{"id":1300,"date":"2023-08-24T01:11:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-24T01:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/?p=1300"},"modified":"2023-08-07T22:55:12","modified_gmt":"2023-08-07T22:55:12","slug":"mike-whelan-the-bluebird-nation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/?p=1300","title":{"rendered":"Tribute # 14: Mike Whelan & the Bluebird Nation"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0Mike Whelan and the Bluebird Nation<\/strong>\"IMG_2903\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00a02000<\/strong> Team Photo.\u00a0 \u00a0Kneeling left to right:\u00a0 Steve Tibbetts (holding daughter Alice who died talented and young in a teen-age car accident), Hunter Olsen, Spencer Blaw (holding another of the Tibbetts triplets, Joel), Chris Baird, third Tibbetts triplet Miriam with mom Joanie.\u00a0 Second row:\u00a0 Ellen Anderson (holding son Nick), Jan Reimer, Kieran Hughes, Julian Loscalzo, Johnny Hughes, unknown two-some.\u00a0 Third row:\u00a0 Rick Eblen (died young – his mom though still a Bluebird fan), Dave Murphy, Kenny Erickson, Andy Dawkins (with son Jack on shoulders), Steve Cochrane and Karen Plante (holding their daughter Mira), Greg’s Ex and Greg Vanderhei.\u00a0 Far back:\u00a0 Sam Murphy, Paul Wilson, and Maxine Hughes.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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I knew Jane Prince (previous Tribute) even before she married into the Bluebird<\/b> Nation<\/b>. \u00a0The Bluebird Nation is a group of softball players and their fans who have been together since 1981 with some passing and some joining over time.\u00a0 Dave Murphy is an original Bluebird, the owner of Bluebird Landscaping, once our pitcher, now our catcher.\u00a0 Kieran Hughes has been the team manager for most these 42 years, playing shortstop but now our pitcher.\u00a0 After every game Kieran sends out a re-cap.\u00a0 The mailing list includes forty-one players and fans \u2013 this is the current<\/em> Bluebird Nation.<\/p>\n

I consider each and every one on the current list and on previous lists a good friend from having done so much together \u2013 politics, weddings, raising kids, divorces, memorial services, trips to the Winnipeg Folk Festival, and so much more.\u00a0 Some have died; some have moved-on.\u00a0 I could write a paragraph about each of you; suffice to know you\u2019re in my heart and I count Bluebird Nation as a number one reason for finding life enjoyable.<\/p>\n

Before Jane met catcher Dave Murphy (at an Irish Ceili dance in 1983) I was Jane\u2019s lawyer in a sex discrimination case.\u00a0 At the time, Dave was living at Mike Whelan\u2019s house, knowing Mike from Irish politics.\u00a0 Remember, Mike Whelan is the guy I first learned about back in Philadelphia in 1974 but didn’t meet until moving back to Minnesota in 1979 (see Spencer Blaw Tribute).\u00a0 And remember, entirely coincidently, Spencer was<\/em> living<\/em> at<\/em> Mike’s<\/em> when I first met Spencer at the Tenants Union.<\/p>\n

Lots of my life connects back to Mike<\/strong> Whalen<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \"maybe<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0caption:\u00a0 a Ceili\u00a0dance<\/em><\/p>\n

Pretty soon after that Ceili, where Mike happened to be the Ceili caller, Jane moves in with Dave, staying a couple years until she and Dave marry.\u00a0 At that time two friends of Dave’s from college days in Marshall, MN were also living at Mike’s – Jane Minton and Maxine Weinandt.\u00a0 Maxine is seeing this guy Kieran and that’s how Kieran got to be the Bluebird’s shortstop.\u00a0 When he proposed to Maxine, we had quite the stag\/stagette party at Mike’s.\u00a0 For that story, click <Here<\/a>> or find “Kieran and Maxine’s Stag\/Stagette Party” in the Archives.\u00a0 Lots of Bluebirds have lived at Mike’s and there’ve been lots of great parties at Mike’s.\u00a0 Jane Minton knew everybody who was somebody in the Twin Cities music and film scenes.<\/p>\n

\"thumbnail_NeilMikeWhalenPolara\"<\/a>
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

caption:\u00a0 Mike Whalen in the 70s<\/strong> <\/em>with Neil Seiling – Neil was Bluebird Rookie of the Year in 2022\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Mike<\/strong>\u00a0Whalen <\/strong>grew-up Catholic in St. Paul’s strong Irish-American community.\u00a0 After attending Cretin High School, he enlisted in the Army as a Gay man.\u00a0 Upon returning he became active in the Civil Rights and Anti-War movements, very pro-IRA, and a socialist.\u00a0 \u00a0He and others started May Day Bookstore in 1975, for years the go-to place for left wing political literature.\u00a0 For 40 years he made his living as a waiter at the best restaurants in town, and active in the Hotel & Restaurant Workers Union.<\/p>\n

Mike has owned a duplex on Iglehart Avenue in Saint Paul since the early 1970s.\u00a0 Each side has six bedrooms as well as a common attic and basement.\u00a0 Over the years, Mike’s guess is that more than three score people have called that address on Iglehart their home, some only transitory, some just for events.\u00a0 In Northern Ireland, it’s got a reputation as a Youth Hostel.\u00a0 When visiting the United States, Bernadette Devlin stayed at Mike’s, ditto for famous Irish-American dancer, Michael Flatley.\u00a0 Jose Lopez – the brother of imprisoned Puerto Rican Nationalist Oscar Lopez Rivera – stayed at Mike’s.\u00a0 When Charlie Durenberger (the Senator’s son) lived there, Senator Ted Kennedy asked Sen. Durenberger, “Did you know your son is living in an IRA safe house?”\u00a0 When in town reporting on the 2008 Republican National Convention, Amy Goodman’s producer (of Democracy Now!) stayed at Mike’s.<\/p>\n

After Jane Prince got elected to the Saint Paul City Council, she joked she would introduce a resolution to rename Iglehart Avenue as “Whalen Way.”<\/p>\n

\"IMG-3399\"<\/a><\/p>\n

caption:\u00a0 The house on Whalen Way\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

And believe it or not, right now I\u2019m<\/span> living at<\/span> Mike<\/em> Whelan\u2019s<\/em>!\u00a0 Mike is my favorite astute political analyst.\u00a0 At the time I ran for Minnesota Attorney General as the Green Party candidate, he was the Treasurer.\u00a0 All the wonderful things he\u2019s done with me, or for me, and for others, are too numerous to mention.\u00a0 Suffice to say:<\/p>\n

\u201cThanks, Mike, for knowing so many people whom I also got to know, thanks for the place to stay – I enjoy living with you – all our political talk and gossip about friends.\u201d\"IMG_2905\"<\/a><\/p>\n

2021<\/strong> Bluebirds.\u00a0 Front left kneeling:\u00a0 Dave Murphy, Steve Tibbetts, Spencer Blaw, Andy Dawkins.\u00a0 In back:\u00a0 Al Sickbert, Rob Wilson, Tom Goldstein, Sam Murphy, Julian Loscalzo, Hunter Olsen, Kieran Hughes, Maddy Fors, Katie Lowery, Maxine Hughes, Miriam Tibbetts, Susan Johnson, Bill Olsen, Jan Reimer, Steve Cochrane.<\/p>\n

And below – more of us at the team party<\/p>\n

\"IMG_2904\"<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0Mike Whelan and the Bluebird Nation \u00a02000 Team Photo.\u00a0 \u00a0Kneeling left to right:\u00a0 Steve Tibbetts (holding daughter Alice who died talented and young in a teen-age car accident), Hunter Olsen, Spencer Blaw (holding another of the Tibbetts triplets, Joel), Chris … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[23],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1300"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1300"}],"version-history":[{"count":52,"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1300\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3081,"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1300\/revisions\/3081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}