Six weeks away from Rogue One‘s release the New York Times released several articles looking at the Star Wars franchise. “The Strong Women of ‘Star Wars’“ showcased female characters like Rey, Ahsoka Tano, Leia Organa and Doctor Aphra. “What We Know About ‘Rogue One’“ shared insight into what is out for fans to discover about next month’s movie. The article we’re really excited about here is the feature “How Female Fans Made ‘Star Wars’ Their Own“, which highlights the work of female fans, including FANgirl Blog and Fangirls Going Rogue. The article’s author interviewed Tricia Barr and her podcast co-hosts Sarah Woloski and Teresa Delgado for about an hour. During that time we shared our goals as podcasters and our feelings about the state of the franchise. It was a pleasure to offer her the names of other female bloggers and podcasters who are helping change the landscape. Here is a highlight from the article:

In recent years, a whole world of chatty podcasts, metacriticism, and fan art and fiction has cropped up to satisfy that need. “Fangirls Going Rogue” has done much to elevate the work of female writers and actors at Lucasfilm. It’s part of a podcast sorority that includes “Scavengers Hoard,” “Rebel Grrrl,” “Lattes With Leia” and “Rebels Chat,” on which Ms. Macias and her mother, Maria, discuss the Disney XD animated series “Star Wars Rebels.” On Tumblr, predominantly female fans come together to engage in “shipping” — imagining romantic relationships between characters like Finn and Poe, or Rey and Kylo Ren — and to share fan-created art celebrating their favorite characters. These destinations also have a political bent. Ms. Barr started the site FANGirl Blog to “redirect the tone of the conversation among the fandom aimed at fangirls, which at times had been hostile,” she wrote, and to encourage Lucasfilm to “create more strong female characters.