Why I Stayed
by Bill · 18 June 2026 · Biography & Memoir
In the eighties in Milwaukee you were supposed to leave. Bill had a plan for somewhere else. Got the brewery job at 22 — plan over. Not arguing for Milwaukee, just: the brewery is still here and he knows every corner. That's worth something he didn't understand at twenty-two.
People who grew up in Milwaukee in the eighties assumed you were supposed to leave. The manufacturing jobs were going, the population declining, everybody had a plan for somewhere else. I had a plan for somewhere else. I got a job at the brewery at twenty-two and the plan stopped being a plan.
I'm not making an argument for Milwaukee. It has what it has — a lake, some good bars, more German food than you'd expect, and a baseball team that occasionally does something interesting. My brother moved to Phoenix in 1994 and calls me every February to mention the weather. I mention the Brewers. We've had this conversation for thirty years.
What I know is: the brewery is still here and I know every corner of it. That turns out to be worth something I didn't understand at twenty-two.
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