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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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« 2009 in review - October: I don't have time to write a title | Main | 2009 in review - August: Kalib, Muzzy, Royce and a magical cloud; The Spirit of Wasilla rolls through Wasilla; horses; the mushroom cover up; the Mahoney's: Patti fights for her life. »
Thursday
Dec312009

2009 in review - September: The battle for Kalib's affections; goats, flag, Grand Opening of Metro Cafe; last berry; dogs: Patti gains against her cancer 

DateThursday, December 31, 2009 at 11:08PM

One-hour and five minutes left in the year. I'm not even going to worry the slightest bit about typos, dropped words, extra words and such. Hell. As anyone who reads this blog regularly knows, even when I look for typas, they disappar right in front of my eys, so it hardy matters.

In September, we took Kalib to the State Fair. The sisters, Sandy and Steffers, battled each other for his affections. Here is Steffers, planting a big one on him.

Goats, at the same place where the chicken crossed the road, the rooster got shot and the pet dog mauled the pet rabbit.

They claim the rabbit survived, but I had been seeing it everyday before it got mauled and I never saw it again after that.

I saw an American flag flying.

Wasilla Mayor Verne Rupright cut the ribbon with Scott and Carmen at the Grand Opening of the Metro Cafe, Wasilla's finest and most fun coffee house.

Kalib picked the last blueberry of summer.

I found this old dog in the marsh, looking like it was about to die. With a little from Mrs. Shay, the dog was reunited with her owner. I tried twice to find that owner and get a picture of her reunited with the dog, but failed.

Given how old and frail the dog was, I am almost afraid to try again.

Girls running in the open category at the Palmer invitational cross country meet.

Two dogs, reflected in my mirror.

Lisa had been to the house. Kalib watches as she leaves.

Patti had found a new doctor, who would give her chemo. She also took on some naturopathic therapy. She focused her mind upon survival, upon beating her cancer - and she had made good progress. Her cancer had diminished.

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

Ooh.. Kalib looks soo.. cute in the first picture.. No wonder all the women around him are falling over themselves to vie for his attention ;)

January 1, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterAsh

Ahhh, the excellent flag photo!

(you were busy last night! I'm catching up!)

January 1, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterMichelle

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