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< Back Two Years Older Sarah Myton Two years older Makes you wiser and bolder and smarter than I’ll ever be. No matter how hard I try To pass you by You’ll always be further than me. In school, I worked so hard to excel Trying—so hard to sell The idea that I was just as good as you I have scars on my knees, just a few, From falling, time after time Trying, to catch up to you I’m Still here, still calling “Wait for me!” I’m still falling. Two years older Makes you more patient, kind and further along in the mind. More studied than I Trying to follow along my Brain develops thinker’s block Maybe we should stop trying to talk at 2 a.m., early in the morning. I guess I should have given you a warning Sometimes I get frustrated When we’ve debated At your beautiful, poised, sophisticated Response to which I have no reply So I ask you—why? Why do you talk to me When you have other places to be And to this you always say, “Because I care.” and he does, every day. Two years older Makes you barely older than me But what makes it a big difference Are the things you can’t see. The things in the distance That you already preach The things that are still, just out of reach. Author Bio Sarah Myton : I am a first-year student at PCC, working on discovering the career path that I want to pursue. This is my first time being published in a journal, but I have really enjoyed writing for a couple of years now. The poems written by me were created during the WR 242 poetry class taught by Dr. Embry. I hope to continue being creative in my future career and to be a light in the world.

< Back Over the Under Waves Moriendi Lenore Is this what quicksand feels like? Ocean waves dampen the sand around my feet with each return, sinking me towards the center of the Earth. Are those screams? No, just laughter… Gaze torn from my disappearing limbs, to my cousins as they dive under the waves like sea creatures in a film. Water crashes into my legs again, hitting my knees with the force to throw me overboard, I do not waver from my perch. The sand has held me to it with grainy hands, molded me into a monument, chiseled, then smoothed by sandpaper wind, an unlikely sculptor my curiosity has become. Am I the only artifact the sea foam has tricked into existence? What an image that must be, do tourists gawk and flock to view how curiosity tempts the cat? Do they simply check it off, another item on their bucket-list. Tide leaves, the intrusive blight of what if demands I sit down, back to the waves, just to see… Beach has me firm as a pedestal to marble, like the fall from a rollercoaster peak, heart swaps with my stomach, while my feet are ripped free from the bind the sand alluded to hold dear. Somersaulting under the sea, no gravity can hold me, until the archaeologists find the remains of a sculpture held once more in the briny grip of the beach. Wringing out the memories of the last failed attempt to swim from my hair, my father sits under an umbrella, not content to smell of salt, hey! You tried going under, good job! ; I nod in acquiescence. Today was not a day for killing the hopes of others. Summoned to the waves, I watch sea and sand move over my feet, with a sweet caress, unbothered by the way they nearly claimed me as their lifelong companion. What would happen if I did it again? Author Bio Moriendi Lenore is a Southern California native who moved to Oregon in 2008. They are finishing up their second year at PCC and plan to pursue a degree in Creative Writing and Film Studies. Their writing tends to focus around all things that go bump in the night; along with variations of folklore and mythology. When not at home with their cat, Schrödinger, working on projects or playing TTRPGs with friends, they are with their dog, Chopper, and can be found hiking around Oregon.

ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES Shane Allison was bit by the writing bug at the age of fourteen. He spent a majority of his high school life shying away in the library behind desk cubicles writing bad love poems about boys he had crushes on. He has since gone on to publish many chapbooks of poetry—Black Fag , Ceiling of Mirrors , Cock and Balls , I Want to Fuck a Redneck , Remembered Men and Live Nude Guys —as well as four full-length poetry collections: I Remember (Future Tense Books), Slut Machine (Rebel Satori Press), Sweet Sweat (Hysterical Books), and, most recently, I Want to Eat Chinese Food Off Your Ass (Dumpster Fire Press). He has edited twenty-five anthologies of gay erotica and has written two novels, You’re the One I Want and Harm Done (Simon and Schuster Publishing). Allison’s collage work has graced the pages of Shampoo , Unlikely Stories , Pnpplzine.com, Palavar Arts Magazine , The Southeast Review , South Broadway Review , Postscript Magazine , and a plethora of others. Allison is at work on a new novel and is always at work making a collage here and there. Addie Berry : This piece I did is of one of my favorite artists, Jeff Buckley. The title is based on one of my favorite songs off of his album, Grace. I made this in a screen printing class here at PCC. The silhouette I used is from a photo that David Ghar took of Buckley in 1994. The photo attached is of me and my cat Albert :) Christa Fowles : I came to painting as a way to visually express the way that I see the world and the mystery and wonder that is always present. In my current work there is an attempt to get at the sense of flow and the feeling of being outside time, even in something as simple as cooking, serving and enjoying a meal. There is much that is ancient and very human in these rituals, and my hope is to capture a glimmer of this in my work. Adam Idris : See the Meet the Editors page for a fun and zany bio!! You’ll have a funtastic time!!! Blake L. Johnson is a Portland-based photographer whose artistic focus is black-and-white street photography. Working with a monochrome camera, he captures the raw textures and striking contrasts of city life. Blake has a special interest in photographing people within their environments, as well as highlighting the wabi-sabi characteristics—the beauty found in imperfection and transience—of the urban landscape. The photograph “Old Town Portland Early Morning” was created during an Introduction to Digital Photography course at PCC. Blake wandered the streets of Old Town in the quiet hours before the city fully woke, drawn to the soft morning light revealing the worn textures and shifting shadows of the neighborhood. Carter Kohler is a Portland, OR-based artist who believes in the significance of radical kindness and compassion in the changing landscape of social networks in the twenty-first century. His work reflects on moments of growth and change, often inspired by personal experiences of hardship, resilience, and loss. Hannah Lavender is an illustrator. Mark Strehlow is an multi-disciplinary artist with a focus on sculpture, painting and drawing. His work touches on themes of the body, identity, and social tensions, and often draws on already established symbols to create juxtaposition between history and modernity. He is currently a student in Portland, Oregon. Native Portlander Eleanor Song is a second-year PCC student majoring in political science. She is a former National Student Poets Program semifinalist and has been published by Stepping Stone Publishing (but most of her work exists in a single notes app file, not backed up). Outside of writing, Eleanor is a photographer, legislative staffer, and proud cat mom. You can find her talking to strangers on the blue line, getting lost on hiking trails, and lighting candles that smell like sugar. A home health caregiver and ESOL teacher at PCC Hillsboro Center, Woods Stricklin is just beginning learning how to use a digital camera. Born in Texas, raised in Nebraska, an Oregonian since July 4, 2001, he believes we are all artists. Dean Wilson is a multidisciplinary artist based in Canby, Oregon, whose creative work spans both photography and the written word. His photograph "Quiet Time" was featured in Fifty Years, Fifty Artists: A Celebration of the West , and his work has been exhibited at Northview Gallery and Blue Sky: Oregon Center for the Photographic Arts. His images have also appeared in Uncommon , a publication by the Portland Photographers Forum, as well as The Bellwether Review . Dean’s poetry and prose have been published in the Lewis and Clark Review , Alchemy Magazine, and The Bellwether Review . Driven by a lifelong need to create, he approaches his art with a spirit of exploration—often blending visual storytelling with reflective narrative. Refusing to be confined by style or subject, Dean embraces both photography and writing as open-ended conversations with the world around him.

MEET THE EDITORS Destiny Abbott is a Las Vegas native turned Portland transplant as of 2023. Traditionally, she is an illustrator, but she has been interested in creative writing since high school. She is working on an Associate’s Degree in Art and intends to pursue a Master’s in Art Practice. Destiny aspires to be a graphic novelist, so she is pursuing editing to further develop her writing practice. The Bellwether Review is her first experience with professional editing. While she isn’t active on social media, you can follow her on Instagram @deliri_arts. Elijah Acosta is an aspiring poet and writer currently pursuing an Associate of Science degree. Growing up in East Los Angeles in Southern California, he has always strived to be a positive role model. He has also been actively involved in his community, being elected as the president of his high school’s GSA, as well as studying environmental sciences and anthropology in India and Nepal with the student travel organization Carpe Mundi. Finding the goodness in things while daydreaming, stargazing, and living is something he always enjoys. He lives in Portland on a little street called Joy Avenue, where he continues his educational goals. You can see more about him or contact him through Instagram @ell.eaell. Paul Buchholz is a poet born and raised in Beaverton, with a lifelong passion for music, comedy, and writing. This edition of The Bellwether Review is his first foray into editing, and he’s grateful to be a part of letting the artistic voices of the PCC Rock Creek community be heard, especially at a time when art and connection are more important than ever. Katie Friend is a student at PCC with a growing interest in the literary world, especially in poetry and scriptwriting. New to editing teams, Katie joined to explore the behind-the-scenes process of content creation and editing. Katie was born and raised in Portland, Oregon. In her free time, she enjoys nothing more than lying down with her cat and reading a book to unwind after a long day. “Listen, three-eyes. Don’t you try to out-weird me. I get stranger things than you free with my breakfast cereal.” —Zaphod Beeblebrox in The Restaurant at the end of the Universe Look at him go, back for round two! Once again typesetter and special pages editor, but this time he took his shot and submitted his own stuff. He didn’t know photography was right up his alley, but when Adam Idris picked up that camera, he knew it was right for him. With a passion for photography and love of Gunpla, he combined the two, inspired by the likes of Mitchel Wu and Kim DM Simmons. Karah Kemmerly has been working on journals since she started a creative writing club at her high school in 2009, but this is her first year as the faculty adviser for The Bellwether Review . In addition to teaching writing at PCC, she also makes zines with Conjunction Press, works on fiber arts projects, and watches a lot of Robert Pattinson movies. She lives in Northwest Portland with her partner and two orange cats. Everest Looney is an artist and poet living in a tight-knit neighborhood in northwest Oregon. Growing up in southern, sunny California, Everest found his love for the outdoors. As a trans student at PCC, he works his life into his art and writing. The Bellwether Review is his first experience in the world of published editing, with all past experiences being in the writing classes he’s taken at Rock Creek. Megan McGrory is an avid consumer of media who’s lived in Washington, Alaska, and finally Oregon. She has been writing since before she could technically write, getting her mother to write down her stories for her. Her greatest passion is prose, particularly fantasy and science fiction, though she’s started to dabble in poetry. Aside from writing, Megan loves to read, watch movies and TV, perform on stage, and analyze media through a feminist lens. One of her greatest passions is napping with her cat, Spooky. Marie Rubio is an editor for The Bellwether Review. For a full bio, see Moriendi Lenore's author bio . A lifelong love of reading in magic and self-discovery, Kaitlyn Thursam is now finding a new passion hidden deep within her: writing poetry. Her writing is inspired by climate action and political topics and is written through a feminist lens. She hopes that her work inspires others but also allows people to reflect on the interconnectedness of complex issues. Although this is her last year at PCC, she will be transferring to PSU to major in English and pursue her career in helping others publish and edit their work. Izzi Veeiriia (real name Gloria Isabella Pagui Vaire) is a layout and prose editor. Friends describe her as “eccentric,” which is a fun way to say “completely out of pocket.” Pictured is not her, but rather her (and her best friend’s) husband working and residing at the Tillamook Cheese Factory: Jason. Izzi has many hobbies, such as intentionally misspelling her last name, writing, having existential crises, retail therapy, and wasting hours dressing up only to stay inside all day. Her favorite question is “what is the color of day?” Other fun facts? Her favorite color has been lavender since she was 13. She has another fiancé aside from her husband: Diego from JoJo Part 7 . She is going to be bitten by a vampire in her ’30s and will go on to fulfill every career option possible over multiple millennia.

< Back A Foreign Being Aster Aliaj It’s a division of the heart, sir If I could, I would make myself whole I would Your laws bar my way My will keeps being tread on There is no door to escape this alienation You try to quell dissent And yeah, sometimes, it works But dontcha worry tired limbs and sore throats Still move Still sound It’s not go back where you came from It’s my mother’s womb is gone It’s my home is concrete Philly streets and corner stores And the sunshine speckled olive trees of my parent’s arid land It is a cleaving of identity If I could go back, I would I would Do you understand now? But your ancestors laid waste to themselves, didn’t they? Cut away, buried, and conformed And finally assimilated a generation or two down And now parts of yourself are missing You don’t even know which ones But you feel it Like I do But I take this ache And, and ask, can you feel a split heart? What about a break in self? Did you ever have to force a being? Author Bio Aster Aliaj is a writer, aspiring musician and environmentalist whose current writing focuses on her experience as an immigrant within the United States. The up and downs, othering and the joy of growing up in America and all the intersectionalities that come with it.

Spring 2023 art poetry fiction Nonfiction Thank you for visiting our website. The Bellwether Review is a literary journal that hopes to promote and inspire creativity amongst those not only at PCC Rock Creek, but throughout the community. We hope you take the time to review these great pieces that were sent in to us and selected for publication by our editorial team. Visit our Submissions page if you are interested in having your work considered for publication. Email us at bellwetherreview@gmail.com with any questions. Letter from the Editors Dear Reader, This edition of The Bellwether Review is special in two ways from previous editions. It is the first print edition to be published after the Covid-19 restrictions were lifted, and will be the first edition to be published alongside its online companion at bellwetherreview.com . Our editing team is honored and privileged to have witnessed the amazing levels of beauty, creativity, bravery, thought, and emotion infused by the Contributors into all of their submissions. Each piece was reviewed, discussed, and carefully selected by us with you, and a profound respect for the act of artistic creation, in mind. The Bellwether Review is created by the students of Portland Community College for the purpose of being enjoyed by all it can reach, and the editorial team would like to thank you for exploring and enjoying the contributions of our fellow students contained within these pages. With gratitude, The 2023 Editorial Team Copyright © 2023 Portland Community College Portland Community College reserves all rights to the material contained herein for the contributors’ protection. On publication, all rights revert to the respective authors and artists.

LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENT We would like to acknowledge that the home of The Bellwether Review , Portland Community College’s Rock Creek campus, is located on the land of the Atfalati-Kalapuya tribes (also known as Tualatin Kalapuya), who were among the First People living in what we currently call Washington County. In 1855, the Atfalati tribes were forced to sign a treaty relinquishing ownership of their land . Today, the Kalapuya people are members of the Confederated Tribes of the Grande Ronde, located southwest of Washington County. We also want to acknowledge and thank the original stewards of the land throughout the area which PCC serves today, including the Molalla; the Multnomah, Kathlamet, and Clackamas bands of the Chinook; as well as the many other Tribes who have made their homes along the Columbia River. We, the editors, have chosen to include this land acknowledgment as an active commitment to supporting contemporary Indigenous sovereignty by promoting awareness and fostering dialogue as a contribution toward decolonizing the oppression which has resulted from systemic policies of colonization—including genocide, relocation, broken treaties, and assimilation. The Bellwether Review seeks to highlight the diversity of linguistic and artistic expression of student voices on the Rock Creek campus and throughout the PCC community; with this in mind, we want to acknowledge the absence of voices that might otherwise have been thriving today, if it were not for the practices of forced cultural assimilation that leads to the loss of fluency in local Indigenous languages. The last known fluent speaker of Tualatin Northern Kalapuya, Louis Kenoyer ( baxawádas ), died in 1937. Kenoyer’s memoir, My Life: Reminiscences of a Grande Ronde Reservation Childhood , translated into English from Tualatin Northern Kalapuya, is available at the PCC Rock Creek Library. We encourage readers of The Bellwether Review to honor the journal’s connection to the history of the land upon which it is produced by supporting and promoting organizations that are working to cultivate and honor contemporary Indigenous cultures in a variety of ways, such as PCC’s Native Nations Club , Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde , Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians , The NAYA Family Center , Salmon Nation , and the First Nations’ Native Language Immersion Initiative . Learn more about the Kalapuya people by exploring Kalapuyan Tribal History , Pacific University’s Indigenous History of Oregon , and the Five Oaks Museum’s online exhibition, This IS Kalapuyan Land . The Bellwether Review editorial team would like to thank PCC Native Nations Club Coordinator Karry Kelley (Yahooskin/Modoc) and Dr. Blake Hausman (Cherokee Nation), PCC faculty in English and Native American Studies, for advising us on crafting this acknowledgment.

2022 Theme Meet the 2022 Editors Fiction Nonfiction Poetry Scripts Art Bellwether Review 2022 A Search for Meaning This year, we discovered that many of our submissions related to a search for meaning throughout year two of the pandemic. This search manifested in a cycle of experiences, as shown below. Experiencing Loss and Injustice Finding Strength and Surviving Discovering and Creating Finding Strength and Surviving A Cycle Feeling Trapped and Imprisoned Finding Strength and Surviving Finding Strength and Surviving Finding Strength and Surviving Works Browse our wide array of stories, poetry, and art. View all

< Back Fucking rip, I kinda liked you Moriendi Lenore Brown doe eyes stare at a ‘Wolf’ in disbelief, she wonders what she did wrong— Panicked fight, blade makes a mess. A lamb watches, ‘Fucking rip, I guess’ ‘Fucking rip, this is a mess to clean.’ She chose the painful way out. Faded red dye, brown eyes adore us both. She doesn’t mind the mess. Devoted brown eyes gaze at a ‘Wolf’, understanding c’est la vie in the cabin. Quick slash, she didn’t suffer. A lamb sighs, ‘Fucking rip, I kinda liked you’ Badges, sirens, my eyes meet a quick slash. A sacrificial Lamb— ‘Fucking rip me’—time passes, scars fade, knowledge gained, tarot read. The cards are flipped, why am I here—tarot read—she sees without knowing how close to the truth she is. ‘Fucking rip, you fascinate me.’ Friends with a badge hidden in plain sight, the truth in our mothers’ graves. A bond I don’t want to shake. ‘Fucking rip, why are you a magnet for death.’ Tricked by a ‘Wolf’, blades meet. His cold grin of proudness ends our bond. Safe, together, two lambs—one with teeth. ‘Fucking rip, I kinda care about you.’ Author Bio Moriendi Lenore is a Southern California native who moved to Oregon in 2008. They are finishing up their second year at PCC and plan to pursue a degree in Creative Writing and Film Studies. Their writing tends to focus around all things that go bump in the night; along with variations of folklore and mythology. When not at home with their cat, Schrödinger, working on projects or playing TTRPGs with friends, they are with their dog, Chopper, and can be found hiking around Oregon.