There are many elements of Wisconsin culture to boast of. But one that we’re notorious for is so connected to everyday life that it’s difficult to realize when it has a hold on you. John Plageman talked with his mother, Kathleen Plageman, about alcohol addiction and life after sobriety during a StoryCorps Mobile Tour stop in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
(The following excerpt has been edited for brevity and clarity)
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John Plageman: What was it like growing up in a household where alcohol was prevalent?
Kathleen Plageman: My mother quit drinking after she had her sixth child because she said somebody had to stay sober. Every weekend was kind of scary because you didn’t know how your father was going to … if he was going to be sober or drunk. Most of the time he was drunk. There many times he hit his head on the window sill and he said it was chocolate milk and it was blood all over the place. There were many … not physical fights, but, you know, there was a lot of drinking on the weekends.
John Plageman in 8th grade at Badger Middle School in 1984. (Courtesy of John Plageman)
JP: My first drinking recollection was in seventh grade — even though I drank before that — but I was in seventh grade and I believe it was one of dad’s softball tournaments or leagues at Regner Park. They would get a quarter barrel of beer and then we would sneak beer from there.
Then we went into high school. We would sneak beer out of people’s cabinets and then we would go to the West Bend East or West football games at Badger Middle School. We would drink there and get drunk and go to the games. And then it was kind of like a weekend thing where we would be getting drunk during the weekend.
I went to rehab when I was a freshman in high school. Then, I was sober for about a year, my sophomore year. And then my junior year…
KP: Is that when you had the party at the house?
JP: Yeah.
Then I went into inpatient at that time at Kettle Moraine at Oconomowoc Lake. I think it was Rogers Memorial Hospital, right?
KP: Yes it was.
JP: And that’s where I was first introduced to the Grateful Dead. And also, I was introduced to a counselor at that time, and that’s when I wanted to be a social worker, which I’ve been for over 25 plus years.
Because of my work at the Aging Disability Resource Center, I was able to get on these coalitions. So I got on the Brown County Alcohol and Drug Coalition for Change.
John Plageman (l) and Ishmael (r) volunteer at the Phellowship sober table during a Phish show at Alpine Valley Music Theatre in 2022. (Courtesy of John Plageman)
I was following Phish and the band the Grateful Dead — but it was Dead and Company at the time — and they had sober tables. One of them was called The Phellowship. Every show at Alpine Valley since 2015, I would volunteer at The Phellowship. The experience of being able to share your sobriety in a non-intrusive way, but to have people come to the table and go, “My son, my wife, my husband, my friend is struggling. Thank you for being here.” Or for somebody to be (there) for the first day sober, coming to their first Phish show — which is highly drug-induced, alcohol environment — to know that there’s kind of a safe zone here, was wonderful.
That’s where I got the inspiration to do this (sober tabling) with the Green Bay Packers and do Section Yellow. And the Packers were wonderful to allow us. We’re the first NFL team that is … Green Bay is one of the drunkest cities in the country. Wisconsin is the drunkest state in the country. We have a drinking epidemic that’s normalized here in Wisconsin.
Section Yellow, a sober section tabled by volunteers for people attending Green Bay Packers games and other events. It’s located inside the Lambeau Field concourse by Sec 112/110. (Courtesy of John Plageman)
Wisconsin’s got such a cool culture here. We go camping up north. We go to Friday Fish Frys. We go to supper clubs on Saturdays. We go look for cheese curds, like, “Where’s the latest cheese curd place?” We love our Green Bay Packers, the history with the Packers and the city and the state is amazing. To encompass all that joy that there is without alcohol. It’s not a miracle, but people would say it’s a miracle.
KP: I think it’s a gift.
JP: It definitely is a gift. Yeah, it’s definitely, absolutely is a gift.
This story came from an interview recorded at StoryCorps, a national initiative to record and collect stories of everyday people. During a StoryCorps Mobile Tour stop in Green Bay, Wisconsin from August 10 – September 8, 2023, 110 conversations were recorded and preserved. Excerpts were selected and produced by Wisconsin Public Radio staff.
Major support for the StoryCorps Mobile Tour is made possible by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, in partnership with the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.
