By Matthew Lucas
8th grade, RESA

I have learned a lot about perception at the Rhinelander Environmental Stewardship Academy in our language arts class, titled Literature and the Land. I have learned perception is when you have a new outlook on everything you see. I learned that describing and using detail were the most important to me, and also how to apply my perception skills when I look at the world around us.

Describing is one of the very important parts of perception. When learning how to describe, you first have to pay attention to what you are trying to describe. In particular, according to Julia Cameron in The Artist’s Way, perspective means “The capacity for delight is the gift of paying attention, attention is an act of connection.”

Julia Cameron is saying that if you pay attention to the world around you, you can obtain a connection to the land that is rewarding. At RESA we do things to get connected to the land to become stewards.

Detailing is also a very important part of perception. When looking at a certain object you can use detail to make your description resemble the real thing. And with a quality description your audience may be able to use imagery and visualize it.

When I started to learn to use detail, I began by using it to describe a tree. I am now better at using detail to describe important things that we need to visualize.

Nature’s gifts are more special when you look at the detail in life.  For instance, when I look closely at a 200-year-old pine and its ecological and historical significance, it suddenly becomes more special to me.

After learning about perception I look at the world in a whole new way. Every time I look at something I visualize and pay attention to the details and the importance of what I am trying to visualize. When looking at an object, I can’t help but look for more and think about the history it has absorbed and its importance to life around us.

Perception is a way of life. When using perception you can see beyond what you normally see. In my mind, perception is the ability to describe things that some people cannot visualize. So perception is indeed a special gift that makes me smile.