The Sonoma International Film Festival (SIFF) celebrates a quarter of a century spent promoting independent films and inspiring film lovers during its 25th annual event, running March 23–27.
Presenting live events in the heart of Sonoma Valley, the festival features a slate of more than 120 film screenings—including 79 premieres—during the five-day affair, and it welcomes stars of both the cinematic and culinary world.
“This landmark festival is designed to showcase the best in new films from around the world, unbelievable culinary events, local favorite free public events and a whole lot of fun for festival-goers in between,” Kevin W. McNeely, SIFF artistic director, says in a statement.
Topping the schedule, actress Jacqueline Bisset–who has appeared in over 100 films and television shows–will accept the SIFF Cinematic Excellence Award for her body of work, in conjunction with the screening of her most recent role in Loren & Rose, at Sebastiani Theatre on Friday, March 25.
Loren & Rose tells the story of a bond forged between a young filmmaker and an iconic actress during a single meal.
“I am thrilled to be seeing ‘Loren & Rose’ in this environment after such difficult years of waiting for genuine cinema screens,” Bisset says in a statement.
Film star Karen Allen–best known as Marion Ravenwood in Raiders of the Lost Ark–will also appear at SIFF. She will speak at the first of two screenings with Sonoma Valley High School filmmaking students at this year’s Media Arts Program Student Showcase.
“I shot a film in Sonoma in 1982 with Alan Parker directing, and Diane Keaton and Albert Finney, titled ‘Shoot the Moon,’ and have been in love with Sonoma ever since,” Allen says in a statement. “My week at the festival a few years ago was filled with wonderful films, meeting extraordinary people and delicious food and wine!”
Speaking of food and wine, SIFF includes a new culinary headliner this year when it presents Joanne Weir, the James Beard Award-winning chef, in “Joanne Weir’s Plates & Places” lunch on Friday, March 25.
This new event features Weir introducing select segments from her award-winning television series, paired with a three-course meal she has curated representing those places.
“Filmmakers open our eyes to worlds beyond any borders,” Weir says in a statement. “Their films can inspire curiosity and conversation–not unlike a delicious meal–and it’s an honor to be part of this incredible festival.”
The 25th annual Sonoma International Film Festival takes place Wednesday to Sunday, March 23-27, throughout downtown Sonoma. All information about the festival’s films, special events, passes and tickets can be found at sonomafilmfest.org.
Most people hate their internet service provider. Distrusting the ISPs we pay for our connectivity has unfortunately become commonplace in America.
“Internet access in America is a failed competitive marketplace,” admits Dane Jasper, CEO of Sonic Internet.
Let’s dig a little deeper into why so many customers find it hard to trust their internet providers.
They treat you poorly because they don’t think you have a choice.
The current climate of internet providers has created a lack of choice for customers. At a glance, it may appear that there are only a few large companies offering you internet services. This creates the appearance that your choice depends solely on the most readily available ISP in your area (and whether you prefer its logo to be blue or red).
The truth is, there are more internet providers to choose from than just the “big ones.” And while the process of dropping one provider and scheduling an installation with another can be a hassle if they don’t buy out your contract or cover installation fees like Sonic does, the benefits are undeniable.
This makes the question of what to do when your ISP raises your bill quite simple. Cancel your service and find a better ISP.
They change your monthly bill for any number of reasons.
The reality is many internet providers have more loopholes and shenanigans for raising your bill than many of us can possibly imagine. Most of the surcharges and small additions to your bill are only discoverable if you ask for a breakdown. And even then, investigating each and every additional increase can be exhausting.
Coming out of a promotional rate? Expect an increase to your bill. Unless you’re keeping track of exactly when that expires, it’s going to be a surprise that prompts an unhealthy cycle of calling to haggle your bill each month. And haggling should not be a solution. It should be grounds for cancellation. If they did it to you once, no amount of haggling is going to magically turn them into a good ISP.
Or maybe your bill has gone up incrementally and in odd amounts? There’s a decent chance the rental fees for your equipment have gone up. They said they wouldn’t change your monthly bill, but they never said that your equipment fees would always be the same.
If they are going to nickel and dime you for the internet that we all need access to, then kick them to the curb and find someone better. That’s why the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recently voted to pass “broadband nutrition labels” for ISPs to organize their bills. This would allow more bill transparency in an easy-to-understand format for consumers.
Your speeds are often unreliable.
Internet access is not just about price though, it’s about the quality of your connectivity. When your connection is unstable or throttled, the entire purpose of your contract can seem hopeless and frustrating.
Internet throttling is when your ISP deliberately restricts your internet bandwidth or speed without telling you. While the purpose of throttling is to clear up congested networks or regulate Internet traffic, throttling can also be used to control the websites that consumers use on a daily basis.
Since then, federal “net neutrality” regulations have sadly fallen away, but there is still hope. Just this year, California’s net neutrality law was upheld in court, giving states the authority to protect themselves if the Federal Communications Commission chooses not to do so. So, there is still some protection from ISPs throttling your internet.
If you just want to improve your internet connection though, there are also options available to consumers. First off, for your computer and other devices that need to be connected to the internet, get a hardwired connection from your router.
If you don’t have that option though, there are ways to improve just the power of your WiFi. Signal extenders can be utilized to daisy chain your connection throughout your house. They are more consistent than relying on regular WiFi but are not as good as mesh routers like the Amazon Eero.
You can’t trust their data privacy policies.
Back to the topic of net neutrality, ever since Congress voted to eliminate FCC privacy rules in 2017, many ISPs have unfortunately found a new source of income for their business: their customers’ privacy. Your data is invaluable to them, and it’s not just for tracking your tendencies.
While safeguards do exist to protect your data from being sold directly, consumers should beware of loopholes. Thankfully, there are also ways for consumers to protect themselves from their own internet providers.
A virtual private network (VPN) can give you online privacy and anonymity by creating a private network from a public internet connection. Sonic Internet provides a VPN for all its customers, as well as a dedicated promise to minimize data retention by keeping data from 0–14 days for dynamic IP addresses and other logs. We believe user data should not be retained longer than necessary, and that users deserve to have a clear understanding of their personal data held by other service providers.
Most ISPs do offer some way to opt out of data collection. Customers can go on their respective provider’s websites and find ways to initiate that process. But between slow response time and a lack of transparency, customers don’t really have much to trust.
As we move forward to repair the competitive marketplace that is the internet, price and quality only matter if we can trust our service providers. Sonic understands this. That’s why we are dedicated to honest and reliable service. The internet is for people, not ISPs.
On Tuesday, a coalition of Sonoma County medical professionals, parents, teachers and students called for an extension of local mask mandates in order to protect residents hardest hit by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The forum, which centered the experience of the county’s Latinx and immigrant communities, came in response to the state’s decision roll back many pandemic restrictions as part of the state’s new “endemic” strategy.
In late February, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced that the state would no longer require schools and child care facilities to require masks. In the absence of a statewide requirement, local school districts may independently decide to keep mask mandates in place. In Sonoma County, that means 40 separate school boards will decide whether or not to require students and staff to wear masks after the state requirement lapses on Friday, March 11.
Speakers at the Tuesday forum argued that extending mask mandates for a few weeks or through the end of the school year would help control case loads, protecting school employees, students and the larger community, especially those disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.
For instance, while Latinx residents make up 23.7% of the county’s population, they have suffered 50% of documented Covid cases, 40% of hospitalizations and 31% of deaths, according to county data.
“[Sonoma] County has made a verbal commitment to address inequity, and this is one critical time to put that commitment into action by keeping the school mask mandate in place until we ensure equitable access to the tools we know keep people safe: rapid tests, high-quality masks, education about new paid sick leave laws,” Dr. Jenny Fish, one of the organizers of the forum, said in a press release last week. “Omicron is still with us, and it is still having a disproportionate impact on our Latinx and immigrant community.”
“There are already not enough teachers in our schools, so taking away masks will put them at risk as well as our children, especially those with health problems or disabilities. Our children can wear masks for a little longer to protect themselves, and our community,” added Irma Garcia, an immigrant community member, mother of two and board president of the North Bay Organizing Project.
CASE LOAD A slide showing the disproportionate impact of Covid-19 on Sonoma County’s Latino, Indigenous and Black populations.
Parents speaking at the forum voiced concern that many children are still not vaccinated, making outbreaks at school more likely.
According to county data, only 39% of children aged 5-11 have been fully vaccinated, compared to 81% of Sonoma County’s overall population. Children under five are still not allowed to receive the vaccine.
Sonoma County school-aged residents 17 years old and younger have accounted 22% of cases throughout the pandemic and 25% of cases in the past 60 days, according to the county’s data dashboard.
CASES BY AGE A chart on Sonoma County’s Covid-19 website shows the number of cases among different age brackets.
Local public officials who attended the virtual forum expressed sympathy in response to the testimonies shared at the event, but indicated that decisions about mask mandates will be left to the county’s school districts.
“I understand where you’re coming from. This is a really scary prospect for a lot of people and I really welcome everything that you’ve said,” Dr. Sundari Mase, Sonoma County’s health officer, said during a public comment portion of the forum.
Mase added the county’s recent health order dropping mask mandates in most public spaces for vaccinated individuals “does not mean in any way that we don’t think that masking is one of the most important things for our community, to protect our kids, to protect everybody… from Covid.”
In a Feb. 9 statement announcing the upcoming health order, county officials “strongly recommended masks be used as an effective tool to prevent the spread of the virus especially when case rates are high, or when additional personal protection is needed.”(In a Feb. 15 open letter to county officials, Sonoma County healthcare workers and community organizers urged the county to extend broader mask mandates “a few more weeks until the end of the current Omicron surge.” The county did not do so.)
At the March 8 forum, Mase urged attendees to “Please take your message to school districts, because they’re making the decisions for us about the masking of kids.”
Reaching out to school districts will be a time-consuming affair for parents looking to offer their opinion on masking. Sonoma County, which has a population of just shy of half a million residents, has 40 school districts. That’s nine more than the 31 districts serving New York City, a metropolis with a population of 8.4 million.
Judging from a recent Press Democrat article polling 18 local school districts, some districts have already decided to drop the mandates as early as next week.
The county’s largest school district, Santa Rosa City Schools, has not yet made a decision. The district’s Board of Education will discuss extending the school mask mandates and other matters at a meeting tonight.
Combining virtuosic musicianship and a fiery taste for rock and roll, Marin-based ensemble Dirty Cello is renowned around the world for their energetic live shows and their remarkable ability to reinvent classical and modern music into a one-of-a-kind experience.
Led by classically-trained cellist Rebecca Roudman, the band was one of the busiest live acts in the region until the pandemic closed shop on live shows in the North Bay. Yet, the group played on by finding unexpected venues. Now, Dirty Cello returns to one of their favorite traditional venues, the HopMonk in Sebastopol, for a two-night record release party in celebration of their new album, Dirty Cello Smokes the ’60s.
“When the pandemic hit, we were one of the fortunate bands that performed pretty much every weekend,” Roudman says. “But we had to get super creative with what we did.”
Unable to play for humans, Dirty Cello did the next best thing and performed for animals at the Oakland Zoo. There, they faced some of their toughest crowds.
“We played for the elephants, who did not like us and turned their backs on us,” Roudman says.
One little parrot named Broc did enjoy the show, so much that it began singing along with the group. That led to a viral video, from NBC, of the band at the zoo. The band also played at buffalo ranches, apple orchards and other distanced outdoors venues including a nudist resort in Los Gatos, where the audience wore masks and broke out hula hoops.
Last year, the band went back into its Novato recording studio to lay down new album Dirty Cello Smokes the ’60s. The album features 10 tracks of classic rock songs—by the likes of Jimi Hendrix, the Rolling Stones and Janis Joplin—performed with Dirty Cello’s bluesy, up-tempo style.
The group created the album using a mix of vintage gear from the 1960s, including a reel-to-reel tape recorder, mixed with modern gear such as a recreation of a famous ’60s–era ribbon mic.
“All of our albums are driven by what people ask for, and people have been asking for a 1960s album that’s a lot of fun,” Roudman says. “And we delivered.”
Songs like “Classical Gas” and “Purple Haze” get the Dirty Cello treatment on the record, with Roudman’s strings substituting for guitars, and fans will get their first chance to grab the album when the group performs at HopMonk this week.
“It’s one of our favorite places to play,” Roudman says. “It’s a seated show, but there will be room to dance.”
Dirty Cello plays Friday and Saturday, March 11–12, at HopMonk Tavern, 230 Petaluma Ave., Sebastopol. 8pm. $15–$25. Dirtycello.com.
On any given day it’s hard to know how to move in this world with integrity. Something huge has to happen to pierce the veil of overwhelm I often feel, knowing that bad things are going on all the time.
The invasion of Ukraine is one of those things. I spent time today holding a sign that said PUTIN with an X through his name, at a vigil. Many drivers honked their horns in support, some people flashed the V sign. A few, as always, seemed hostile. Hard to know why this time.
Seeing photos of explosions, burning and destroyed buildings, corpses lying in torn-up fields, people sheltering in subway stations like Londoners during the Blitz, knowing that regular citizens are asking for guns so they can fight, streams of yet more refugees carrying children and running for their lives, breaks my heart. And maybe that’s how it has to be: for the heart to open, it has to break. To live with integrity means seeing what is real and not turning away. On this day, that is a given.
Moss Henry
Santa Rosa
Trump’s Take
Trump’s take on the Putin-Ukraine issue is that Putin is very smart. That means Putin has the Trump Golden Stream videos in his Nuclear arsenal. A gift that keeps on giving.
Neil Davis
Sebastopol
We Love Nikki
I look forward to articles by Nikki Silverstein. Her writing makes for interesting and informative reading … but I do miss the “boyfriend kvetching” stories.
Just in time for St. Patrick’s Day, The Real Irish Comedy Festival showcases the best of today’s Irish comedic talents and accents. This year’s tour features Dublin comedian Dave Nihill, the first Irish winner of the San Francisco International Comedy Competition; Longford comic Sean Finnerty, the first Irish comedian to perform on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon; and “Irish national treasure” Martin Angolo. The comedy comes to the North Bay on Thursday, March 10, at the Raven Theater (115 North St., Healdsburg. 7:30pm. $25–$40. raventheater.org) and Tuesday, March 15, at Throckmorton Theatre (142 Throckmorton Ave., Mill Valley. 8pm. $25–$30. throckmortontheatre.org).
Napa
New View
Award-winning artist and sculptor Marc Foster is interested in changing the viewer’s way of regarding, understanding or interpreting art through use of shapes, color and illusions. This week, art lovers can experience Foster’s latest contemporary sculptures as Acumen Wine Gallery unveils his exhibit, “Perception.” The immersive show works in contrast to many typical exhibits, down to painting the gallery walls black instead of white to enhance Foster’s use of reflection and dimensionality. “Perception” opens with two receptions on Friday and Saturday, March 11–12, at 1315 First St., Napa. Fri, 5pm; Sat, 11am. Free, RSVP required. Black attire requested. acumenwine.com.
Sebastopol
Head Back
In 2018, Bay Area-retailer Jimmy Brower went from creating a brand to creating community when he founded Head West Marketplace. The traveling pop-up show regularly features diverse local purveyors selling their wares like an arts-and-crafts farmers market. After two years of uncertainty and canceled markets, Head West is making a comeback in March, including a two-day extravaganza in the North Bay. Find handmade, locally sourced, small-batch, eco-friendly and socially conscious offerings and products on Saturday and Sunday, March 12–13, at the Barlow, 6770 McKinley St., Sebastopol. 11am to 5pm each day. Free. headwestmarketplace.com.
Santa Rosa
Art Nation
The City of Santa Rosa Public Art Program, in conjunction with the National Arts Program, is currently hosting the 19th annual National Arts Program exhibition and competition, which displays work from Santa Rosa artists and offers $3,450 in awards. This year’s exhibition features 185 works by artists of all ages and levels of experience, available to view Monday to Friday through April 29. This weekend, the exhibition presents its awards ceremony and reception on Sunday, March 13, at the Finley Community Center, 2060 West College Ave., Santa Rosa. 3pm. Free. Registration required. Find more information and register at srcity.org/NAP.
Napa’s Lucky Penny Community Arts Center has been transformed into a high school gymnasium dolled up for the prom for their presentation of Roger Bean’s The Marvelous Wonderettes. The nostalgic jukebox musical runs through March 13.
It’s 1958, and Springfield High’s Songleader Squad has been asked to entertain at the Senior Prom. The four perky squad members (Vida Mae Fernandez, Jenny Veilleux, Andrea Dennison-Laufer, Kirsten Pieschke) have dubbed themselves “The Marvelous Wonderettes” and are prepared to sing a plethora of ’50s hits for their classmates’ entertainment.
They’ll also musically deal with young love (“Dream Lover,” “Stupid Cupid”), cheating boyfriends (“Lipstick on Your Collar”) and clandestine crushes (“Secret Love”), especially the ones that involve a member of the teaching staff (“Born Too Late,” “Teacher’s Pet”).
The Wonderettes return to the Springfield gymnasium in the second act to entertain at the class of ’58s 10-year reunion. They’re older, somewhat wiser, married and in one case, pregnant.
While it’s 1968, song-wise it’s the early ’60s as the girls musically relate the changes in their lives. Missy (Veilleux) has been dating the teacher of her dreams—it’s OK, they waited till she was out of college—and has expectations of an engagement (“With This Ring”). Betty Jean (Dennison-Laufer) is having relationship problems (“It’s My Party”), Cindy Lou (Fernandez) snagged the “Son of a Preacher Man” but ended up losing the “Leader of the Pack,” and all is not well with Suzy (Pieschke) and her high school sweetheart as she demands a little “Respect.”
Director/Choreographer Scottie Woodard, having recently performed in a similarly constructed show about a male singing group (Plaid Tidings), no doubt brought that experience and an appreciation for the material to this production. He also brought one performer (Veilleux) over from Bean’s holiday extension of the show (Winter Wonderettes) that ran in rep with Tidings to reprise her character.
The ladies are in good voice and complement each other well. Music Director Ellen Patterson leads a jaunty three-piece band through the classic-pop score. Barbara McFadden drapes the ladies in era-appropriate attire, from colorful prom gowns to vinyl go-go boots. Brian Watson’s set manages to squeeze all the elements of a cavernous high school gymnasium into the small Lucky Penny space.
Yes, the story is slight, but that’s not the point. It’s all about the songs, and the overwhelmingly baby-boomerish audience bopped along with each tune. A good time was had by all.
‘The Marvelous Wonderettes’ runs through March 13 at the Lucky Penny Community Arts Center. 1758 Industrial Way, Napa. Thurs, 7pm; Fri–Sat, 8pm; Sun, 2pm. $25–$42. 707.266.6305. Proof of vaccination and masking are required to attend. luckypennynapa.com
Good morrow and happy Wednesday, my Looksters! How was everyone’s week? I hope the lifted mask mandate meant that some of us put lipstick on and topped our look off with a smile—we’re never fully dressed, as a certain red-headed orphan would say.
This week I’m excited to highlight an amazing style duo, local to Sonoma County and found in markets throughout the Bay Area all year round: BigMouthUnique.
BigMouthUnique specializes in one-of-a-kind handmade items, from clothing—anything from a renaissance-style page jacket to ’60s sailor pants to pink rompers with blue pockets—to wall art, pillows, ceramics, sculpture and jewelry. Everything is colorful, eye-catching and one of a kind. These are statement pieces and we will all want one—or two or three—in our closets.
The brainchild of dynamic duo Mathilde and Joshua, who have always loved making things and have sewed their whole lives, BigMouthUnique became manifest five years ago. Mathilde and Joshua love to use discarded items, like trash and donations, when creating—as opposed to buying new material—and they ride their bikes for transportation as much as possible. They’re a creative and conscious duo, making fashionable, ethical work. They also paint cars, so to anyone who sees a Merry Pranksters-esque prius cruising around town, it might be the work of BigMouthUnique.
Joshua and Mathilde, the humans behind BigMouthUnique (photo courtesy of BigMouthUnique.)
This weekend BigMouthUnique will be at the HEAD WEST Marketplace in the Barlow. Say hi, learn more about their inimitable fashion and buy a BigMouthUnique piece.
Follow Mathilde and Joshua on Instagram @bigmouthunique for an updated events calendar and fresh creations. Shop their Etsy BigMouthUnique anytime, anywhere. Email them at bi************@***il.com for custom work.
This is the kind of local fashion I live for. Power to BigMouthUnique!
Looking good, everyone. See you next week.
Love,
Jane
Jane Vick is an artist and journalist who has spent time in Europe, New York and New Mexico. She is currently based in Oakland. View her work at janevick.com.
The plan is elegant in its simplicity: If the people can’t get to the care, bring the care to the people. This is essentially the thinking behind a new initiative at Face to Face, Sonoma County’s HIV/AIDS services network, which has launched a $250,000 capital campaign to fund a mobile-services unit.
Dubbed “On The Move,” the campaign’s anticipated result is an electric van chockablock with everything the organization needs to deliver its HIV/AIDS prevention and care services throughout the County. Monies raised will not only launch the project but fund it for 24 months after its inception.
“With this electric van, we will be able to reach further into the communities we serve to provide HIV testing and harm reduction services as well as provide more care services to our clients who are living with HIV and can’t make it into our offices,” says Executive Director Sara Brewer.
The van will also provide something else to the organization—visibility.
Due to advances in medical care, an HIV diagnosis is no longer an imminent death sentence, which may contribute to lax attitudes about managing the potential for infection. Moreover, in recent years, the Covid pandemic has absorbed much of the media’s coverage of health issues, pushing HIV/AIDS further to the back burner.
“But AIDS still happens, and it happens here in our community,” says Face to Face Development Director Gary Saperstein. “We can bring awareness to our community that this still does exist, and hopefully by seeing this people will maybe go to our website and they’ll read about it and find out what’s going on.”
He adds, “All the services that we provide are hopefully leading us to ending HIV in the County—that’s our mission. Great strides have been made in HIV over the years, but it’s still not over. People are still getting HIV, people here—but you don’t hear about it as often.”
Legacy
Face to Face first offered services in the early days of the AIDS crisis in ’80s-era Guerneville. Now in its 39th year and based in Santa Rosa, the nonprofit organization continues its mission to end HIV/AIDS in Sonoma County.
In 2021 alone, Face to Face performed 452 HIV tests; introduced 25 new clients to PrEP 211, an HIV-preventative medication; helped house 15 clients; served 182 clients with financial assistance and benefit counseling; provided 6,325 Naloxone kits, which help in reversing drug overdoses—of which 3,780 were reported; not to mention exchanged 810,00 syringes and retrieved 735,500.
Since launching On the Move in a “quiet phase” prior to the public roll-out last February, the campaign has raised over $60,000. Once all the monies are raised, an electric van will be purchased and retrofitted to match the organization’s unique needs, including partitioning the cargo space into private rooms to conduct its confidential services. HIV tests will be available in the van, as well as consultations, needle exchanges, condoms, educational material and, as Saperstein says, “Everything that pertains to our mission”—including a staff of compassionate professionals.
“The people who work at Face to Face are so passionate about the work that they do,” Saperstein says. “I don’t think I’ve ever worked with people more passionate about what they do. They impress me and amaze me every day.”
Road Tested
In some ways, Face to Face has already conducted a proof-of-concept for the mobile unit.
“During Covid, our harm prevention director, Lorie Violette, literally took her car, emptied out her trunk, put all the supplies in there and went out there in the community,” Saperstein says. “It’s pretty amazing, doing that work. This is why we need the van. We saw it work, and the need for it, during Covid.”
The population Violette serves often faces a bevy of challenges, from housing and mental health challenges to the lack of safe spaces for people who use drugs and are unhoused to go and receive services.
“If someone asks me for help of any kind, I would find out what they are looking for, assess readiness and either provide a linkage or referral. I would follow up with them as well. We plant a lot of seeds here at Face to Face, and that is why we are unique,” says Violette, who points out that Face to Face’s harm reduction services are currently drop-in. “Folks just come up to the door; we welcome them and ask what supplies would they like to get today. It’s a low-barrier service, with a non-judgmental approach. One of the most important aspects is that people can be themselves and feel cared for. They also get what they need to be safe.”
Saperstein affirms this notion. “It’s not about judgment—we’re here to help you if you want help,” he says. “We can link you to care. We can find the ways to help you, but you have to help yourself first. You have to take that first step.”
By bringing its services to those it serves, Face to Face hopes to make that first step even easier.
HELP IS HERE Face to Face’s harm prevention director Lorie Violette says harm prevention is ‘in my DNA.’ Photo courtesy of Face to Face.
One aspect of combating HIV/AIDS is predicated on the concept of “harm reduction.” Face to Face’s Harm Prevention Director Lorie Violette shared what this means in practical terms with Bohemian editor Daedalus Howell.
Lorie Violette: Harm reduction is reducing any harm related to substance use—or really anything; brushing our teeth, seat belts, eating a salad rather than a hamburger—while treating people with dignity and respect. Showing compassion and meeting people where they are at, not where we think they should be at. Example, someone shows up for supplies, they are having a hard day. Instead of me saying, “Well, if you stop using drugs your life may get better,” a harm reductionist would say things like, “I’m glad you came in today. All that you’re going though, you still made a point to come in and get supplies. That’s awesome. Would you like to chat a bit?” Harm reduction is not ignoring the issues at hand. It’s just not forcing people to do anything or using any kind of coercion.
Bohemian: When it comes to managing issues around scenarios like intravenous drug use or unprotected sex, how does harm reduction apply?
Violette: It would all come down to, what does that person want to do? Do they have the right information about risks, and are they asking me for my expertise? If so, I would ask them, what was successful in the past? Are they aware of PrEP 211? Do they need any supplies to stay safe?
Bohemian: How will the van integrate into your current harm reduction programs?
Violette: The van will allow Face to Face to go directly to the people, and provide our services. Some of the most vulnerable community members can’t get to us. We will reduce stigma associated with HIV, people who use drugs, overdose—while serving our community. These kinds of things need to be talked about. We cannot pretend they don’t exist, and we need to make sure our community has the facts.
The Sonoma International Film Festival (SIFF) celebrates a quarter of a century spent promoting independent films and inspiring film lovers during its 25th annual event, running March 23–27.
Presenting live events in the heart of Sonoma Valley, the festival features a slate of more than 120 film screenings—including 79 premieres—during the five-day affair, and it welcomes stars of both the...
Sponsored content by Sonic Internet
Most people hate their internet service provider. Distrusting the ISPs we pay for our connectivity has unfortunately become commonplace in America.
“Internet access in America is a failed competitive marketplace,” admits Dane Jasper, CEO of Sonic Internet.
Let’s dig a little deeper into why so many customers find it hard to trust their internet providers.
They treat you...
On Tuesday, a coalition of Sonoma County medical professionals, parents, teachers and students called for an extension of local mask mandates in order to protect residents hardest hit by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The forum, which centered the experience of the county’s Latinx and immigrant communities, came in response to the state's decision roll back many pandemic restrictions as part of...
Combining virtuosic musicianship and a fiery taste for rock and roll, Marin-based ensemble Dirty Cello is renowned around the world for their energetic live shows and their remarkable ability to reinvent classical and modern music into a one-of-a-kind experience.
Led by classically-trained cellist Rebecca Roudman, the band was one of the busiest live acts in the region until the pandemic...
Living With Integrity
On any given day it’s hard to know how to move in this world with integrity. Something huge has to happen to pierce the veil of overwhelm I often feel, knowing that bad things are going on all the time.
The invasion of Ukraine is one of those things. I spent time today holding a sign that said...
By Anonymous
How many more good and kind things would you have done in this life?
A blank canvas framed in sturdy wood now broken and sealed away.
What future inspirations rising from today’s possibilities,
if the uncertain outline of your kindness hadn’t been colored in by spite?
Rays of attention and care that you beamed on those
who never grew under such light,
illuminating hopes...
Healdsburg & Mill Valley
Lucky Laughs
Just in time for St. Patrick’s Day, The Real Irish Comedy Festival showcases the best of today’s Irish comedic talents and accents. This year’s tour features Dublin comedian Dave Nihill, the first Irish winner of the San Francisco International Comedy Competition; Longford comic Sean Finnerty, the first Irish comedian to perform on the Tonight Show...
Napa’s Lucky Penny Community Arts Center has been transformed into a high school gymnasium dolled up for the prom for their presentation of Roger Bean’s The Marvelous Wonderettes. The nostalgic jukebox musical runs through March 13.
It’s 1958, and Springfield High’s Songleader Squad has been asked to entertain at the Senior Prom. The four perky squad members (Vida Mae Fernandez,...
Good morrow and happy Wednesday, my Looksters! How was everyone’s week? I hope the lifted mask mandate meant that some of us put lipstick on and topped our look off with a smile—we’re never fully dressed, as a certain red-headed orphan would say.
This week I’m excited to highlight an amazing style duo, local to Sonoma County and found in...
The plan is elegant in its simplicity: If the people can’t get to the care, bring the care to the people. This is essentially the thinking behind a new initiative at Face to Face, Sonoma County’s HIV/AIDS services network, which has launched a $250,000 capital campaign to fund a mobile-services unit.
Dubbed “On The Move,” the campaign’s anticipated result is...
