July 2018 – The Shawangunk Journal has put all its weekly content online! Please read what our publisher Amberly Campbell has to say about it:

Fresh off the heels of our mention in The Economist comes NewsAtomic — our new online endeavor, and a new way to read the Shawangunk Journal.

For the past year and change, we have been secretly (and feverishly) working on NewsAtomic — it was conceived and created by the owners of the paper, Sharon Richman and Alex Shiffer, and it's truly awesome, if I can gush a bit. They built it from scratch, and have been tweaking and revising it continuously, and we were all extremely excited to finally unveil it this week.

We are a print publication, and while print is a great medium — it's mature, human, familiar and tactile... unfortunately, it is slowly being replaced by a medium that is not as time-tested. In the online world, "facts" can be messy, identities can be fudged, "news" can be unreliable. But the online world is here to stay, it seems, and so we have evolved to benefit from and utilize it.

Make no mistake — our print publication isn't going away — we are just adapting to changing times, and print-only publications are just not a sustainable business model anymore. NewsAtomic is simply another delivery system for what we produce — the quality news, information and events you have come to love... community news, locally grown.

NewsAtomic showcases a different format for reading the news, and reading it is a different experience. In print, we have a weekly schedule; stories are due by Wednesday for Thursday print. But now we will have a continuous stream of updated information reaching our readers. There will be so much more, in fact, than what we can squeeze into print. More news, more events, more photos — and you won't have to wait until Thursdays.

Also, in time, NewsAtomic will host other publications and writers — it's not just a forum for us, but for our wider community.

For the last ten years we have had a website, and not a terribly attractive one either, if you want my two cents, and our website will change as well. We will no longer post articles and letters there. Instead you find a link that will bring you to NewsAtomic, to register for free, and read our informative and entertaining pieces there.

And in time, we will have really cool proprietary additions to NewsAtomic, which will make it an even more exciting enterprise... more on that in the future.

Of course, NONE of this would be even remotely possible without our incredible contributors, our sustainers, our subscribers, and our advertisers. We have nothing but gratitude for all of you who believe in us, and keep sustaining us, because you know that a community should be informed, and have a forum that can be a voice of the people, an independent checks and balances for the policy-makers, and a bullhorn for the positive changes happening all around us.

For now, we are celebrating a bit, still working feverishly (even more so!), and we are excited to see folks at the Rosendale Street Fest, Ulster County Fair and, of course, Blueberry Fest, here in Ellenville.

The times are changing, and we are changing with the times.

— Amberly Jane Campbell

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On January 5, 2017, the Shawangunk Journal posted an appeal to its readership, which you can read here.

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On November 6, 2008, the Ellenville Journal took a new name: Shawangunk Journal. We believe it better reflects our current coverage and our hopes for the future. Please read our editorial on the subject. Comments are welcome.

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The Ellenville Journal first appeared in 1849 and continued publishing for over 140 years until it went quiet. This website and its forthcoming newspaper counterpart is our attempt to resurrect an Ellenville institution for the twenty-first century.

Alex Shiffer is a New York native. He attended the State University of New York at New Paltz and received bachelor's degrees in both mathematics and computer science. He went on to receive a master's degree in mathematics from the University of Michigan.

Sharon Richman is originally from Long Island and also attended the State University of New York at New Paltz where she and Alex first met. She received her degrees in visual arts and mathematics, and then had several jobs including working as a graphic designer and typesetter for a regional publisher.

In 1994, Alex and Sharon started Zelacom Electronic Publishing based in Liberty, NY and offered web design, web hosting and internet access to 2,000 people in the Sullivan County and Southern Ulster region.

In 1999, Alex and Sharon moved to Napanoch. Their business followed soon after and relocated to Ellenville in 2004.

Along the way, Alex and Sharon found time to travel cross-country, run a farm and have two children, daughters Jasmine and Violet.

In 2006, after much deliberation, Alex and Sharon decided to revive the Ellenville Journal as both a news website and newspaper.