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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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Thursday
Nov262009

"Cheese!" Kalib shouts! Orange cat, orange buses, orange dog, orange day

DateThursday, November 26, 2009 at 4:02AM

Kalib grows ever more articulate. In the evening, I point my camera towards him and he suddenly shouts, "Cheese!" Another new word in his limited but growing vocabulary! But where did he pick it up from? I never tell anyone to say "cheese." To do so would be to violate my photographic technique.

It must have happened at day care. At day care, he gets his picture taken every day for the class e-newsletter. The picture taker must have told him to say, "cheese!"

Kalib and Royce.

Kalib agains becomes aware that I am taking his picture. "Cheese!" he shouts.

The love between these two is something to behold.

"Cheese!" 

I should note that Grahamn Kracker, the blogger who lives in a parallel universe to mine, got quite upset with me when he learned that I was going to post this series of photos. To somewhat placate him, I agreed not to run the entire series, but would let him do so.

If you like cats, you might as well hop on over and take a look. If you don't like cats, then this is probably enough for you - perhaps too much.

Around here, we like cats.

As I ate a hot dog in the parking lot near KFC, I saw a trio of school buses - all orange, just like Royce - coming down the road. I was pretty certain that nobody would believe that I had witnessed such an amazing event, so I took pictures of each as they passed by.

This is the first one - School Bus # 241212.

If you could see the picture full size, the number is clearly visible, a short distance above the left headlight.

School bus #246512.

School bus # 230456. A tiny one! Just cute!

As I near home, I spot another school bus. I cannot see it's number. Still, I would say it was a pretty amazing coincidence.

Or... perhaps... just perhaps... it was not coincidence at all?

An orange dog. This is just altogether too much orange for one day! 

I can't deal with it. I guess I had better eat some yams, and pumpkin pie.

Happy Thanksgiving, thankful people.

AuthorWasilla, Alaska, by 300 | Comment6 Comments |
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Reader Comments (6)

Extra turkey for Royce today--what a good cat! Happy Thanksgiving to all!

November 26, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterLinda in Virginia

Happy Thanksgiving! CHEESE!!!

November 26, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterMikey

Bill,

Happy Thanksgiving to you and all you love and hold dear. And thank you for all the work you do.

Michael

November 26, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterDr. Mickey

Happy Thanksgiving to your family. That is one good cat by the way.

November 26, 2009 | Unregistered Commenterdebby

Bill,

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family. And Thank you for including me as your e-friend.

November 27, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterKavitha

Linda - He is a good cat. Thank you.

Mikey - Thanks.

Dr. Mickey - I will try to do better.

Debby - yes, a great cat.

Kavitha - Believe me - you are even more than an e-friend.

November 28, 2009 | Registered CommenterWasilla, Alaska, by 300

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