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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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Thursday
Mar042010

Through the Metro Mirror Study, # 3

DateThursday, March 4, 2010 at 4:00AM

I've been getting another bit of an uptick in readership lately, and so I hate to do this, but I must. I can only post one image tonight and I can't tell any stories. No time, no extra energy.

So this is the image: I am not in my car at the drive-through window this time, but inside Metro Cafe, taking a picture of myself in the mirror along with three other guys.

Immediately behind me stands Gil, the young guy is Jeremy and the fellow at the left is Larry.

Other than their names and what you see in this picture, I know nothing about them, except for the fact that they were at Metro Cafe today at the same time that I was.

I am inside because Margie drove into Anchorage to pick up her phone that she had left behind at baby Jobe's house and she dropped me off along the way so I could walk home. While Margie was in town, she got to visit Jobe. She was still there when Kalib came home from daycare, so she got to see him, too.

We have both been lamenting about how much we miss having Kalib in our daily lives, since his parents took him and moved him into their new home in Anchorage.

AuthorWasilla, Alaska, by 300 | Comment11 Comments |
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Reader Comments (11)

People really like having their picture taken! Good luck with your proposal!

March 4, 2010 | Unregistered Commentermocha

Metro Cafe is probably getting an uptick, too. Next thing ya know, the politicians will be showing up, waiting for a photo. What a bummer of a thought that is. LOL

March 4, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterWhiteStone

All it takes is one visit to your blog and you become a daily reader. Well, that's how it worked for moi. Thanks Bill!

March 4, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterMichelle

That's all it took for me, too, Michelle. I come on here every day hoping to see Kalib, Jobe, the cats, and see what's what in Bill's Wasilla.

Thanks, Bill.

March 4, 2010 | Unregistered Commentersunnyjane

I don't think i've missed a day since I discovered this site. Good luck with the proposal!

March 4, 2010 | Unregistered Commenterdahli22

Same for me......fell in love with your blog after my first visit. There is something very unique and special about it, you have a way of putting everything into perspective.
Thank you.
Very nice Metro image, like the composition.

March 4, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterFunny Face

That's all it took for me too! I ended up on your site trying to escape the Palin drama yet still maintain my connection to my stomping grounds and I've found it! Keep up the great work.

March 4, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterTanyalaska

Gotta say, that photo took me a minute. I thought, 'Well...that's Bill...how'd he get a picture of himself inside from the drive thru?

I believe that Margie left her phone with Jobe on purpose. That is a pretty good way to insure that she gets right back for more grandbaby time. That Margie is one smart cookie!

March 4, 2010 | Unregistered Commenterdebby

Oh, yeah, meant to say, one visit to Bill's blog and I was a stalker ~ er ~ addicted.

March 4, 2010 | Unregistered Commenterdebby

The picture made me laugh out loud! At first I thought someone was taking a picture of you at the drive thru!

I think you and Margie could take turns leaving things behind in Anchorage. A perfect excuse for more visits.

March 4, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterManxMamma

I will read even if there is nothing to read. I re read sometimes some of my favorites on your blog. So it doesn't matter if theres nothing here. I still come.

March 4, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterRocksee

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