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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
Dec032009

Kalib turns away from his oatmeal; a snowplow roars down Seldon; I exceed my limits

DateThursday, December 3, 2009 at 11:06AM

Margie tries to feed Kalib some oatmeal, but he does not seem to be very hungry.

On my walk, a snowplow came grinding and banging past. We got two or three inches of new snow overnight. Further up the Susitna Valley, 30 inches fell. It's still pretty warm, but not as bad as yesterday.

As I walked on, this man zipped past me on a snowmachine. He was going a little faster than me, but I'm pretty sure that if I had put my mind, lungs and legs into it, I could have sprinted right past him.

I just didn't want to, so, as he sped by, I walked casually and nonchalantly on.

I did wave, though.

It's good to wave at strangers driving snowmachines.

You might need their help one day.

As I neared home, this dog charged me, growling and barking under its muzzle. It hit my wrist with its muzzled snout and then charged past, still growling, still barking. I wasn't worried, though. I have known this dog since it was a cute and friendly pup and it has charged me many, many, times - even without a muzzle.

It's just a show he's got to put on.

This is what Pioneer Peak looked like at 9:00 AM.

This is what Pioneer Peak looked like at 2:30 PM.

This is what the Talkeetna Mountains looked like at 10:00 AM.

Kalib drinks his juice.

Well, I see that I have exceeded my self-imposed limit of one picture each of Kalib and the outside world.

Oh well.

I got a significant amount of work done today, anyway.

AuthorWasilla, Alaska, by 300 | Comment5 Comments |
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Reader Comments (5)

I've read your postings from time to time and enjoy them. Thanks. what makes me tap the keys today is that your orange cat is a spitting image, and I mean exactly the same, as our cat. Since I live here in Wasilla ( Bogard and Seward Meridian) I wonder if we don't have cat relations. We call our's Daisy. They look about the same age.
Snow and warm again, right around 29ish this am.

December 3, 2009 | Unregistered Commenterknainak

Yeah. I didn't get squat done today. Just saying.

December 3, 2009 | Unregistered Commenterdebby

i ADORE Kalib and Royce's relationship. gives a person hope dontchyaknow.

December 3, 2009 | Unregistered Commenterkalaluka

The Talkeetna mountains look stunning in every picture you've taken of them Mr.Hess.. I'm in love with those mountains.. even though I've never been there..

December 4, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterAsh

knainak - I would like to meet Daisy sometime and photograph her.

Debby - If you squat at least once a day, then everyday you will get squat done. Try it. It works.

kalaluka - ah yes - and now, except for visits, they must part.

Ash - you must come and wander about the Talkeetnas. Just in case there is any confusion, Pioneer Peak is in the Chugach, on the oppposite side of the valley from the Talkeetna's. The Chugach is the higher range, but, just beyond the Talkeetnas is the Alaska Range and Denali (which I refuse to call McKinley). If the Talkeetnas did not block the view, you could see Denali from here.

That's what I used to love on a clear day - I could climb into my airplane, take off and pretty soon, there was Denali, rising over everything.

December 6, 2009 | Registered CommenterWasilla, Alaska, by 300

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