If you’re a longtime reader of these pages, you no doubt have fond memories of the Woodstock Times, Ulster Publishing’s first publication and its flagship brand. For nearly two decades, Brian Hollander was the editor, presiding over a small-town newspaper that connected our community in many profound ways.
Hollander will be celebrating the release of his new book, Nothing of Insignificance: Adventures in Journalism, on Sat., October 11 at 4 p.m. at the Kleinert/James Center for the Arts. Hosted by the Golden Notebook, the event includes a reading, discussion, and book signing. Hollander’s collection features more than 40 stories from over 30 years of reporting, offering a personal and often humorous look at Woodstock’s politics, music, and community life.
1. You have a long and storied history in journalism. What have been the highlights as you look back on your career?
The highlights of my career came every Wednesday for the 19 years I edited Woodstock Times, when we fit the disparate pieces in place to make a weekly newspaper. In most of those years, I read every word of every article, each letter to the editor, and every obituary, after assigning the stories to an eccentric cast of writers and reporters. Such is the luxury of the weekly product.
Then, seeing the finished paper every Thursday while preparations for the following week were taking place was quite satisfying.
Topping off the weekly schedule for 14 of those years was a Thursday night gig with the Saturday Night Bluegrass Band in one of the three venues that hosted us over the years.
2. How has journalism and local media changed over the decades from your vantage point?
When I started in the business, there were always choices of coverage, made on beautiful paper with ink. But along came the internet, dragging social media with it to a place that at best gave a voice to those who hadn’t been heard before, and at worst, allowed untruth to wallow in public attention.
The need to beat the competition in posting online local, regional, statewide and national news has left little time for the small press to thoughtfully consider the ramifications of actions taken by newsmakers.
The bottom dropping out of advertisements due to COVID certainly didn’t help. Instead, it forced consolidation and that, in turn, lessened the scrutiny that is often necessary to cover a wide swath of territory.
Nonetheless, we can pay homage to those newspapers that have survived. For those of us who previously devoured papers, you can still see them at your local library.
3. What was the inspiration to compile your stories into this new book, and what did you learn in the process?
Well, the stories were just laying around doing nothing. So I thought I’d put them together so my family would have a good idea about my world and local views, and so they could conceive of my love.
I sought advice on self-publishing from Will Nixon, who has a small publishing house, Bushwhack Books. He indicated he would like to publish them as a book, and I started collecting them from my archive (doesn’t everyone have an archive?) and getting Will’s take on them.
I learned that people liked my stories and that they seem to make sense in an orderly fashion.
4. What’s the synopsis of one of your favorite stories in the book?
Uhhh … well, let’s see, there’s the serio-comic one about covering the Four Freedoms event at the Roosevelt Mansion; I love the one about how Nancy Kafka, who owned a lingerie shop, decided in her 50s that she wanted to be a baseball umpire; in another, I climbed—along with another reporter and a DOT crew—the tower to the Wurts Street Bridge in Kingston; there’s a profile of Garth Hudson; one about driving a fancy Maserati.
But if I had to pick one, I’d choose a full-length interview with Sonny Rollins, the incredible saxophonist and jazz legend.
5. Can quality journalism survive in an age of digital distraction, and, perhaps more saliently, why is it important for journalism to survive?
Journalism has to survive, and I think it will in some form, even if it’s only a town crier yelling about who is getting stoned in the stocks.
Join the family! 
