{"id":1783,"date":"2013-01-14T18:22:24","date_gmt":"2013-01-14T22:22:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/james\/?p=1783"},"modified":"2013-02-05T23:57:22","modified_gmt":"2013-02-06T03:57:22","slug":"1783","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/james\/2013\/01\/14\/1783\/","title":{"rendered":"I think you’re just seeing things…"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Pilgrim at Tinker Creek<\/em>, Annie Dillard talks a lot about seeing. \u00a0She explains how in order to truly see<\/em> something, she must first bring attention to it. \u00a0Seeing is not just about the eyes and what happens before them, but the mental awareness that the observer has. \u00a0Dillard defines two types of seeing: the first kind requires one to “analyze and pry” while the second kind involves “a letting go.” \u00a0She compares these two types of seeing to “walking \u00a0with and without a camera.”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

My drawing demonstrates these two types of seeing. \u00a0When we went to Congaree National Park, I remember my eyes wandering through the woods when suddenly…I saw a GIANT OWL! \u00a0I was very exciting and proud. \u00a0I felt as though the owl was mine because I discovered it. \u00a0So in the drawing, I am the curious and camera-less observer striking a sassy pose with my arms akimbo.<\/p>\n

The camera-bearing observer is Kenta. \u00a0I feel like Kenta is the kind of person who walks around with his camera trying to find something visually appealing that would make a good photographic composition (Yes, I am obsessed with Kenta; however, this part of Pilgrim<\/em>\u00a0was relevant and reminded me of him). \u00a0While Kenta carefully seeks out an image, I just try to see as much as I can and try to think about the meaning of it all.<\/p>\n

After claiming bragging rights for spotting the mystic owl, I thought about its meaning in nature. \u00a0I thought about how owls are always in isolation, how they’re so different from other birds, and that they are nocturnal. \u00a0I thought “How different is this creature from us? \u00a0It lives alone, sleeps all day, and always looks angry. \u00a0Maybe owls aren’t that different from some of us.” \u00a0I really wanted it to spin its head all the way around, but that was just wishful thinking.<\/p>\n

-Grace Gibson<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Annie Dillard talks a lot about seeing. \u00a0She explains how in order to truly see something, she must first bring attention to it. \u00a0Seeing is not just about the eyes and what happens before them, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1878,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18875],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lit-circle"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/james\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/james\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/james\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/james\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1878"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/james\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/james\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1783\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/james\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/james\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/james\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}