Oregon is my home, and I have lived in this beautiful state for more than four decades.

In the Carter recession, I remember waiting in a line that stretched all the way around a newly built Lyon’s restaurant and down the block a ways. I didn’t have any experience, just a need for work, and they only had a few dozen positions open. I didn’t get the job. Just last week they tore down that building and it brought back the nervous tension and disappointment of those days.