A visitor to the Philosophy Department in Helen C. White will encounter a beautiful work of art just outside the door to the main office. The piece, pictured below, features a range of terms central to the study of philosophy; some involving matter and its nature, others involving psychology and ethics, and others involving epistemology and philosophy of mind. But who created this artwork?
The answer is Mel Nusbaum, a UW-Madison alumnus who graduated with Honors in Philosophy in 1965. We talked with Mel about attending UW-Madison in the 1960s, his experience with the Honors Program, his career, and what advice he has for current Honors students.
Honors: What was attending college like in the 1960s? What did Honors coursework look like in the 1960s?
Mel Nusbaum: In the ’60s, I was the lead guitarist for The Fabulous Imitations, the only racially integrated soul and blues band on campus, full of free-blowing, free-jazz, free-thinkers. I graduated in 1965, earning a BA with Honors in Philosophy at UW-Madison. Wow, 60 years ago! Why philosophy? Good question, as originally I was headed straight toward a career in electronic engineering. But right from the start, the Honors Program opened my mind to possibilities I never dreamed of in high school. For example, freshman Honors English analyzed essays by Freud, Maslow, and others on “why do we laugh at stuff”? Fascinating. Why is something funny? And the kids in Honors were so smart, I made friends and we clicked immediately.
H: What about Honors made it so important for you?
MN: The professors in Honors were inspiring. How about The Philosophy of Beauty with Gene Kaelin? I took to academia right away, and decided, OK, being a professor looks like a great lifestyle. I could teach a few courses, get summers off, own a house with a library, be around bright students, earn a sabbatical year in Paris if I wanted. Just like professor Julius Weinberg, another of my role models. So I was headed for a career in academia.
H: What has been your career trajectory, and what role did Honors play?
MN: UW-Madison awarded me a fellowship to continue my studies after graduation. I passed the prelims in philosophy at U. of Chicago, but then reality sank in. Did I really want a career teaching, reading, publishing (or perishing)? What did I really have to offer that hadn’t already been said? Didn’t I really like playing music a whole lot more than studying the history of philosophy? And isn’t philosophy the ‘love of wisdom’, i.e. thinking for yourself, instead of rehashing the words of other people? Where do you find wisdom, anyway? In the Rathskeller? Maybe.
So, I dropped out of school and moved to New York City to be a jazz musician. Great to follow your idealistic dreams in the sixties. ‘Peace, love, and music’ was good while it lasted – until it came time to pay the rent. Then I had to find a new path. My distaste for capitalism, and all things about money and business, had to go. How could I be of service? Always good at arts and crafts, working with my hands came naturally, so I became an occupational therapist at a big hospital. That was OK for a while, but I was newly married and wanted to grow our family.
I leveraged my smarts and hospital experience, applied to the hospital administration program at Baruch College of CUNY (affordable, as I was by then a NY resident), earned an MBA, and got right to work. I became an administrator at a NY teaching hospital, then moved up to be the program administrator of an alcoholism treatment program. After that, I won a job as financial director of a mental health center. My next job, I got to be the director of administration at a national health organization. I discovered I had talents that I never knew. I was a good manager, I had people’s backs and earned respect by being decisive, giving fair treatment, and having a cool head.
Along the way I kept up my hobbies with music and art, but also electronics. When I learned that you could build your own computer, I was hooked. I was one of the first people in the ’70s to own a personal computer! Again, I had to put away my ’60s prejudices against mechanization (we hated those punched cards!) and lean into the new thing. I leveraged each forward step, learning more and more about computers, and finally was able to break free and start my own professional computer service. We built IT systems and kept them running, working for companies in real estate, publishing, medical office management, and especially accounting applications for nonprofit organizations all over the New York City area. Along the way, I helped a great many people, made good money, and picked up expertise in the inner workings of countless different businesses. Really interesting. Never boring. What helped? My Honors courses in symbolic logic, for one. But also Honors psychology, and especially social psychology. You need to understand people to lead successful negotiations.
H: What are some recent projects you’ve been involved in or have worked on?
MN: Last year, I put on a gallery show of my new artwork: kinetic neon sculptures, 3-D collages, holographic vinyl wall hangings, illuminated designs, and philosophical themed posters. One poster in particular caught the eye of Emily Fletcher, the chair of the UW Philosophy Department. She asked, and I was happy to donate it to the department. She framed it beautifully, and it’s now hanging in Helen C. White Hall. It’s called The Elements. It was inspired by an Honors seminar I took in Ancient Philosophy with Professor William Hay in 1964. Being an upper-level Honors course, it only had three students!
This artwork is what I call a ‘word collage’. At first it may look like a confusing jumble. It is based on the writings of the ancient philosophers who sought to figure out what the world was basically made out of. Starting with their list—Earth, Water, Wind, and Fire—I added a few elements that I thought were equally important, like Consciousness, and also Human Life, Culture, Sex, Time, etc. I tried to draw connections between the physical and spiritual, natural and artificial, known and unknown. I hope people are enjoying this artwork and thinking about the ideas and relationships it reveals.
It joins another of my artistic contributions at the Helen C. White building, a 3-D collage titled Spinoza and Philosophy Studies at The University of Wisconsin, Madison from 2013. It features the full text of Spinoza’s excommunication from the Jewish community in Amsterdam, as well as action pictures of Bucky Badger with a Spinoza sweatshirt, plastic flamingos, psychedelic paraphernalia, and other memorabilia relating to what Madison was like in the ’60s. It was inspired by Ray Lucas, another Honors professor who introduced me to the amazing philosophy of Baruch Spinoza. By the way, he also dropped out for a life in jazz (Ray, not Baruch).
H: What advice do you have for current Honors students or students that are soon to graduate? Do you remember any advice you received when you started college?
MN: What is my advice for current Honors students and graduates? Simple. You need a major, and hopefully you will select a good career that you can foresee in your future. But dabble in other stuff. You have amazing potential to do things you haven’t yet dreamed of. Definitely take a course in philosophy. Sit down and think. I mean really think. Put down the phone, be by yourself, take your time, and use your mind to reason out what genuinely works for you. I wrote a little poem to help you:
Listen, seek, and you will find
Hidden aspects of your mind.
Breathe, relax, and then break free.
Intuition holds the key!