Behold!\u00a0 My first post in my new digs,\u00a0written entirely in the English language!\u00a0 I look forward, not only to seeing lots of my old friends, but also to chatting with new ones!<\/p>\n
Who am I?, you may ask.\u00a0 Name\u2019s Shea.\u00a0 Mark Shea.\u00a0 I\u2019m a writer, speaker, occasional talking head on radio and TV, and general raconteur (an impressive French word for \u201cyakker\u201d).\u00a0 My general interest\u00a0is in looking at life from the perspective of a lay Catholic.\u00a0 I am *not* an academic and have never pretended to be one.\u00a0 Other areas of incompetence include sports, economics, and cooking.\u00a0 Also, I\u2019m not\u00a0a pastor or moral theologian and won\u2019t be much help in counseling you on how to deal with personal, relational, psychological, or spiritual troubles (though I will be happy to pray for you).\u00a0 I\u2019m married, have four sons (one of whom is married and has a daughter who is *way* cuter than your granddaughter, though I can see how readers blinded by familial prejudice may not grasp this objective fact).<\/p>\n
My loves include God, theology, going to Mass, the fambly, G.K. Chesterton, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Washington State (my home and native land), the seasons, J.S. Bach, Pat Metheny, learning about new things, the smell of the autumn air coming in through my window right now, acting (when I get the chance), crafting a good sentence now and then, A Prairie Home Companion, sci fi\/fantasy nerdiness, the work of Michael Flynn, Gerard Manley Hopkins and Shakespeare, Joss Whedon, fishing, terrible puns, black humor, dry humor, camping in our Hidden Island Redoubt, singing, chocolate, Christmas, Easter Vigil, Sundays, babies, bike riding, accomplished magicians, dear and beloved friends, summer evenings in Western Washington (than which there is nothing on this earth more beautiful), hard work and giddy play, the smell of salt water, travel, the people of Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, England, and my mother\u2019s native land, Canada.\u00a0 There are other things as well, but this seems like a good conversation starter.\u00a0 So tell me:\u00a0 what do you love?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Behold!\u00a0 My first post in my new digs,\u00a0written entirely in the English language!\u00a0 I look forward, not only to seeing lots of my old friends, but also to chatting with new ones! Who am I?, you may ask.\u00a0 Name\u2019s Shea.\u00a0 Mark Shea.\u00a0 I\u2019m a writer, speaker, occasional talking head on radio and TV, and general […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n