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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
Jul022010

ICC Nuuk, Greenland, part 5: A break with Igloolik's Arctic Circus before I do an ICC wrap-up

DateFriday, July 2, 2010 at 5:15AM

Last night, after the delegations from Russia, Alaska, Canada and Greenland had ratified the Nuuk Declaration of 2010, elected Aqqaluk Lynge of Greenland to be the ICC Chair and had chosen Canada to host the next General Assembly in four years, they gathered for a farewell feast.

The after-dinner entertainment was provided by Artcirq - or Arctic Circus - from the Canadian High Arctic Community of Igloolik. According the Artcirq website, Igloolik, population 1500, suffers a suicide rate of four to six young adults every year. 

Artcirq was formed in response as a way to present young people with something that was fun and healthy, as an alternative to substance abuse and suicide.

Based upon acrobatics, juggling and clowning as has been traditionally practiced in Inuit culture, a group of youth formed a circus and then went to Montreal for professional training at the National Circus School. They have since performed in many Arctic Communities.

As for me, I need to figure out how to cover a few of the cultural events taking place here in Nuuk today as well as how to explain the Nuuk Declaration and prepare a wrap up from the thousands and thousands and thousands of words and statements that I have gathered and the two or three or four thousand images or so that I have shot.

I am suffering from a severe lack of sleep and horrible chest and sinus congestion that at times seems to border on pneumonia, so it is going to be a bit of a challenge, but one way or another, I will do it.

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

Make sure you take good care of yourself! You need your health to continue your work.

July 2, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterGrandma Nancy

whoa. great photo. and that facility looks beautiful. take care and have a safe trip home.

July 2, 2010 | Unregistered Commenterdahli22

Take it easy Bill.

July 2, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterMichelle

Please take care of yourself! Pneumonia is Not A Good Thing at all, and it's best to avoid it.

July 2, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterOmegaMom

amazing picture...to bad about the cold ,please take care of yourself

July 2, 2010 | Unregistered Commentertwain12

Hope you're feeling better soon.

July 2, 2010 | Unregistered Commentermocha

Bill - thank you for the ICC coverage. As usual, you did a fantastic job of articulating the conference. I loved seeing all of the photos posted.

Take care of yourself. We can wait for the rest. Eat, sleep and revamp first.

July 2, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterAsta

Your ICC coverage has been amazing Bill. I have learned so much with the things you have posted. Thank you!

Please take care of yourself. I hope you feel better soon.

July 2, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterLisaJ

I am sorry you don't feel well. Sometimes travel does that to me as well.

I wanted to thank you for teaching me yet again. I had never heard of the ICC until you blogged about it. Being the sort of person who needs to learn, I have spent hours Googling my way to total confusion the past few days.

I do hope you can sleep all the way home in between airports. Peace.

July 2, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterKathryn Campbell

Hang in there Bill! Great work and now you can come home and convalesce! Been enjoying your posts all week, thanks again for sharing a glimpse into another world.

July 2, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterAlicia Greene

Hello Bill,

I am the fiddler for the Kuskokwim Fiddle Band, and noticed that you mistook my name - it is Jack Hopstad, not Jack Hopson. We really enjoyed your article as well as the outstanding pics. I hope you are feeling better. Thanks,

Jack Hopstad

August 10, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterJack Hopstad

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