#ACHÉ

#Aché is a modern version of the Black Lesbian magazine Aché that ran from 1988-1994.

Drawing inspiration from the archives of its predecessor, this issue will feature original creative works from me including poetry, a scene from a play, and a curated playlist. When you scan the QR code, you will be able to view an Augmented Reality experience I created for this project.* There is also a Google Calendar of events for Black LGBTQ+ people in New Haven, CT for July and August 2023 based on the community events calendar Aché included at the end of their issues. Finally, I will leave you with my final thoughts on what I have learned from combing through Lisbet Tellefsen’s archive to learn more about Aché.

With Strength and Solidarity,

Adérónkẹ́

*Note: the AR elements are created with Adobe Aero which currently only supports these devices:  https://helpx.adobe.com/aero/system-requirements.html .

The scene below is entirely a work of fiction and has no relation to the people in the postcard photo. I was already working on this scene when I found this postcard in the Aché archives and thought these lovely people would perfectly represent Adéṣínà and Noëlle.

Characters 

Adéṣínà (pictured on the right) - 22 they/them, Aries from Festac, Lagos, who is really into astrology and unironically likes country music; doing a social media internship at A24

Noëlle (pictured on the left) - 21 she/they?? (still figuring it out) Sagittarius from Philadelphia interning at Snapchat as a software engineering intern who does not understand their partner’s love of country music when they are from the birthplace of the best genre (Afrobeats)

AchéBot (V.O.)  - Black Lesbian Ancestor Computer;  a computer program created by Noëlle based on data from the archives of Aché; inspired by ChatGPT responses.  

Time

Summer 2023

Place 

Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, NY

Notes 

Adéṣinà is pronounced add-aye-she-na and Noëlle is pronounced no-el 

/ indicates where character lines start to overlap, italics indicate stage directions

ADÉṢÍNÀ: I just don’t understand it. 

NOЁLLE: What’s not to understand? 

ADÉṢÍNÀ: Everything?  How it’s made, why / 

NOЁLLE: / Python, because there are not enough Black and LGBTQ  culturally aware AI chatbots out there / 

ADÉṢÍNÀ: / But,  I don’t get it! 

NOЁLLE: And I don’t get how you like country music, so we’re even.

ADÉṢÍNÀ: We are not having this conversation again.  How do I use this?

NOЁLLE: Just read the instructions I wrote.  

ADÉṢÍNÀ:  I did!  I can only do that so many times. 

NOЁLLE:  Here, just give it to me. 

Noëlle takes the computer from Adéṣínà’s hands.

You just write it a letter.  Just so it can get to know you better. 

ADÉṢÍNÀ:  But why would I do that when I don’t need anyone in my business? 

NOЁLLE: Because you said you’d help me, so I’m holding you to your word. 

ADÉṢÍNÀ:  Fine.  Who am I if not a person of my word?  Can you explain what it is one more time?

NOЁLLE: UGH!  It’s a generative artificial intelligence chatbot that scrapes data from the Ask Aché archives — with the consent of the original writers, of course — synthesizes that information, and uses a self-supervised learning large language model to craft a response to questions you ask it in the style of the author of the advice column. 

ADÉṢÍNÀ: …

NOЁLLE:  Black Lesbian Ancestor Computer

ADÉṢÍNÀ:  Ohhhhhhhhhhh, okay I got it. 

Adéṣínà takes the laptop back and types the words they say aloud. 

ADÉṢÍNÀ:  Dear Past Lesbian Robot

NOЁLLE: You can’t start a letter like that! 

ADÉṢÍNÀ: Fine!  

Dear AchéBot,

I am a Nigerian non-binary lesbian who is in love with a crazy computer scientist African-American queer.  If my parents knew anything about this, they’d kill me.  If I keep it hidden inside when I go back to Nigeria, I’d kill myself.  What do I do?

I really love this girl.  I really do.  And I love my life.  But I can’t abandon my family or culture. 

So…. help.

A pause. 

AchéBot: Dang sistah, that’s really a predicament. 

I hope your partner is understanding of this struggle you are going through.  This is a difficult situation and you can use all the support you can get.  It’s not easy to have non-accepting parents. 

Maybe your parents will be more understanding and accepting than you think.  If they are, yay!  

Then again, they may not be.  If you’re still financially dependent on your parents, it may not be the best time to tell them.  Of course, some people would be like, “You’re grown now break free of them and fuck what they think!” but that’s a lot harder to do when they’re still putting your groceries on the table.   

 You know your parents and how they would react best.  If you have a family member you can trust who is also close to your parents, maybe tell them and ask their opinion on coming out to your parents. 

Look for local Black and African LGBTQ+ communities in your area!  Find ways to celebrate your cultures together.  You’re not the only Nigerian non-binary lesbian in your area, I promise. 

Whether or not you decide to tell your parents, know that you still have family through your chosen family.  Know that your culture still lives in you even if you are disconnected from your family.  Know you’re still queer even if you need to hide it from your family.  Neither part of your identity negates the other, no matter what anyone tries to tell you.   

If you are having any thoughts of self-harm behaviors, reach out to someone you trust or a local culturally competent mental health center. 

With Strength and Solidarity, 

AchéBot

A pause. 

ADÉṢÍNÀ: Damn.

NOЁLLE: Wow. 

ADÉṢÍNÀ & NOЁLLE: I can’t believe it wrote something like that. 

ADÉṢÍNÀ: What do you mean you can’t believe it!  You made it! 

NOЁLLE: Yeah, but I didn’t think it was that good! 

ADÉṢÍNÀ:  This is literally the best advice I’ve ever received in my life.  From a computer. 

NOЁLLE: Well, you know it’s highly advanced technology / but I did not think it would work this well. 

ADÉṢÍNÀ: /  Noëlle  

NOЁLLE: This completely revolutionizes the game. /  I mean, think of all the people that could use this, and the impact on the community - the AI and Black and queer community and — 

ADÉṢÍNÀ: Noëlle / NOЁLLE! 

Noëlle turns to Adéṣínà. 

ADÉṢÍNÀ: You’re a genius, my love.  

Adéṣínà embraces Noëlle. 

Writer and activist Audre Lorde was a big supporter of Aché and was in consistent communication with Aché cofounders Lisbet Tellefsen and Pippa Fleming from 1989 until her death in 1992. She was one of the largest donors to the journal. She also reached out to Aché and its subscribers for help when the island she lived on, St. Croix, suffered from a hurricane and the people living there still did not have basic necessities and electricity after two months in 1991.

Audre wrote to Lisbet about how excited she was for Lisbet and the Aché team to come to Berlin for the International WOC Exchange in 1992. Women of Color from the US, Germany, London, and Amsterdam came together to discuss issues like internalized racism, forms of resistance, and creating a Lesbians of Color Culture. This is just one of the ways Aché was in community internationally. The paper was distributed in seven countries including the UK, Germany, and Aotearoa and Lisbet was in direct communication with the international distributors.

Upon Lorde's death from liver cancer on November 17, 1992, Aché and Modern Times Bookstore sponsored a memorial for her on November 29, 1992. Many people from different races, genders, and nationalities came to the event, including Afro-Germans Yvonne Kettels and Yara Muñiz de Faria who gave eulogies.

Music was played and some of Audre's poetry was read at the memorial, including A Litany for Survival and Stations, pictured below.

when You take trains

You must go through many stops 

to get to 

Your destination

along the way

People get on 

People get off

People stay on

so many lives intersect with your own 

briefly or for a  w h i l e

They 

get on     get off         stay on

if You’re not careful, You’ll confuse 

Someone else’s stop for Yours 

You’ll be frustrated that You’re not 

where You want to be 

If You’re not careful, You’ll rush 

on to the wrong train 

look around and 

be completely lost 

but if You hang on for the ride 

You’ll see the beauty in the towns You pass by 

You’ll appreciate where others are going 

While staying on Your own track

As I learned from reading and presenting on “Liner Notes from the Revolution” by Daphne A. Brooks, sampling songs is a form of archival work. Creating playlists is also a form of creating a musical archive. The playlist #Aché is the cumulation of my favorite Black queer artists and allies of right now. These are some of the biggest stars of my generation and they are Black / Black queer singing music with Black and Black queer origins: house, rap, hip-hop, and R&B. We are our ancestors' wildest dreams!

Listen to this in order to get the full effect. Scroll below to learn more about the samples included.

All samples information gathered from Who Sampled:  https://www.whosampled.com/ 

I’m That Girl by Beyonce (2022)

•  Still Pimpin  - Tommy Wright III ft. Princess Loko and Mac T-Dog

Hey Mickey by Baby Tate (2023)

•  Mickey  by Toni Basil (1981)

*Fast Car by Syd (2021)

• does NOT cover the Tracy Chapman song but has the same title and so I there’s some lore about Black lesbians liking fast cars

Summer Renaissance by Beyonce (2022)

•  I Feel Love  - Donna Summer

In Ha Mood by Ice Spice (2023)

•  ELX CV2 Song Starter Sun Comes Up 90 Cm  by Fabian Mazur (2020)

Area Codes by Kali (2023)

•  Area Codes  by Ludacris feat. Nate Dogg (2001)

“Water Slide” by Janelle Monae (2023)

•  Whining Skill  by Patra (1993)

•  Bam Bam  by Sister Nancy (1982)

This calendar is based on the bi-monthly calendar of events Aché would have for events in the Bay Area. This Google calendar instead has community events of interest for Black LGBTQ+ people in New Haven, CT for July and August. It is updated regularly for new events but may not be updated for any changes to events currently on the calendar.

Theoretically, this would be an in-depth essay about what I learned from the Aché archives. I mean, essays were submitted to the journal, so why not add one here? But I hate writing essays. And an essay would be antithetical to all the other work I did for this project. So instead, I will leave you with a bulleted list of short paragraphs of my takeaways from this project.

1. Community building - Aché hosted many local events - performances, parties, and more - to build community among Black Lesbians and Black queer people in the Bay area. They also had many connections with other Black queer journals and networks in the Bay area and across the world. Many people wrote to the publication saying they felt so seen and heard by the work. This has encouraged me to look more into community events in my area (hence the calendar) and attend them with friends. This also shows me that Black queer work matters - my work matters - and that there is an audience that appreciates it.
2. Opportunity - Aché gave so many Black queer people the opportunity to have their work published for the first time. Now these people's original works are in the archives of Yale University. When people sought out contributing to Aché, I doubt they ever thought their work would be held at one of the world's leading research institutions and cherished by people thirty years in the future, but they are! This project gave me the opportunity to express my creativity in so many forms and pushed me to try out new forms. Aché is still providing opportunities 35 years after its original publishing.

Finally, I will leave you with some of my favorite pictures from the Aché archives.

With Strength and Solidarity,

Adérónkẹ́ Adéjàre

For any comments or inquiries, email: aderonke.adejare@yale.edu