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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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« The eight babies who won but who did not take first | Main | My connection is terribly slow tonight »
Wednesday
Jul082009

I am way behind and falling farther, but here, standing in the wind, is Miss Teen Top of The World and the two talented beauties who competed with her

DateWednesday, July 8, 2009 at 12:38AM

These are the three who competed for this year's Miss Teen Top OF The World title: Rochelle Oyagak, Selma Khan and Freida Nageak. As you can see, they had to stand against a strong wind.

Selma Kahn was the winner and is the new Miss Teen Top of the World. I did not get a chance to interview her, but I can tell you that she did sew her own parka. And she did an excellent job. This is not my judgement alone, but that of the Elder women judges who have been skin-sewing all their lives and know quality when they see it.

Congratulations, Selma.

Me, I would not ever want to be a judge. No, I just couldn't do it. I thought all three were wonderful and that includes you, Frieda Nageak.

And you too, Rochelle Oyagak.

The three do a pageant walk.

And don't worry, mothers of the babies. I will still put all the little darlings in this blog. All nine of them, not a single one of whom I could have awarded anything less than first prize to.

That is why people who organize such events would always judge me incompetent to be a judge.

I must note that I am doing a very poor job of keeping up with myself on this blog. I have so much that I have so far photographed on this trip from a successful ugruk (bearded seal) hunt to flying around in airplanes to Eskimo dancing to local basketball players preparing to go to a tournament in Hawaii - and other things, too.

Maybe I will yet post some of this material. Maybe not.

I am pretty busy and the project that I am working on is time consuming and does not leave much time for me to fool around with this blog.

 

AuthorWasilla, Alaska, by 300 | Comment4 Comments |
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Reader Comments (4)

Hi Dad~
We miss you & your grandson will be so happy to see you. He is riot now. All is well at home. See you soon. Love

July 8, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterLavina

Athough the wind played a major factor (as any other day in Barrow) with 4th of July, you pictures turned out awesome! Thanks again for sharing them via Website.


-2009 Miss Teen Top of the World,

Sirraq

July 10, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterSelma Khan

I can see how busy you have being. Giving us powrful details of events all over the world!

July 20, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterStandtall-The Activist

Thank you Bill for everything you have done for my family, including doing our wedding photos. I hope you are enjoying your warm parka that Charlotte made. It was very worth every penny for you to do all of our photos for our wedding and the photos of Christeta during the Fourth of July Baby Contest. I wish you would have made it to WEIO since Christeta tied for 1st place at that event. Thank you again!

August 13, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterDora Faye Brower

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