- Desert Valley Star
-
Desert Star Weekly 
Desert Valley Star Feb 17, 2011Type Tabloid Format Alternative Weekly Owner Praxis Communications, Inc. Publisher Dean Gray Editor Gina Skocowski Language English Headquarters 66538 Eighth St.
Desert Hot Springs, CA 92240Circulation 20,000 Official website www.desertvalleystar.com The Desert Valley Star Weekly is a community newspaper with a strong alternative style covering local news, government, arts and entertainment in the Palm Springs area of California. The newspaper is distributed to local businesses, libraries and newsstands throughout the Coachella Valley free of charge every Thursday. The Desert Valley Star's sister paper, the American Free Journal Weekly is distributed in the Joshua Tree/Yucca Valley region of California. The two share editorial content.
The Star is distributed to the Coachella Valley in eastern Riverside County and the Journal is distributed to hi-desert communities in eastern San Bernardino County. The newspaper's content consists of investigative journalism and advocacy journalism, reporting on local and regional government, business and the environment. They also post weekly features on music, art, entertainment, fashion, body-mind-spirit, astrology and herbal culture. In addition to printing two newspaper products they maintain an Internet site.
The Desert Valley Star is the only adjudicated newspaper[1] located and published in the city of Desert Hot Springs, California as a newspaper of general circulation (by order Riverside County Superior Court) giving the newspaper the responsibility to publish public notices (also known as legal ads) for the City of Desert Hot Springs and all of Riverside County.
The American Free Journal has been publishing since 1989 and primarily circulated in the hi-desert of San Bernardino County. In 2008, the "Desert Valley Star" online publication merged with the "American Free Journal" and creating a newsprint publication for the Star and adding Internet publication for the Journal. The newspapers were reorganized with the primary investment by Raven Skye, President, Praxis Communications, Inc and the work of then co-publishers Dean Gray and Arlette Capel.
Contents
Publication details
The newspapers are distributed every Thursday. Both are community papers combined with an alternative newspaper style commanding a combined circulation of 20,000. The website offers conventional individual story web pages plus a page-flipper that mimics the printed product.
The paper products are distributed to 800 strategic locations throughout the desert region including all public libraries, city halls, retail and civic centers.
Trade association membership is maintained with the Alternative Weekly Network,[2] the California Newspaper Publishers Association,[3] the Association of Free Community Papers and the Independent Free Papers of America.[4]
The Star serves the cities and communities of Desert Hot Springs, Palm Springs, Cathedral City, Rancho Mirage, Thousand Palms, Palm Desert, Indian Wells, La Quinta, Indio, Coachella and Sky Valley. The Desert Valley Star, established 2008, is also sometimes referred to as The Desert Star Weekly, The Star Weekly, The Desert Valley Star Weekly, and The Weekly. The Star began publication in 2008 and has continuously published a weekly newsprint newspaper and updated Internet webpages.[5]
The Journal serves the communities of Morongo Valley, Yucca Valley, Joshua Tree, Twentynine Palms, Landers and Lucerne Valley. The American Free Journal has been publishing for 22 years and was purchased in 2008 by Praxis Communications, Inc.
Staff
Founder, publisher and writer Dean Gray credits the influence of Art Kunkin's Los Angeles Free Press and The Realist by Paul Krassner as inspiration. As a child Gray was an avid reader of Mad magazine influenced by "the usual gang of idiots" including Krassner who, then unknown to Gray, worked as a writer there. Gray agrees with activist Tom Hayden who said, "My own radical journey began with Mad Magazine."[6]
Art Kunkin was the founder, publisher and editor of the LA Free Press and was a founding member of the Underground Press Syndicate - now the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies. Kunkin is a practicing alchemist writing a column entitled "Living Longer" focusing on life extension and published exclusively in the Journal and the Star.
In Long Beach, California, at the age of nine[7] Gray began delivering the weekly "shopping news" door to door. In 1969 while attending a Long Beach high school (David Starr Jordan High) at the age of 17 Gray nearly single-handedly wrote, published and sold advertising for his first underground newspaper the Truth[8] (named as an homage to master guitarist Jeff Beck's debut album) with three issues and one issue of Mr. Goodbar's Review[9] (inspired by illustrator Robert Crumb.)
Gray later served as editor of his college newspaper at California College of the Arts in Oakland California studying graphics and environmental art for three years. After moving in the mid 1970s to the Russian River of California in Sonoma County Gray was a contributor to the alternative weekly, The Sonoma County Stump and the Russian River News. Gray is a freethought writer published in a variety of alternative and community weeklies from the 1970s to present.
Arlette Capel, Associate Publisher, purchased the American Free Journal in 2007 and immediately turned the "ad only" publication into a "content" newspaper and increased distribution to cover both the Hi-Desert and Low-Desert communities. Capel has degrees in English and Linguistics from the University of Chicago and UCLA. She is also an accomplished graphic designer and is responsible for much of the new look and "redesign" of the papers.
Jackie Devereaux, co-founder of the Desert Valley Star, helped bring Gray's vision of an alternative weekly newspaper to the desert working as the Editor-in-Chief until a near-fatal illness forced her to leave the position in July 2009 and relocate to San Diego to recuperate.
References
- ^ List of Adjudicated Newspapers, Riverside County http://www.riversideacr.com/acr/forms/506P-AS4CL0%20Adjudicated%20Newspapers.pdf
- ^ Member list Alternative Weekly Network http://print.awn.org/businesses/desert_valley_star_weekly_american_free_journal_weekly/201
- ^ Member list California Newspaper Publisher's Association http://www.cnpa.com/member_directory.cfm?member_type=weekly
- ^ Member list Independent Free Papers of America http://www.ifpa.com/system/users/1828/
- ^ Archive of Past Issues http://desertvalleystar.com/bookshelf.php
- ^ Jan Herman. "MAD Magazine + Tom Hayden = SDS" The Huffington Post December 5, 2007
- ^ Inked at Nine http://www.vote29.com/newmyblog/archives/14139
- ^ The Truth http://desertvalleystar.com/pdf/TheTruthIssue3.pdf
- ^ Mr. Goodbar's Review http://desertvalleystar.com/pdf/MrGoodbarsReview.pdf
External links
- Desert Valley Star website
- Arlette Capel website
- Alternative Weekly Network website
- California Newspaper Publishers Association website
- Independent Free Papers of America website
- Association of Free Community Papers website
- Desert Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce website
- Association of Alternative Newsweeklies website
Categories:- Newspapers published in California
- Alternative weekly newspapers published in the United States
- Media in Riverside County, California
- San Bernardino County, California
- Desert Hot Springs, California
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