Sick of hearing about burnout? Don’t worry. So am I. — I get it. You don’t want to read yet another Thing On The Internet about burnout. Especially not from someone like me. Someone who has said “never again” enough times to know it’s never going to be true. But technically, no one is forcing you to read the words I’m…

You don’t have to be a Star Wars prequel kid to feel the pain of this loss. — Until The Bad Batch, we always wondered what happened to Kamino. After the Star Wars prequels, it’s never been seen again, at least in the chronological timeline. Perhaps you could have assumed this was a simple product of what I like to call “backward storytelling magic.” Before the prequels, George…

A 9-to-5, 40-hour workweek doesn’t work for everyone. But we all still have limits. — Sometimes, after dinner, I go back to work. And if you think about it — I mean REALLY think about it — this isn’t all that surprising considering how many years I spent doing this very thing when my primary “job” was getting a degree. The last paper I wrote…

In fan communities, underrepresented voices need to rely on each other to thrive. We’re not doing that enough. — Fandom isn’t a new concept. People have gone to the edges of the galaxy to show their passion and support for the people, shows, movies, and games they love for decades. Whether it’s standing in seemingly endless lines for movie tickets (movie theaters! Remember those?), dipping dangerously into your savings…

Internet creation is a dangerous game if you’re in it to win. — When I was 16, I started my first blog. It was 2009; I was by no means ahead of any sort of trend. Having latched firmly onto the label of “aspiring writer,” I watched authors I admired keeping up their own blog sites and figured hey. I can do that…

There is a way to healthfully exist in the Star Wars fandom, and for me, this is no longer it. — The Star Wars fandom was broken. At least, that’s the way I saw it then. It was dysfunctional. Harmful. Dangerous for some of us, sometimes. And it didn’t have to be that way. That’s what I kept telling myself, over and over. …

Words are powerful tools. But words without action attached get erased. — I was floating. No, literally. I was on top of a raft in the middle of my parents’ pool, slowly spinning, even more slowly traveling in a single direction, though I couldn’t have told you which way. It was hot. I should have felt the sun on my face, should…

We block to protect ourselves and our allies. But does this ignore one of fandom’s most troubling realities? “Report. Block. Go private. Stay safe.” Concerning the unwritten rules for surviving online harassment as a Star Wars fan — whether you’re the one being targeted or not — these are the…

The evidence that underrepresented voices in fandom receive disproportionate levels of online harassment continues to grow. — To many, Krystina Arielle is not a familiar name (yet). This will soon change, thanks to the launch of the Star Wars: The High Republic Show on YouTube later this month. Lucasfilm announced the project during the official launch of The High Republic publishing initiative, which featured Arielle introducing herself…