Editor’s Note: The Maine Monitor is partnering with Peter Neill of the World Ocean Observatory to bring you this hour-long interview podcast.
Conversations from the Pointed Firs is a monthly, interview-style podcast during which Peter talks with authors and artists who live in Maine, work in Maine, or otherwise derive their creativity from the essence of Maine.
The guest for this episode is William Carpenter, the inaugural faculty member of College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor where he taught English for 48 years.
Carpenter discusses his new book “Silence”; the traumas and scars of war and its aftermath specific to Maine; the past and future of human ecology and the importance of better understanding and living within our natural systems; the complexities of social stratification of island communities; inheritance versus native belonging; and the nature of conflict and loss.
Carpenter grew up in Waterville, graduated from Dartmouth, received a PhD at the University of Minnesota, and began teaching at the University of Chicago.
In 2019, the Maine State Legislature recognized Carpenter with a legislative sentiment, an honor given to Mainers for their notable achievements.
