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A blog by Bill Hess

Running Dog Publications

P.O. Box 872383 Wasilla, Alaska 99687

 

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Wasilla

Wasilla is the place where I have lived for the past 29 years - sort of. The house in which my wife and I raised our family sits here, but I have made my rather odd career as a different sort of photojournalist by continually wandering off to other places to photograph people and gather information, which I have then put together in various publications that have served the Alaska Native Eskimo, Indian and Aleut communities.

Although I did not have a great of free time to devote to this rather strange community, named after a Tanaina Athabascan Indian chief who knew Wasilla in the way that I so impossibly long to, I have still documented it regularly over the past quarter-century plus. In the early days, my Wasilla photographs focused mostly upon my children and the events they participated in - baseball, football, figure skating, hockey, frog catching, fire cracker detonation, Fourth of July parade - that sort of thing. 

In 2002, I purchased my first digital camera and then, whenever I was home, I began to photograph Wasilla upon a daily basis, but not in a conventional way. These were grab shots - whatever caught my eye as I took my many long walks or drove through the town, shooting through the car window at people and scenes that appeared and disappeared before I could even focus and compose in the traditional photographic way.

Thus, the Wasilla portion of this blog will be devoted both to the images that I take as I wander about and those that I have taken in the past. Despite the odd, random, nature of the images, I believe they communicate something powerful about this town that I have never seen expressed anywhere else. 

Wasilla is a sprawling community that has been slapped down hodge-podge upon what was so recently wilderness of the most exquisite beauty. In its design, it is deliberately anti-zoned, anti-planned. In the building of Wasilla, the desire to make a buck has trumped aesthetics and all other considerations. This town, built in the midst of exquisite beauty, has largely become an unsightly, unattractive, mess of urban sprawl. Largely because of this, it often seems to me that Wasilla is a community with no sense of community, a town devoid of town soul.

Yet - Wasilla is my home and if I am lucky it will be until I grow old and die. Despite its horrific failings, it is still made of the stuff of any small city: people; moms and dads, grammas and grampas, teens, children, churches, bars, professionals, laborers, soldiers, missionaries, artists, athletes, geniuses, do-gooders, hoodlums, the wealthy, the homeless, the rational and logical, the slightly insane and the wholly insane - and, yes, as is now obvious to the whole world, politicians, too.

So perhaps, if one were to search hard enough, it might just be possible to find a sense of community here, and a town soul. So, using my skills as a photojournalist and a writer, I hope to do just that. If this place has a sense of community, I will find it. If there is a town soul to Wasilla, I will document it. I won't compete with the newspapers. Hell no! But as time and income allow, it will be fun to wander into the places where the folks described above gather, and then put what I find on this blog.

 

by 300...

Anywhere within a 300 mile radius of Wasilla. This encompasses perhaps the most wild, dramatic, gorgeous, beautiful section of land and sea to be found in any comparable space anywhere on Earth. I can never explore it all, but I will do the best that I can, and will here share what I find and experience with you.  

and then some...

Anywhere else in the world that I happen to get to, such as Point Lay, Alaska; Missoula, Montana; Serenki, Chukotka, Russia; or Bangalore, India. Perhaps even Lagos, Nigeria. I have both a desire and scheme to get me there. It is a long shot. We shall see if I succeed.

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« DC dining with Lisa - Inauguration Day post remains on hold | Main | Inaugural post delayed by wife's injury - will try to post Thursday »
Thursday
Jan222009

Outgoing President says Goodbye; Chris Matthews through the window - Inauguration post must wait one more day

DateThursday, January 22, 2009 at 8:49PM

President Bush says goodbye. As he does, a low, murmuring "boo" rises from many spread throughout the crowd. Then voices, scattered throughout, begin to sing, "sha-na-na-naah, sha-na-na-naah, hey-heyeeh, good-bye."

As for me and my inaugural post, I was unable to complete it today. When one's wife gets hurt far from home and enters a temporary state of helplessness, her care takes precedence over the blog.

I did get the pictures edited down to a reasonable number, however, and I do expect to post it tomorrow.

Still, I felt that I needed to post something today, so I thought I would throw in the outgoing President and then deal with the new one tomorrow.

I know - the nomination of President Barack Obama will be ancient history by then, but sometimes things go that way.

After the inauguration concluded, the three of us (Margie, Lisa and I) happened to walk by the portable studio MSNBC had set up on the National Mall as Chris Matthews and guest Norah O‘Donnell told viewers what they had actually saw this day. Matthews said the "booing" of President Bush had been in poor form, but was an accurate reflection of how the nation as a whole felt about the man.

 I shot a few pictures through the huge studio windows.

Lisa wanted to get on TV, so she took a seat on the MSNBC bleachers, which are frequently panned by the cameras. She was enthralled, and stayed there for hours and hours and hours, not giving one damn about the cold that had all of DC talking.

I would have been happy to stay, too, but cold and exhaustion had overwhelmed my Margie, so we walked to the Metro, rode the underground train to Friendship Heights, where she fell and broke herself.

I did not tell Lisa until I picked her up at the  Friendship Heights Metro station and then drove her back to the home where we were staying. She was having a great time, and I could see no point in putting a damper on it prematurely.

Besides, she had never before navigated the Washington, DC Metro system on her own and I did not want her to be distracted with worry and then maybe wind up on the wrong train.

AuthorWasilla, Alaska, by 300 | Comment2 Comments |
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Reader Comments (2)

Bill-Midnight and our skookum prez. just gave a speech on his plans to reform the educational system....raise the bar lofty sounds, lights at the end of a 8 year tunnel, no drama-all action-fired up on all pistons. thanks for this blog, Auntie rose just sent us the link. will show the kids the Inauguration blog tomorrow. so great to see your strong voice from Wasilla and thank you to Lisa for her backbone and vision in backing Barack. we did too on the middle Yukon River. Alaskans do have vision despite the ice fog at times.
Most of all Thank You for our Albert Family portraits you shot during AFN 2007. It means so very much to me and all of our clan. They will be cherished for generations. I still am waiting for an opportunity to send you a small beaded moosehide frame. You wouldn't believe the many Ruby residents who have had to move to town over past two years-my beader choice included. All blessings to you, Eileen

March 11, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterEileen

Thanks for coming by, Eileen. Always good to see any member of the Albert family.

March 18, 2009 | Registered CommenterWasilla, Alaska, by 300

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