Editorial

I am a female Star Wars fan in a world where some people think Star Wars fans are only male. A world where people have to be born before 1977 to be a Star Wars fan. Four years ago, I was in a Borders bookstore and my mom bought me the 20th Anniversary of Star Wars (Special Edition) Issue of Star Wars Insider magazine. The clerk looked at me funny when I said I was a Star Wars fan. She asked me how old I was. I told her. Obviously, she didn't know that people younger than 20 could be Star Wars fans.

My earliest memory of Star Wars is watching the tape our family had of it, taped from television. I would watch it a lot, munching on sunflower seeds. My older sister claims that I liked the Ewoks when I was little. I'm sure I did, knowing that I was only 4 years old when Return of the Jedi came out in theatres. I also remember getting mad at my brother when he accidentally taped over our television copy of Return of the Jedi with him and his friend's skateboarding tricks.

My next memory of Star Wars wasn't until 1992 when a boy from my class read a Star Wars book for a book report and reintroducted me to Star Wars. I was introduced to Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn. I bought the paperback version of the book at the bookstore and took it on a trip with me. However, it took me a few years to read it, then I really started to enjoy the books. I bought nearly every star wars book there is (with a few exceptions).

Today, with the dawn of the Era of the Prequel movies, I still have a love for Star Wars. In fact, I have a huge amount of Star Wars stuff put into a big storage container. Everything from newspaper articles to unopened action figures to pepsi cans. I even own two copies of The Phantom Menace. To conclude, I would just like to say: girls can be Star Wars fans too! I am one of them.