About

Near-Earth Object is a weblog by me, Paul Fidalgo, about culture, technology, religion, books, media, politics, and my own considerable difficulty with being human. Mostly that, really.

Hey, if you really want to help a guy out, you can donate to keep the site up and running and assist with any future projects.

About Paul

I’m an actor, musician, writer, and father.

In a former life I was a professional stage actor, which included five amazing years with the American Shakespeare Center (and one less than amazing year at the Actors Studio Drama School). Today I proudly direct productions for the University of New England’s UNE Players.

I have written and recorded quite a bit of music in my time, much of which you can find on the major streaming and download platforms. 

Since 2012 I have worked for the Center for Inquiry, a secular humanist and skeptic organization (which of course does not necessarily endorse any of my opinions that are expressed on this or any other platform). Today I am editor of Free Inquiry magazine and executive director of the Council for Secular Humanism.

For one brief shining moment I hosted the Center for Inquiry podcast Point of Inquiry.

After about a decade as a professional actor, I earned a master’s degree in political management from George Washington University in Washington, DC, and worked in various areas of national politics. I now live in Maine. I was for a time a contributor for Friendly Atheist and Android Police.

In 2016, at the age of 38, I was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, also known as autism spectrum disorder.

I was one of the contributors to the book What Do We Do About Inequality? from the Wicked Problems Collaborative, with the essay “Noble Fictions and Sacred Texts.”

My essay “The Dead Tree” was published in the thirteenth Dark Mountain book.

In October 2017, I was the second Richard Kirschman Free Thought Fellow at the Mesa Refuge in Point Reyes Station, California. I’m still working on the thing I was writing there.

I have an idea: Go and explore my other Internet manifestations so you can feel like you really know me.