Top
A blog by Bill Hess

Running Dog Publications

P.O. Box 872383 Wasilla, Alaska 99687

 

All photos and text © Bill Hess, unless otherwise noted 
All support is appreciated
Bill Hess's other sites
Search
Navigation
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.

Blog archive
Blog arhive - page view
« Cocoon mode* - day 4: The firewood twins, bike at the Little Su, an old van at Metro Cafe | Main | Cocoon mode* - day 2: From Monument Valley to Wasilla, with love and longing; Margie hobbles into the grocery store; Obama stands as my warrior »
Friday
Sep112009

Cocoon mode* - day 3: The American Flag unfurls above me; Margie must bear her crutches for two more months

DateFriday, September 11, 2009 at 8:38AM

As much as I just wanted to stay home and work, Margie had two doctor appointments in Anchorage and she needed someone to drive her and that someone was me. I figured if we could get back between 2:00 and 4:00 PM, I could still get in a full day's work, but a full day's work is not enough.

I had NPR on the radio and the discussion was all about 9/11. At first, there was talk about all the things that had been taboo after 9/11, but how the taboos are breaking down. After 9/11, for example, those talking claimed, no one dare say anything that could be interpreted in a negative light about firemen, either in discussion or art. Now, they said, you can criticize a fireman and make fun of one in a movie.

I can't personally think of any who I would want to criticize or make fun of, but I hate for any subject to be taboo.

They said it was considered terribly wrong to show anyone falling through the air, in light of all the people who chose to jump to their death rather than burn in the fire.

After I dropped Margie off at the Alaska Native Medical Center, Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen came on Talk of the Nation to speak of how he still felt the need to have revenge taken against Osama bin Laden and all those responsible.

He was not a vengeful person he said, he did not believe in the death penalty, but that's what he felt. He wanted revenge then and still does now. Maybe, he said, in taking some of the actions that we took afterwards as a nation, we had acted like the bull charging the matador's red cape.

I pulled into the Dimond Mall parking lot, and saw this flag above me, unfurling in the breeze. I shot a series of pictures, each different, as it continually changed its shape. I could easily run a dozen shots or more, if I were not in cocoon mode.

I want to, too, but I guess I won't.

Poor Margie. When she first went to the hospital on July 26, they told her it would take about six weeks before she could begin to walk around normally. Of course, without being able to take a catscan right then, they misdiagnosed the severity of her injury. 

Today, the doctor told her that she must continue to use crutches and keep weight off that leg for two more months. She was not happy and neither was I. What can you do, though, but bear it?

*Cocoon mode: Until I finish up a big project that I am working on, I am keeping this blog at bare-minimum simple. I anticipate about one month.

AuthorWasilla, Alaska, by 300 | Comment3 Comments |
in , , , , , ,

PrintView Printer Friendly Version

EmailEmail Article to Friend

Reader Comments (3)

Sorry to hear about Margie's setback.
The flag photo is wonderful.

September 11, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterCindy G

Thank you, Cindy G.

September 12, 2009 | Registered CommenterWasilla, Alaska, by 300

Great flag picture!!

September 16, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterSunil

PostPost a New Comment

Enter your information below to add a new comment.
Author Email (optional):
Author URL (optional):
Post:
 
Some HTML allowed: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong>
Alert
Comment Moderation Enabled
Your comment will not appear until it has been cleared by a website editor.

Notify me of follow-up comments via email.