FEBRUARY 9 • 2023 | 51

time trying to find balance.
”

LIFE IN LOCKDOWN
Until the pandemic lockdown lifted, Wineman struggled 
with anxiety, ADHD, depression and increased alcohol and 
drug use.
“I was out of control. Every day seemed like Groundhog 
Day. I’m a social person. I crave interaction with others. 
I was stuck in a vicious cycle of substances. I was taking 
everything to excess. Life became monotonous and I 
realized that, at some point, I couldn’t stop without some 
guidance. Everything was stagnant and there was nothing 
creatively to do. The world to me became a dark place, and 
I became jaded and took a nihilist approach to the world. 
Simply put, I was burned out,
” he said.

THE ROAD TO SOBRIETY
Two days after that fateful drug-and-alcohol bender, 
Wineman started his online group therapy, three times a 
week, for three-hour sessions coupled with homework and 
coping exercises.
“I dove right in and hyper-concentrated on my sobriety. 
Since music wasn’t doing much for me anymore — besides 
memories of blackouts and former successes — I wasn’t 
going to risk my sobriety by trying to repeat the same old 
stuff,
” says Wineman, who switched from cocaine to two or 
three cold brew coffees a day.
Three days after starting rehab, Wineman walked into 
a Michaels craft store in Glenview, Illinois, on a whim, 
looking for a new hobby. He walked out with hundreds 
of dollars of new oil and acrylic paints, brushes and large 
canvases.
“I immediately got to work. Perhaps my all-or-nothing 
attitude finally worked for me,
” said Wineman, who painted 
at least two large-scale, neon abstracts a day.
Having always idolized the musician Prince, it was natural 
for Wineman’s first painting to be an oil-based rendition of 

FINDING HIS JEWISH ROOTS
In 2018, after a trip to Germany with his wife, Gillian, and 
his father-in-law, Michael Wiescher, Wineman began to 
understand and embrace his Jewish heritage and ances-
try.
“I felt like that was a piece miss-
ing from my life,” says Wineman, 
whose great-grandfather Henry 
Wineman, Sr. was the Jewish 
Welfare Federation’s first president 
in 1926. Henry’s father, Leopold, 
was one of Temple Beth El’s 12 
original congregation members. 
“It’s important to me to have 
something greater than myself, 
and the acceptance and love I’ve 
felt from my Jewish community 
has been incredible. I am rec-
ognizing that I am constantly 
trying to be a better man and 
live up to their values and 
achievements as a way to 
work, love and be kinder to 
everyone.”
Wiescher, the Frank M. 
Freimann Professor of Physics 
at the University of Notre 
Dame and a published histori-
an, will release his latest book
Immigrant Connections – The 
History of the Wineman-Flynn 
Families in mid-February on 
Amazon. The book explores more than seven gener-
ations of Jamie’s parents — John Wineman and Duffy 
(Jennifer) Flynn — dating back to the 16th century during 
the Jewish Pogroms in Dresden, Germany.
“My Jewish faith has started to take on larger part of 
my identity. Now the real work begins to find out what 
it means to be Jewish in America. I am working every 
day to figure that out rather than just paying lip service 
to those who will listen. It’s not necessarily for religious 
purposes, but more as a general roadmap to do better. It 
goes deeper than an identity for me. I need to know the 
why and how of everything. That’s a journey I’m proud to 
go on,” Wineman says.
Featured on the back cover of the book is their 
Charlevoix home that is now co-owned by Wineman and 
his two older brothers, Ben and Andy, who all attend-
ed Cranbrook, along with their aunt Connie Jacob of 
Franklin.
“It’s probably the most special place in the world to me 
and my family. It was my dad’s haven and, in turn, has 
become mine. My dad was my superhero, and this was 
his fortress of solitude,” said Wineman, whose father-
in-law has visited there many times. “My father-in-law 
knows how special it is to us and that’s why he included 
it in the book. He truly is a renaissance man and the 
most interesting man in the world.” 

felt from my Jewish community 

Welfare Federation’s first president 

At his first solo exhibition Oct. 29 in Highland Park, 
Illinois, with his wife, Gillian, and 1.5-year-old (at the time) 
son Wolfgang.

continued on page 52

