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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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« Meanwhile, back on Sarah's Way in Wasilla... (I will return to the wedding and India, shortly, after one more Wasilla-Palmer post) | Main | Groom gets cold feet, chickens out, decides he does not want to marry, flees the scene »
Thursday
Jun042009

Anil returns from the temple - the wedding will continue

DateThursday, June 4, 2009 at 9:08PM

Protected from the hot sun under the umbrella held by Ganesh, the man who would be his brother-in-law, Anil walks down the stairs toward the temple.

In the temple, he performs rituals, including the drinking of holy water. He prays.

Afterward, Ganesh again gives him shade as he climbs back up the stairs.

The musicians herald his return.

Anil will wed Soundarya. Everyone is happy.

Vasanthi marks a blessing upon his forehead.

All are joyous as they move back towards the door to the hall.

With his mother-in-law about to be at his side and his mother at her side, Anil leads the group from outside back into the hall. The wedding ceremony is about to continue.

Of course, it was never really interrupted at all, and Anil did not have any doubts about going through with it, as the whole cold feet and persuasion episode was just a part of the ceremony, as it has been among his people for a long, long, time.

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

Seriously, this is a lot of ceremony. Is this the wedding you went for? I thought the guy was from your side. This groom looks all Indian.

June 5, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterStandtall-The Activist

Hi Standtall - and I have only got to the beginning of the ceremony.

Yes, this is the wedding that I went for. Although Soundarya had spent nearly two years telling me about the groom via email and chat, I did not meet Anil until his wedding day.

Sandy is my niece-in-law, but even more than that, my special friend.

You can find a better explanation in the first post that I made after reaching India:

http://wasillaalaskaby300.squarespace.com/journal/2009/5/8/one-year-to-the-day-after-i-drove-murthy-and-vasanthi-to-the.html

June 5, 2009 | Registered CommenterWasilla, Alaska, by 300

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