Return | To You

To You

Written by Chike Asuzu on behalf of Charcoal

Here you are. At a conclusion, but a beginning all the same. As the golden wheel begins a new rotation, there is an endless amount of possibilities for the future stories told within these pages.

Consider them all with unbridled joy.

You need reminding of where we’ve been, the way things were, at what cost, and who we are.

An instruction of sorts to you, from us, on how to truly take in the preceding pages. Consider each and every person it has taken to make Charcoal throughout the years. From a team of eighteen, to well over one hundred, the spirit remains unbridled with joy. Yet, you need reminding that we have been here. We have made a golden-toned narrative around the ever-present implications of history. We must stay open to where we can find community, the way things have been in our hardest times, and the cost we are willing to pay to keep this publication alive.

And of course, who we all are. The people who choose Charcoal in whatever way they can.

With five years behind us, there are an infinite amount of possibilities for the future of this publication. The power to shift course has always been in the hands of the people flipping these pages. So we pray, and we hope, and we dream that we never forget the steps we have walked to get here. We pray, and we hope, and we dream that we never forget the steps that walked first and guided us here.

But with the end of a cycle, it’s time to face the fear of moving forward. Let’s take this newfound imagination, and make our next set of printed worlds.

Happy Birthday Charcoal.