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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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Friday
Dec252009

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, from Wasilla, Alaska

DateFriday, December 25, 2009 at 4:01AM

The day of Christmas Eve has been a mighty busy one and I took several pictures that I thought I would share, but I have been going non-stop, day and night and then the next day and night and the day and night after that. I am exhausted and if I don't get to bed right away I will die and then Santa Claus will not bother to visit me.

"What's the use?" he will say.

So, I am just going to post this picture of a Nativity scene that goes up on the shore of Wasilla Lake, every Christmas season. It's not a great picture. It's not even a good picture, it's a crummy picture, but it is what you see as drive by and it was put there by someone who wants to share the spirit of Christmas. I took it as I passed by so that you can see it just as you would have if it had been you passing by instead of me.

Have a Merry Christmas or a happy whatever kind of holiday it is that you celebrate this time of year.

I will be back before Christmas Day is over, with Kalib, and all of us up here, in the hope that we might bring you a little cheer.

AuthorWasilla, Alaska, by 300 | Comment11 Comments |
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Reader Comments (11)

Merry Xmas, Bill, to you and your wonderful family! Great blogpost about Sarah Palin. You got 27 comments, wow! I noticed the moon in your photo yesterday was different than our moon here in Philly. Ours is a half-smile. Yours was shaped like a D.

December 25, 2009 | Unregistered Commenterruth z deming

Merry Christmas to you Bill & your family. Thank you for this blog, it is a wonderful place to visit.

December 25, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterMichelle

Merry Christmas from Haines to Wasilla! Thank you for the continuing adventures of super Kalib and his wonderful family!

December 25, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterKelly

Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year to all of the Hess Family. Thank you so much for sharing them with all of us out here -- unknown friends from far and wide! Give Kalib a BIG hug for all of us.

December 25, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterGrandma Nancy

Merry Christmas! You certainly deserve a little R & R today, and time to enjoy your wonderful family, especially that cute little guy, Kalib. I enjoy my daily side trip to Wasilla...thanks for a peek into small town Alaskan life.

December 25, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterMartha

Merry Christmas from western Iowa where we worked very hard this morning with two snow blowers, an end-loader (which got stuck) two shovels. And where it is still snowing and will blizzard again tonight.

We're hunkered down with chicken-noodle soup.

December 25, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterWhiteStone

Merry Christmas Bill, Marjorie, Lisa, Ryan, Melanie, Charlie, Jacob, Caleb, Lavinia, Kalib, and Rex. Oh. And the cats too. And Muzzy. God bless you all, each and every one.

December 25, 2009 | Unregistered Commenterdebby

thanks for the peek inside your life and for sharing your fabulous family with us. this blog is a bright spot in my day....and the only one of its kind that i've found. Merry Christmas Bill!

December 25, 2009 | Unregistered Commenterdahli22

Blizzarding in northern Minnesota ... enjoy your photos and words.

December 25, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterSusan

Merry Christmas Bill from our house to yours. Mom sends her best as well, to you and yours.

December 25, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterSylvia

Merry Christmas to the Hess family :)

December 26, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterAsh

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