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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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Wednesday
Apr292009

Cara is learning new words every day, both English and Iñupiaq

DateWednesday, April 29, 2009 at 11:59PM

Remember Taktuk and Cara? The mother and daughter who I first introduced in images of them dancing at Kivgiq? This evening, I stopped in for a visit at the Wainwright home where they live with Taktuk's parents, Ben Ahmaogak, Jr, and Massak. I had not been there long before little Cara called me, "Behh" - pretty darn close to Bill. 

Cara is learning to speak - and she is picking up both English and Iñupiaq words.

Whenever Taktuk hears her daughter speak a new word, she enters the word into her computer. The column at left is for English words, like, "nose, arm, ski-doo" and such and the right for Iñupiaq words.

After I left, Taktuk sent me an email describing her daughter's use of Iñupiaq, so far:

"Cara uses these inupiaq words:

"Qain for come. "MOM! Qain!"

"Uva for here you go, or if she wants something from me.

"Naun for where is it? (the last "n" has a tail)

"Atchu for I don't know

"Nanuq.. polar bear, but she actually says NANOO

"Tuttu.. Caribou - We also call her CARABOO, her auntie Tommilyn gave her that nickname because one day Cara wasn't paying any attention to any of us, so Tom shouted, "Caribou!", and Cara instantly looked!

"Quaq, caribou frozen meat

"Aattai for PRETTY!!!

"And, instead of calling her great grandparents AMAU, she calls her great grandmother, Aaka-aaka and her great grandfather,Aapa-aapa. This started off when I was first born and the first born to my great-grandfather & great-grandmother, Nellie & David Alak Panik (our school was dedicated in his name years back), my great-grandfather said he felt too young to be called AMAU, so he said for me to call them Aapa-aapa and Aaka-aaka, which sounds simple. So, my Aapa Leo kept it that way with his great-grandchildren: Anton, Rodney & Cara.
Tinnun which is an airplane (the middle two "N"s have tails).

"KUNNAAN, her great-grandfather Benny's eskimo name. Mine also, and her Aapa Ben Jr's, and her cousin Kunnaan's (Krystle's boy)."

She seen a picture on a poster at the Clinic and it was of little Kunnaan of Pt. Hope.. Krystle & I and the others think that both Kunnaan and Cara looks so much alike, Ahmaogak babies!


 

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

I didn't get to add, that she understands a lot of directions spoken in Inupiaq.
Iqittaanna - I want a hug. (N's w/ tails)
Kunnina - I want a kiss. (N's w/ tails)
Igirrun - Throw it in trash. (N's w/ tails)
Aquvittin - Sit down.
Makittin - Stand up.
Isagun - Go and get it. (N w/ tail)

We practice our language daily in our home. My son can count to ten in inupiat, he'll probably teach Cara!

Well, welcome to Wainwright, again. See you next time, Behh! :D

April 30, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterBill Hess

Author:
you, of course.
didn't know I was suppose to put my name there- Sorry. ha ha.
Roberta Ahmaogak, Cara's mama & 1st time commenting.

April 30, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterRoberta Ahmaogak

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