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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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Friday
Feb192010

Coffee Break - Return to the Metro

DateFriday, February 19, 2010 at 4:00AM

Folks, I need to take a little break. As can easily be seen, I got a little carried away and went all out to say something about the birth of my second grandson, Jobe Atene Hess. I began the process in a state of sheer exhaustion and I am sheerly exhausted right now. I spent much more time on it than I could afford to, so now I have to back partly away from this blog for awhile and devote my time to other tasks - ones that might actually bring in some revenue.

So here I am, taking a break at Metro Cafe, where I shot this image, Through the Metro Window, Study #4.7, which I am certain will surely be hanging on the wall at MOMA in New York no later than early next week, just as soon as the folks there get a chance to log onto my blog and marvel at the sheer magnificence of this image.

"It's brilliant beyond superb," the MOMA Chief of Masterpiece Acquisitions will exude. "I want it in our museum, now!"

"It's downright piquant," her chief assistant will gush. "I will jump in the Learjet and dash off to Wasilla right now and I will acquire it."

The subjects of the study are, in the reverse order: Jessie, Doug, Jennifer and Brittney. Carmen said that Jessie came in the other night and helped her clean up. Or maybe it was Doug who helped her. Anyway, one of them did.

Remember last week, just before the birth of Jobe, when I mentioned that the dollar bill that I had given Carmen as a tip had blown away in the wind and as I retrieved it, having already shot a Metro Window study and with another car pulling up to the window behind me, I heard Carmen say, "It's those cute girls!" and then I looked and saw some beautiful Alaska Native girls running excitely from a pickup truck to the shop?

I had to move on, but did so in the hope that one day soon I could make those girls the subject of a Metro Window study.

Talk about Deja Vu! I looked in my rearview mirror and there they were, running toward Metro again. Only they were not coming from a pickup truck. They were coming from their home further up the road. Maybe I misinterpreted the other day and they only ran past the truck.

Or maybe someone just drove them the short distance from their home to Metro, because they were enroute to another place.

Anyway, here they are - or at least three of them: Melissa, Allison, and Jennifer in Through the Window Metro Study #538. Carmen says they come in every day, as regularly as I do. They buy smoothies. Sometimes they hang out and even help out around the cafe.

MOMA will have to battle the Louvre in Paris for this one, so it might not hang on the wall of whichever the of the two museums wins until maybe two weeks from now.

So that's it for today. 

You can expect brief posts for a few days to come.

AuthorWasilla, Alaska, by 300 | Comment5 Comments |
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Reader Comments (5)

Aww, best Metro study yet. What cuties. Good luck with your projects! First things first, as my mom used to say. I don't imagine you'll lose your faithful readers if you do short posts to your journal, or even take some time off! Best wishes to you and your growing family.

February 19, 2010 | Unregistered Commentermocha

Thanks for posting Jobe's birth posts. Any break you take is fine after those wonderful posts.

I like the MOMA Chief of Masterpiece Acquisitions!

February 19, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterMichelle

Get some rest, Bill, and don't burn yourself out.

February 19, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterLynne

stopped by to say hello, bill! always a pleasure. interesting, cuz, while the MOMA is interested in YOU, i just had a call from martin scorsese wanting to buy the rights of my novel when i finish it. meantime, you and i both gotta figger out ways to pay the bills. i'm gonna offer my b/f the chance to pay this month's health ins. premium - $550. i'll tell him that the acrylic painting i made in last nite's class goes for a discounted price of $550. dyou think he'll fall for it?

February 19, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterRuth Z Deming

OK. I will go to bed now. Thanks, all. I look forward to the movie.

February 20, 2010 | Registered CommenterWasilla, Alaska, by 300

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