Meeting with Anna Pier just after the Friday Soup’s On, 44-year-old David Seyms was full of enthusiasm for the weekly event, and for the many programs under his direction as part of his work as Executive Director of Vintage House. Talk about the Friday Soup’s... Continue
The Japanese film “Perfect Days” features renowned actor Kôji Yakusho leading a Zen-like life in the heart of Tokyo, where he works as a public toilet cleaner. Yakusho won Best Actor for the role at the Cannes Film Festival. His character, Hirayama, is shown playing... Continue
The Sonoma Valley Unified Board of Trustees has made two monumental decisions since Trustee David Bell took the gavel in December, the approval of the MacArthur Park Charter School petition, and selection of a new Superintendent for the District. Anna Pier met with the new... Continue
Under the Sun: Seth Donnelly, Educator and Activist Co-Founder of Taxpayers Against Genocide in Gaza
The story of Sonoma's Seth Donnelly is the story of the making of an activist. Anna Pier sat down with the high school teacher who has spent the last year at the helm of Taxpayers against Genocide in Gaza (TAG). Your background? I grew up... Continue
Some Answers for Sonomans By Anna Pier The news is filled with the administration's ever-increasing push to deport immigrants. And these efforts, driven by quotas, are being made indiscriminately. The many breaches of Constitutional protections coupled with the beyond appalling conditions people are subjected to... Continue
By Anna Pier With a glance at the votive candle I'd lit, and a silent prayer, I leave my house to drive to an established gathering place where I will meet my "compa." In this case, my "compas," the couple I am accompanying to a... Continue
Since 2019, Andrea Marino has been delighting Sonomans and visitors from near and far with the authentic Italian salumi and other delicacies he makes at his West Napa Street site, Salumeria Ovello. Anna Pier sat down with the proprietor of this marvelously Italian specialty shop... Continue
And Why Will the Superintendent Receive a Raise? By Anna Pier If the Trustees of the Sonoma Valley Unified Board vote on May 8 to close any elementary school, either on the Eastside –Prestwood or Sassarini – or in the Springs – Flowery or El... Continue
Sonoma’s Maki Aizawa, a co-curator of the remarkable Books Become Art exhibition at the Sonoma Valley Museum, talks with Anna Pier about her life in Japan, the artist book show at SVMA, and the artists she works with through Amu Arts. What is the genesis... Continue
Elected to the Sonoma City Council in 2022, Patricia Farrar-Rivas will serve as Mayor in 2025. The Sun's Anna Pier sat down with her to find out her background and her goals and aspirations for her service. Born and raised? I was an Air Force... Continue