Korey Maas and his wife Kate in Hyde Park, London during graduate school.

Courtesy | Korey Maas

In this Quick Hits, Chairman and Associate Professor of History Korey Maas discusses Yabby You, Hello Kitty tattoos, and James Bond.

If you were banished from the history department, what would your second career be?

The correct answer, since I attended seminary and am ordained in the Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod — is that I’d be a parish pastor. But they still haven’t chosen the next James Bond, so I’m keeping my options open.

What’s the funniest thing a student has ever said to you?

“To be deep in history is to cease to be Protestant.” (C’mon, that was a slow pitch straight over the plate!) 

Where did you grow up?

We moved a fair bit through junior high and high school, but I still think (fondly) of Waterloo, Iowa, as my hometown. 

What is your current favorite pastime?

Reading — as boringly predictable as that answer is — will probably always top the list, but the manual labor of maintaining and improving our rural home and land is a very close second. I can’t highly enough recommend getting out of one’s own head regularly.

What’s one thing Hillsdale students should know?

Christ and him crucified (1 Cor. 2:2).

What is your favorite class to teach?

Western Heritage is still a real joy, not least because first-semester freshmen are wonderfully eager and active.

What’s your go-to road trip music?

Tom Waits, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, The Specials, Yabby You, The Decembrists, and recently, Buffalo Wabs & the Price Hill Hustle.

Do you have any tattoos?

Hello Kitty covers my entire back. No, actually, given the many and various other ways I managed to disappoint my parents, I steered clear of tattoo parlors.