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 8: Cat parties with goats where the chicken crossed the road and the rooster got shot; Metro Cafe to hold grand opening Saturday | Main | Cocoon mode* - day 6: I conduct a scientific experiment involving the rain, my bike, a pickup truck and a cow moose »
Tuesday
Sep152009

Cocoon mode* - day 7: Caleb sits down to make a stand in the TV room; Kalib saturates himself in incense from India

DateTuesday, September 15, 2009 at 7:07AM

When they were growing, all three boys slept in this room and sometimes it got pretty chaotic. In time, we enlarged the house, but soon only Caleb and the girls were still home, and then the girls became women and moved out into the world. 

After awhile, Caleb moved into the middle bedroom, which had grown with the enlargement of the house and had briefly been occupied by Rex. Not long after, we put a TV in the original room and called it, "the TV room."

In time, the room began to fill with things that we did not know what else to do with, so we put them there.

Still, Caleb found the space to go in and watch TV.

Then, after Margie got hurt this last time, we had to move a bunch of stuff from our bedroom in order to clear space to accommodate her needs and so into this room it went.

And still, Caleb holds his TV room territory.

One day, perhaps, we will figure out what to do with this stuff. 

I am not certain where he found it, but little Kalib got ahold of some packages of incense from India and then flung the scented wands around as if they were pick-up sticks. By the time I came out and discovered what was going on it was too late to stop it and Jake had just saw it as an interesting learning opportunity for Kalib and so had not interfered.

Afterwards, Kalib carried the scent around on his body and clothes. Aroma wise, being around him was kind of like being back in India. Even when we took him out driving, the aroma of India came with us.

His parents now go house-shopping at every opportunity. Soon, this house will be less chaotic than it is now, but we will have to learn to cope with 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 | Comment2 Comments |
in , , ,

PrintView Printer Friendly Version

EmailEmail Article to Friend

Reader Comments (2)

The picture of the flag above you a few posts down is beautiful, I'm glad President Obama has made me proud of that flag again!

Thanks for continuing to post even when you're busy, I enjoy the glimpses into your world.

September 15, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterKelly

My three boys all slept in the same room as well. Makes for a very close knit family, I think. When my oldest moved out and into his college dorm room, he was very lonely. No brothers to talk to at night, whisper to, laugh with.

September 15, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterSuzy (=^..^=)

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.