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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
Sep162009

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

DateWednesday, September 16, 2009 at 7:02AM

Do you remember the dog that nearly killed the rabbit (despite the denials, I wonder if maybe he did kill that rabbit, because that rabbit sure looked dead to me and I have never seen it since) at the house on the corner where the chicken crossed the road and the rooster got shot?

This morning, as I passed by the same place, I saw this beautiful white cat sitting atop the deck fence, visiting with the two deck goats.

Until today, I never knew about this cat.

It does not matter how long I live and how educated I become, I find that, everyday, I stumble upon something new to learn.

Here I am, on my afternoon coffee break, sitting in my Ford Escape at the drive-through window to the Metro Cafe, which, as you can see, seems to be quite busy these days.

I hope it stays that way, because I am pulling for this little coffee house, built where the dog wash used to be, with cute cars and vans all around.

I am pulling for it because their coffee is ALWAYS good, whereas, at the kiosks that I have traditionally visited, some days the coffee is very good and some days, at the very same place, well... I should say, though, that at even at these places there are certain baristas who always make good coffee, if you show up when they are working.

Plus Carmen, the owner, she always chats and wonders how things are and where is Margie, or, oh, good, Margie has come today and look at your little grandson! Hey! He can't drink coffee! He's so cute!

And this Saturday, they are going to have their grand opening, from noon until 2:00 PM. The mayor is going to come by at 1:00 and cut a ribbon.

So all you readers from far away places like New York City, Israel, Dubai, Nigeria and of course Bangalore and Chennai, go get on a plane right now and head for Anchorage. Call me, and I will pick you up and take you to the grand opening.

You who live here, you can just drive. Or walk. Or ride a bike. You could even skate in.

I'll bet some will.

 

*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 |
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Reader Comments (2)

What's the address or general directions to Metro? Is it on the main Parks Highway that cuts through Wasilla?

September 16, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterSusie

Sorry. It's on Lucille Street, just south of Spruce. Lucille turns north off the Parks Highway at Key Bank.

September 16, 2009 | Registered CommenterWasilla, Alaska, by 300

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