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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
Dec312009

2009 in review - December: Carmen closes down for the rest of the year

DateThursday, December 31, 2009 at 11:52PM

What's the point of doing a review of December when it is still December. And yes, even though it is already 2010 for just about everybody else in the world, it is still December, 2009, here in Wasilla, Alaska - for eleven more minutes.

Here is Carmen, yesterday, handing me back one of my Funny Face gift cards after I used it for both Margie and me. Carmen was planning to close down right after that and to remain closed all the way through the New Year's weekend.

"Now Bill," she said, "Don't you go switching coffee houses on me, now!"

It is now nine minutes until 2010. I hear fireworks going off all over the place.

I will end this review and go bring in the New Year with Margie.

AuthorWasilla, Alaska, by 300 | Comment10 Comments |
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Reader Comments (10)

A very happy New Year to you and your loved ones Mr. Hess.. I began reading your blog in November.. Thank you so much for letting me catch up on the rest of the year (in super fast forward mode ;))

January 1, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterAsh

Hi Ash - I am way behind on responding to comment and I should start farther back, I suppose, but it has been fun to watch your comments follow me as I jumped from month to month so hurriedly, so that I could finish this 2009 review in 2009.

Happy New Year to you, too!

Where in India are you right now?

January 1, 2010 | Registered CommenterWasilla, Alaska, by 300

Thank you Mr. Hess :) I stay in the temple town of Udupi in Karnataka :)

January 1, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterAsh

Happy New Year...i love your Blog

January 1, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterTwain12

The New Year in Iowa begins with a sunny day (so far) and snow attempting to flutter from the sky in spite of the sun. Time to have the first oatmeal of the year.

January 1, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterWhiteStone

Happy New Year, Bill & Margy & Family, from Mae & Sylvia in Cordova. Twas a beautiful Moon filled night last night and we had a bon fire and stars and hot cocoa, and family out on the Copper River Delta to ring in the new year. Onward!

January 1, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterSylvia

Enjoyed the years review ... some laughter, some sadness, some questions ... always interesting ... and I don't even know any of you!

January 1, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterSusan

Ash - Next time I get to India (I hope there will be a next time) it would be fun if I could stop in Udupi.

Twain - Thanks

Whitestone - I just couldn't eat oatmeal today, so I went to Family and had an omelette.

Sylvia, sounds wonderful. Truly wonderful. Wish we could have stopped by.

Susan - I'm glad you enjoyed it. I hope you keep coming by.

January 2, 2010 | Registered CommenterWasilla, Alaska, by 300

I hope so too Mr. Hess.. You are welcome.. Please do so.. I'm sure there is plenty here that I'll be seeing differently- through your eyes- even though I've grown up in this town :)

January 2, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterAsh

According to my own analysis, millions of people on our planet receive the home loans from different banks. Hence, there's a good possibility to get a short term loan in all countries.

March 17, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterElizaSpence27

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