A love for literature and a desire to teach fuels student chief of Perceptions

Kavi Warner has a passion for literature, and big dreams for her own writing. To her surprise, she finds herself this winter leading the class of students who put together Mt. Hood’s literary magazine, Perceptions.

The group is hard at work going through submissions for the upcoming edition of the annual magazine, due out this spring.

“We’re like a club, but we’re not a club,” said Warner.

The magazine accepts submissions of short fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry, art, photography, film, and music. Submissions opened in September and will remain open through 11:59 p.m. on Jan. 31. The deadline is typically Jan. 15, but this year it was extended, so anyone who is interested still has a small window of extra time.

Students pay to join the Perceptions class, but then earn a certain amount of course credits in return, and that amount is determined by how many students join. Currently, there are five people on the Perceptions team including Warner, three more students, and a volunteer.

The group works together to read, look at, listen to, and watch the submissions to decide what will go in this year’s edition.

“As a team, you notice things, for example, in a photo, that you didn’t notice on your own,” Warner said. “There’s always learning.”

All submissions are read blindly (contributors’ identities undisclosed) to avoid bias, and when anyone directly involved with Perceptions submits a piece for consideration, they are asked to leave the room during voting to keep things fair to all of the creators trying to get published.

As editor-in-chief, Warner helps run the class alongside MHCC humanities instructor Jonathan Morrow. All of the other students are new to Perceptions this year, but this is Warner’s second year being involved, so that’s how she came into her position.

“I really like it. I’ve never thought that I’d enjoy a leadership position,” Warner said. “I’m always used to someone telling me what to do.”

She discovered Perceptions and decided to join when she took instructor Michele Hampton’s fiction writing class, and the magazine was being promoted.

At Sandy High School, Warner was a part of the campus yearbook staff, so she believed putting together an annual magazine was something she was capable of doing. She also saw this as a fun, and less expensive, way to fulfill her humanities credits requirement.

Warner grew up near Rockwood, but her family moved to Sandy, where she graduated from high school in 2013. Warner became a Mt. Hood student in 2014, and now has her Associate of Science degree. She also attends Portland State University, where she’s studying English.

“I want to be an English teacher for high school students, so I’m going to get my master’s in English, and my GTEP (Graduate Teacher Education Program) certification,” she said.

Warner is an avid writer, and is also taking photography classes. One of her photos was published in Perceptions in the past.

“I really want to be a published writer, but everyone just likes my photos, so that just means I need to keep working,” she said of that craft.

“I love writing because I feel like it helps me calm down or see things differently. It’s like a way to get away,” Warned explained. “Literature is my thing. I love it.”

Anyone interested in submitting work for Perceptions this year may visit perceptionsmagazine.org through Jan. 31.