Mission Statement:
Portals is Cape Fear Community College’s literary and arts journal, featuring poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and two-dimensional visual art. Literary and art submissions are open to our students, faculty, and staff at CFCC. Additionally, literary submissions are now open to all NC undergraduate college students. CFCC’S English faculty and student editors work together to create and design the magazine, process and select the submissions, and practice editing and publishing.
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The editors of Portals believe that the arts uplift, educate, and create meaning in our lives. We believe in the tapestry of diverse voices and visions that creates a community, and at the heart of community is sharing. We also seek to enhance North Carolinians’ lives by having free access to a quality literary and arts magazine while continuing CFCC’s reputation as a student-focused, academic institution with an emphasis on quality writing and creative expression.
About Us:
2024 Student Editors:
Student Editor: Alyssa Caison is a dual enrolled student at Cape Fear Community and Pender Early College High School in Burgaw, NC. She plans to graduate with her high school diploma and A.A. in 2024. After graduation, she plans to transfer to UNCW to pursue her Bachelor's Degree in psychology. Alyssa has always had a passion for literature and the arts. Alyssa has no prior experience editing, but she is excited to gain experience. She enjoys baking, music, and fast cars in her free time.
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Student Editor: Anna Orvin is currently in her first year at Cape Fear Community College and she is looking to graduate with her associate in arts. Anna enjoys exploring any and all creative outlets, but her favorite activities are graphic design, writing, and her evening walks. After graduation she aspires to attend a four year university and pursue a degree in Creative Writing. Some of Anna's goals are to become a best-selling author and a screenwriter for a Production Company.
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Student Editor: Sean Ray is a sophomore at Cape Fear Community College looking to graduate with an associate in the arts. In his spare time, Sean likes to read and write poetry, write music, paint, and play tennis. After Cape Fear, Sean is looking to go to a four year university in Boston where he plans to get a degree in English Education.
Student Editor: Gabrielle Whitehead is a senior at Cape Fear Community College studying art. She is a local artist who enjoys writing, photography, and painting. Gabrielle plans on transfering to UNCW to study criminology. When she’s not creating art and attending classes she likes to spend quality time with her service dog Walter.
Faculty Editor: Bridget Floyd holds a B.S. in Communication with a concentration in broadcast production and a M.A. in English with a concentration in creative writing, both from East Carolina University. She has been a faculty member at CFCC for twenty One years and has taught a variety of courses in literature, composition, and creative writing. Bridget is currently working on multiple short fiction and nonfiction pieces, as well as a novel.
Faculty Editor: Lesley Richardson holds an M.F.A. from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and a certificate in Multicultural and Transnational Literature from East Carolina University. Her M.F.A. thesis was awarded a Pass with Distinction, a first-time award. She taught at Coastal Carolina Community College for eight years, and she is in her eleventh year of teaching at Cape Fear Community College. Her publications are included in the following literary magazines and journals: Coal City Review, Flint Hills Review, The Asheville Poetry Review, California Quarterly, and Main Street Rag among others. She is currently working on a novel and a book of poetry.
Managing Editor: Margo Williams holds an M.F.A. in writing, literature and publishing from Emerson College. Prior to graduate school, she acquired a B.A. in English from North Carolina Central University. While living in Boston, she studied playwriting and set design at Harvard and interned at The Atlantic Monthly Magazine. She has been teaching at CFCC for twenty-four years. Her publications are included in an anthology (The Big Picture) and literary magazines: Glimmer Train, Prick of the Spindle, Moonshine Review, Southeast Review, Beacon Street Review, O: J&L and more. She is a produced playwright (2008-Snake Oil) which premiered at Brown Coat Theater. Margo has served as an artist in residence at Elsewhere Studios in Colorado and Hambidge Center in Georgia. Her poems have been created into performance pieces at Arts Poetica and Blue Sage Center. Her work has also been exhibited at the Louise Wells Cameron Art Museum during the She Tells a Story exhibition. (2016) A volume of flash fiction, “Falling in Love Like Little Girls Fall in Love,” based on Carolyn Demeritt's black and white photo series When I Was Little I Thought I Could Fly exhibited at Wilma Daniel's Art Gallery at Cape Fear Community College. (Fall 2021). Currently, she is working on a novel.
Portals has long been a part of Cape Fear Community College culture, bringing together faculty, students, and staff to celebrate the arts every year as spring blossoms. Portals began as many artistic inspirations do, with a hand-stapled handout of student scribbles and in the spring of 2004, it became a printed and curated magazine featuring student work. Portals has been printed and celebrated every spring since. Over the years, it expanded its reach and opened submissions to the faculty and staff. The last printed version was circulated and mailed in the spring of 2020, as the world folded in on itself to adjust to a global pandemic. Today, we have transitioned the magazine to a digital format while inviting other North Carolina college students to submit their literary work. The English Department at CFCC enjoys coordinating with the Fine Arts department to bring fresh voices and new perspectives to North Carolina, and we are extremely proud of our students and their work yesterday, today, and tomorrow.