BACKGROUND

Lance Mason was born in Oxnard, California, and educated through grade school and high school by nuns, priests, and "a few marooned lay teachers." He earned his bachelor's degree after stints at Loyola University and U.C. Santa Barbara, and received his graduate degree at UCLA. "I have had wonderful opportunities to teach at UCLA, at the Universidade do Natal in Brazil, and at the University of Otago in New Zealand, and then again at UCLA." Mason's adult life has been shaped largely by his profession, his fifteen years playing rugby in America, Wales, and New Zealand, and the "irreplaceable friends I've made." And, of course, by travel. He lives in Santa Barbara, California now, "but part of me is always looking for the next bus out of town."