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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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Saturday
Apr102010

I take an intermission from my New York series to bring you... Kalib and Jobe! Plus their two fur sibs!

DateSaturday, April 10, 2010 at 10:00PM

I will return to finish off the New York series with Chie and then probably one more post, but, having been gone for so long, I got lonesome to see my grandsons. I grabbed Margie and headed to town, where we found Kalib at the window, waiting for us.

Margie and Kalib looked out the window at the advance of the spring.

I'm not quite sure how Margie pulled off this little balancing act, but Kalib was mighty interested.

Kalib was sleepy when we arrived and soon lay down to take a nap.

And Jobe woke up from his nap. I was amazed to see how he had grown and filled out in the time that I had been gone. He looks like a dapper little man now.

Jobe, on my lap.

Jobe and his grandma. We let Lavina borrow our car to go off and study her math.

Soon, Jobe wanted to nap again. Margie tied him into his cradleboard.

Margie peeks in at Jobe.

I had to go over and peek in, too. This is what I saw.

Fur sibling Martigny.

Fur sibling Muzzy.

As for me, I am unspeakably tired. And I have other tasks that I must do. So I am going to wait until Monday morning to return to my New York series and Chie Sakakibara.

Truth is, I am just flat-out exhausted.

I don't think I will ever recover.

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

hope you got some rest...your grad babies are just adorable. Love seeing them again

April 11, 2010 | Unregistered Commentertwain12

You don't think you will ever recover!!?? Oh, my, I hope your thinking is befuddled and that you do indeed recover...after a good long night of rest. Traveling always tires me and your missing your plane didn't help that any.

Good to see Kalib and Jobe and their Gramma and Grampa and their Momma and their furry friends.

Gotta head for the kitchen. My oatmeal awaits.

April 11, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterWhiteStone

Goodness they are adorable...both the grandsons and furry siblings! I cant get over how much Kalib and Jobe look alike.

April 11, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterLisaJ

Those adorable grandsons! Get your rest Bill.

April 11, 2010 | Unregistered Commentermocha

Twain - They are cute, too - and mischievous. At least one of them is. The other one probably is, too. He just hasn't proven it yet.

Whitestone, the truth of the matter is, I can't remember the last time I wasn't tired. Chronic insomniac.

Lisa - this amazes, too. That's why I think Jobe will be mischievous, too.

Mocha - I am about to take some Melatonin and go to bed.

April 15, 2010 | Registered CommenterWasilla, Alaska, by 300

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