Return | ‘Quiet In Still Waters’: Past Charcoal Editor-in-Chief, Archelle Thelemaque , Sheds Light Beyond the Surface

‘Quiet In Still Waters’: Past Charcoal Editor-in-Chief, Archelle Thelemaque , Sheds Light Beyond the Surface

Written by Kiara Bennett | Edited by Chike Asuza | Layout by Tiffany Hoang

“Quiet in Still Waters” was inspired by the overwhelming need to humanize two past Charcoal members, Archelle Thelamaque and Erin Edwards. Erin’s passing in August 2019 was the catalyst for Archelle to take up the position of Editor-In-Chief, a position that was supposed to be filled by Erin in the following semester. It touches on the joy of friendship, the strength of Archelle, and the lasting memory of Erin.

Retracing the footsteps of Charcoal requires allowing those who walked to hold the mic for themselves. Archelle Thelemaque and Erin Edwards joined Charcoal Magazine in the Fall of 2018. The former was the Chief Marketing Officer, a position she held until Fall ‘19. The latter initially came in as a model before swiftly rising to Managing Editor in Spring ‘19. Coming into Fall ‘19, Erin Edwards was the intended Editor-In-Chief, however, her unfortunate and untimely passing fogged the clarity of what the future of Charcoal would look like. In wake of one of her best friend’s passing, Archelle made a choice–one she never regrets.

KB: What was life like for you growing up?

AT: Well, my parents are immigrants from Haiti so I grew up in a very Haitian household. We spoke Haitian creole, we ate Haitian food, all while growing up in Kennesaw, Georgia. It was great. It’s very different from anywhere else I’ve lived up to now, such as Boston, Oakland, or San Francisco. I love Georgia and I love the south. It’s such a unique place to live, and I think if I hadn’t grown up in the south a lot of the ways that I navigate people and even my idea of common ground would be so different.

KB: What’s your family like and do you think they influenced your personhood in a huge way?

AT: We’re all a culmination of our experiences, so mine were heavily inspired by my Haitian parents. This brought with it different experiences with how I understood my own Blackness. As well as, just valuable life lessons that my parents taught me about being careful with who I choose to be friends with. That’s something that I’ve taken to heart and tried to practice throughout my life.

I also have an older brother! He’s about three and a half years older than me. I adore him! Having an older brother definitely gave me a different perspective on the world, and I mean that in every way. We had our differences, of course. He liked video games, and I couldn’t give a shit about that. I was definitely the annoying younger sister, but we were still close. We found that common ground between us… Yeah, I really love my brother. I love my parents. I have a little niece and a sister-in-law. I just love my family.

KB: What was the college experience like for you?

AT: I loved BU (Boston University)! It was probably the best decision that I could’ve made for myself when I was 17, 18. I don’t regret any part of it. BU was a wonderful school for a person like me who had so many interests and wanted to explore them all. For example, I was an orientation leader during my freshman summer, the Director of Communications for Student Government, and I worked at the Student Activities Office for some time.

Overall most of my favorite parts about BU had nothing to do with anything in particular. It would be a random day on Maneater* where I thought “oh my god, I love you guys.” I remember one of my favorite shows was this one day during freshman year. Erin and I were on the same show at this dreaded 6:00 AM timeslot, and I think we had gone out the night before too. This is so random, but my ex had texted me some shit too! I was down in the dumps, so we had a sad girls’ playlist day. I thought to myself, “I love college, if this is what it is, I love it.”

*A radio show centering woman/femme voices broadcasted from Boston University’s WTBU radio station.

On the other hand, some of the hardest parts were during Fall ‘19, the semester after Erin passed. It was pretty difficult, but I also think a lot of good came out of that. We as a community leaned on each other during that time. Also, navigating a pandemic while you’re 20, 21 was a rough experience. There were definitely some moments when it was really challenging.

KB: How did you get into Charcoal?

AT: My freshman summer, Remy, one of the founders of Charcoal, had reached out to me and said, “Hey, let’s talk about Charcoal.” I went to the Mirrors launch during Spring of 2018 and loved it. I thought it was amazing. However, oftentimes whenever I know that I wanna get involved with something, I feel it in my stomach. I didn’t feel it in my stomach when I saw Mirrors because I was never a person that wanted to produce a magazine. My whole thing was building community and building a community around these intangible concepts. Charcoal was very much a community building a tangible product, so it wasn’t something that I ever thought I was gonna get involved in. Remy asked me if I wanted to do public relations (PR) for Charcoal. I was a PR student, so I thought it was time to put into practice what I was learning in class. I started helping with their PR strategy, and even doing that, I always expressed to them “I’ll help plan events, I’ll help do all these things, but please do not let me touch this magazine.”

KB: When did you first meet Erin Edwards?

AT: I met her for the first time at our third round of Posse* interviews. She was in this gray dress and these black boots. I would come to know those black boots because she’d wear them out all the time throughout freshman year. I remember meeting her feeling almost mad, thinking, “why is she so perfect?” It sounds weird to say, but I’d say I wasn’t really mad, more so, taken aback. She radiated so much personality and kindness.

*Posse Foundation works to bring diverse groups of talented students together to serve as catalysts for individual and community development.

The summer before college, she and I started getting a lot closer, because I had so much anxiety about not having my person in Posse. She and Diem, my other Possemate, were super close because they were interning at Turner Studios in Atlanta. You could also tell that [their other Possemates] Kendall and Simeon were going to be close. I was just struggling to find my person, and now they are all my siblings so that doesn’t matter, but starting out I was a little worried thinking, “Who’s gonna be my buddy?” I believe Erin had sensed that, so we began facetiming and getting to know each other a little bit better.

KB: How would you characterize Erin?

AT: Erin is, was. It’s weird to talk about her in the past tense still. She was an incredible person. She was incredibly kind, one of the kindest people that you could meet. I, on the other hand, am not like that. The word people often use or what they say is “when I first met you I was intimidated” and I’m like “yeah, that’s fair.” I can be abrasive, but as I’ve grown I’ve tried to adopt a little bit of Erin. I’m trying to be kind to people when I first meet them. It’s a battle, but I think overall it just circles back to Erin being so kind. She was also the hardest-working person I have ever met. People who didn’t know her thought she was perfect. People who knew her knew she wasn’t perfect, but she was close. She was just so good, so kind.

Archelle Thelemaque, Charcoal Editor-in-Chief September 2019 to May 2021

Archelle with Erin Edwards, Charcoal Managing Editor Spring 2019

When I think about her, to be honest, I remember that she was such a goofball. Erin was one of the funniest people I knew. A lot of people didn’t think she was that funny cause she’d make a joke, and we’d all be like “Erin, that’s so corny.” But then you’d sit back hours later and think about what she said and you’re like, “This girl is hilarious.”

She had this huge, massive hair. That was how a lot of people remember her. One of the things about her that I always admired was the way that she reclaimed her relationship with her hair. When she was younger, she’d straighten and bleach it all the time. As she came into her black womanhood she embraced her curls and embraced how big it was.

KB: What was Erin like in school, Charcoal, and beyond?

AT: She had incredible ambition and spirit. She was a brilliant writer, and I mean brilliant. I remember I read her this poem that I wrote one day and asked what she thought. She was like “It isn’t good” and I replied, “What do you mean it isn’t good?” She stated again “It isn’t good” but I asked for her opinion, and one thing about Erin–she was always going to give you her honest opinion. She was an incredible writer and could easily identify incredible writing. I think that’s why she was so sharp with the work she did in Charcoal, especially during her tenure as Managing Editor.

She cared a lot about how she presented in the world, naturally, by being a journalist. Elaine Welteroth, the Teen Vogue editor, is one of her idols and I could tell because they’re so similar. Elaine’s really spunky, yet collected. She was the first Black editor of Teen Vogue, and an overall cool and down-to-earth person. Erin was the same way. You’d look at her and think she was this very prim and proper woman which she was, but she was also so complex. She was always asking questions that would challenge you to think a little bit differently about something, but she wasn’t this goody-goody two-shoes that people sometimes make her out to be. I don’t say that in a bad way; Erin had grit and this edge to her. Sometimes in the narratives people tell about her and her passing, you’d think she was this fragile, perfect, the-world-couldn’tget-to-her type of person–but no. Erin had hustle, grit, and this fire that I can say all of my Possemates had.

KB: Was there an expectation or a feeling you had fulfilling the Editor-in-Chief role after Erin’s passing?

AT: It was a choice. It was a radical choice. I think it was one of those moments where I thought “Okay, I’m here, I’ll do it.” If I remember correctly, there wasn’t much of a feeling behind it. I was just like, “Ah, man this is all terrible, but Charcoal has to go on. It has to continue.”

I wanted to make sure that Charcoal existed.

Community is the most important part to me [about Charcoal]. A whole community despite what the tangible product may look like. To me, the magazine was always going to be there, but it became a matter of making a community where people felt safe and invited. I think that approach helped sustain Charcoal.

Charcoal is something beyond the tangible product.

KB: Do you regret your choice to become Editor-in-Chief?

AT: I have no regrets about it. Honestly, I have no regrets about anything in life. I believe the things that happen are supposed to happen… I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be.

KB: How do you think you’ve grown since your time in college and Charcoal?

AT: In a lot of ways. I think I’m a little bit more patient with life taking its course now. I think that’s partially because now that I’m not in school, I don’t have any strict deadlines for sections of my time. In undergrad, it’s as if you have these four years to go and figure stuff out. Now, I have a good job, I live in a cool place, and I get to figure out what I wanna do next.

KB: What is life like for Archelle Thelameque nowadays?

AT: Life is full of bliss. I think life is full of appreciating moments, the big and the little moments. Life at BU was really really busy, almost chaotic, and really complicated. Life can still be complicated, but I just appreciate it so much more. Life is incredibly still, and I didn’t know I needed stillness until I got it. Now I just want it forever.

KB: What is your best piece of advice?

AT: Be kind. It gets you so much further than not being kind.

Kiara Bennett (she/her) is a junior majoring in psychology and minoring in deaf studies at Boston University. Although originally born in Bristol, she feels most connected to her parent’s homeland of Jamaica and is highly influenced by her culture. Kiara loves to tell a story and believes there is no better way to do so than through films, which played a large role in the development of their piece. Kiara is inspired by the community she’s found within Charcoal and all of the stories from people she’s met in her journey through life.