Chris Smith: After what happened at the gym, Allison is all the more eager to become a nurse

Allison Aver works out often at the Airport Club in Santa Rosa and was there days ago when she spotted a man who’d collapsed onto the floor.

The 18-year-old Windsor High Class of 2018 graduate acted.

Applying what she learned when first certified in cardiopulmonary resuscitation six years ago, Allison rolled the stricken man onto his back, assessed that his respiration had ceased and began chest compressions.

When the professional first responders arrived, they took over. But the 51-year-old man could not be revived.

“I think about him every day since then,” Allison said.

She thinks also about her move Friday to Reno, where she’ll begin her freshman year at the University of Nevada. She’ll follow the lead of her mom, Jennifer, who cares for patients at Kaiser Permanente in Santa Rosa.

Allison said, “I can’t wait to become a nurse.”

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POETRY FLOWED RICHLY from David Bromige, who as a child in London witnessed and survived Hitler’s bombings and as an adult taught creative writing at Sonoma State and was Sonoma County’s second poet laureate.

Bromige was 75 when he died in Sebastopol in 2009. His work and influence endure.

On Friday from 6 to 8 p.m., the Sebastopol Center for the Arts will host a tribute to him that will include readings from “if wants to be the same as is: The Essential David Bromige.” The book, published mere weeks ago, draws from 22 of his earlier books.

Also at Friday’s event will be the world premiere of the documentary, “Incremental Windows,” created from a series of interviews with Bromige.

Organizers request a $10 donation to go toward the placement of one of one Bromige’s poems, in bronze, at the Sebastopol Center for the Arts.

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JUMP BACK TO 1973 and there were no certified farmers’ markets. Many local growers yearned for a way to connect directly with consumers.

So there was born: Sonoma County Farm Trails. That same year, members of the organization produced a local agriculture map and invited the public to visit their first Gravenstein Apple Fair. The 45th anniversary fair came off fabulously this past weekend at Sebastopol’s Ragle Ranch Regional Park.

Now comes something else for Farm Trails to celebrate.

Today Sonoma County releases its annual Crop Report, a snapshot of the vitality of our vineyards, dairies, poultry farms, orchards, nurseries and harvesters of honey, seaweed, olives and you name it.

The county tips its hat to Farm Trails by featuring it on the cover of the Crop Report, which notes, “You can say that Sonoma County Farm Trails was into ‘agritourism’ before that word even existed!”

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BEFORE THEY LEFT on the long trip home to Kagoshima, the Japanese visitors who last week rained sympathy, encouragement and gifts on Santa Rosa made a final presentation.

Mayor Hiroyuki Mori of Kagoshima, the hometown of Fountaingrove winemaker and round barn co-creator Kanaye Nagasawa, gave $5,000 in fire relief to the Rotary Club of Santa Rosa Sunrise.

The money came from the city of Kagoshima, whose kinship with Santa Rosa runs deep.

Isn’t it good to have friends?

You can reach Staff Writer Chris Smith at 707 521-5211 and chris.smith@pressdemocrat.com.