About
Portland Community College of Portland, Oregon hosts over 70,000 students across four campuses and numerous satellite centers. PCC provides a wide array of certificates, degrees, and programs for its diverse population of full-time and part-time students. Our President, Mark Mitsui, values the educational opportunities PCC, and community colleges in general, can provide to individuals, the community, and society as a whole.
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PCC Rock Creek campus represents just over a quarter of PCC’s student population. Our campus is green, both physically, as it spans across 260 acres, and sustainably, boasting a Tree Campus USA certification since 2016. With a farm, a beautiful interactive learning garden, and serene walking trails on campus, we appreciate the opportune landscape of Northwest Oregon and work to leave as small of a footprint as we can.
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Each PCC campus has its own unique literary magazine, and Rock Creek proudly produces The Bellwether Review once a year every Spring term. What was previously called the Rock Creek Review was taken up by Rock Creek’s Editing & Publishing class in 2011. At this time, the students adopted the name Bellwether in honor of Rock Creek’s notable sheep population on our campus’s farm. A bellwether is a reference to the bell worn by the alpha sheep of a flock, though by today’s understanding, it refers to one who leads the way. Our editorial team embraces this ideal as we publish The Bellwether Review: we want to initiate artistic expression and foster creativity at our campus and beyond.
Our Mission Statement
The Bellwether Review is Portland Community College Rock Creek’s literary magazine. Our mission is to promote original art, fiction, nonfiction, and many other mediums of expression created by authors and artists, inside and outside of Portland Community College. We value showcasing work that expresses a wide variety of voices and thoughts. Through this, we hope to encourage a passion for meaningful creation. All submissions go through a fair evaluation to select high-quality work for publishing. The Bellwether Review is grateful to all of the enthusiastic, dedicated people involved in its creation—from the writers and artists to the editorial team. After the uncertainty of this last year, we hope the 2021 issue of The Bellwether Review is a bright spot in the lives of both our readers and presented artists. The editorial team wants this year's issue to offer all readers and showcased artists a feeling of community, accomplishment, and solidarity while we are all still learning and writing remotely.