In this Quick Hits, Associate Professor of Philosophy Lee Cole talks Earl Grey cocktails, Joni Mitchell, and his ban from board games. 

Do you like breakfast, lunch, or dinner best?

If I may shift the paradigm here: brunch. You’ve worked up an appetite but aren’t exhausted from the day.  It’s a meal at which it’s socially acceptable to have both tea and a cocktail or tea in your cocktail — Earl Grey and gin, by the way. Bacon, skillet-fried potatoes, scones, eggs, eggs benedict, salmon, oysters, chicken and waffles, biscuits and gravy. What can’t this meal do for you? I don’t brunch on a daily basis, but I could eat eggs, bacon, potatoes, and rye toast every day.

What is your favorite board game?

I’ve been soft-banned from playing complicated board games. I’m told that my need to discern the perfect move on every turn takes the fun out of the room. I don’t have the mental energy to spend on games anymore, but I used to enjoy Agricola and Ticket to Ride.

What is the most life-altering thing you learned in college?

That I was going to live long enough to take classes. I spent the first Sunday and Monday of my freshman year in the ICU. Dating my future wife for four years was also excellent practice for marriage.

Where is the one place you have always wanted to travel?

To the countries surrounding the North Sea. There is something alluring about rock meeting cold, open waters. And — for whatever reason — many of the shows and music that I’m drawn to come from this region.

What is the most amusing thing a student has done in your class?

Before class, a student drew a very detailed picture on the blackboard of a train coming down the tracks with my face on the engine. Did you say “amusing” or “disturbing”?