My Story

I was born in 1956 in Oregon's Willamette Valley in Lebanon, which at that time was a small logging town. It's the beginning of what I call America's "Leave It To Beaver" era. If you had a TV then (not everyone did, especially not where I lived) Elvis had just made his first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, The Wizard of Oz had just aired for the first time, The Honeymooners was ending it's run, I Love Lucy and Dragnet were in full swing (Leave it to Beaver began in 1957). If you turned on your radio, you heard Elvis, Pat Boone, Frankie Laine, Chuck Berry, Sinatra, Jerry Lee Lewis, Sam Cooke, etc.

this is what people think Oregon looks like

this is what Oregon really looks like

Most people think of Oregon as this really green, nice place with birds singing, gurgling brooks, with smart, healthy, well educated and environmentally active people. That's true for people from Portland, Eugene, and Ashland, the rest was a wet, cold, dirty swampy field, or a desert. Like one of my students said about 10 years ago, "Oregon... it's all trailers and meth, right?". Well, that's probably true now, back then, it broke down like this: the major industry was timber, so you were either a logger, you worked in the mill (that's where they cut trees up into lumber), you drove a log truck, or you were a farmer/rancher. Everyone else was from Portland, as I said before, which  is what people from the rest of the world think is Oregon.

My family has been here since the mid 1800's. My great-great-great-great Grandfather, Francis Manning, was an outrider on the Oregon Trail - an outrider rode out from the wagon train, shot game, tried to get along with, or took pot shots at Native Americans, whose land they were invading, etc. My family actually donated the land for an Oregon Pioneer Cemetery in Gervais, where he's buried.

I grew up during the baby boom years, and my Mother (a 4th generation Oregonian) thought television was great, because you could put your kid in front of it, and he would shut up and not cause trouble. True enough, but the kid then thinks TV is reality, and for me, that's certainly true. Bugs Bunny? Makes perfect sense. Of course ducks, rabbits and skunks talk, and skunks have french accents!

Elvis wasn't some drug addled hillbilly, he was The King. Cigarettes were good for you, and made you look manly. It was funny to be drunk. Dads go off to jobs, and come home in a good mood. Moms stay home and wear pearls all day. The neighbor kids are nice.