemhatk https://youtu.be/gTyPRnoKe_A

This week Amanda and Victoria are exhausted and discuss James Baldwin's If Beale Street Could Talk. Join us in donating to the Innocence Project: https://innocenceproject.org/ For a refresher on James Baldwin: https://unfortunatelyrequiredreading.com/2020/06/13/episode-37-lets-f-off-to-france-and-ignore-our-problems-giovannis-room/ To Listen Along: https://anchor.fm/unfortunately-required/episodes/And-Nothing-Has-Changed-Since-1974-e1ekk1n To Drink Along: https://www.redbubble.com/i/sticker/White-Tears-by-UnfortunatelyRR/41292871.EJUG5 Resources: Watch If Beale Street Could Talk Streaming Online | Hulu (Free Trial) If Beale... Continue Reading →

This week Amanda and Victoria discuss the often hidden and banned short story Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes. You can read if for free here: https://www.sdfo.org/gj/stories/flowersforalgernon.pdf To Listen Along: https://anchor.fm/unfortunately-required/episodes/No-One-Gets-Flowers-ejspc0 To Eat and Drink Along: Grab a cup of your favorite juice, and a cheese to share with your lab mouse friend. Resources: https://youtu.be/9xTz3QjcloI... Continue Reading →

We end Amanda's birthday note with the poetry of Charles Baudelaire. This week we focused on three of his better known poems from Les Fleur du Mal: Be Drunk The Albatross A Carcass To drink along: Corpse Reviver 2 1 oz. gin 1 oz. Cointreau 1 oz. Lillet Blanc 1 oz. fresh lemon juice 1... Continue Reading →

We are feeling pretty chuffed about hitting 100 Facebook likes and want to help spread the word about the podcast. We are picking 5 winners for a contest from reviews written on Apple Podcasts. Winners will be selected 07/20/2019, so get your review in now. One Grand prize winner gets a mug and sticker. Four... Continue Reading →

We know that we use many terms on our podcast that might not be readily available to everyone, so for 2019 Pride, we decided to create a short podcast on different terms and why they are important. Here's a link to the episode: https://anchor.fm/unfortunately-required/episodes/The-Pride-Month-Primer-e47ad8 Happy Pride!

Episode 13 (woo hoo) is dedicated to The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. To drink along with us, grab a bottle of sparkling white wine (or champagne if you've got the budget) and add some ice cubes. Hey, Oscar was into ice. This week, Amanda picked up a Kerry Gold Irish Cheese and... Continue Reading →