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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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Sunday
Jan302011

Shiny bling at Ama's apartment warming party

DateSunday, January 30, 2011 at 12:03PM

Ama has now moved into her new apartment and so threw a little party last night to celebrate. The invitation said that everyone should come in a state of bling by wearing something shiny. As you can see, Melanie had a shirt with glitter and shine, but Jobe forgot and came with none.

So Ama gave him a shiny red wig.

Jobe in his wig.

Ama gives Jobe a kiss.

"Get me out of this damn thing!" Jobe protested. I was impressed. He could not say a single word the last time I saw him and now here he was, cussing up a storm.

Jobe - looking more like Jobe.

I forgot to wear anything shiny or blingy, too, so Ama came up with something for me, too. I would show it to you, but I have to live in this world. Once people saw me in the bling that Ama gave me, that would be harder to do. So I won't show you.

Oh, hell. Here I am. There goes my career. This is it for me. I'm done for. Why would Ama do this to me?

I've got to go take a shower now, then leave for Anchorage to attend a funeral.

Now that people have seen me like this, I almost feel like it as well be my own.

 

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AuthorWasilla, Alaska, by 300 | Comment9 Comments |

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Reader Comments (9)

Jobe is too cute and yep Jobe is cute LOL

January 30, 2011 | Unregistered Commentertwain12

Did you get the bunny tail that goes with the ears?

January 30, 2011 | Unregistered CommenterAlbert Lewis

Oh my!
I still have the paper bag I wear over my head when I am going to be around folks I knew 40 years ago when I knew it all... You want to borrow it?
Works wonders ... nobody ever brings up how much I know/knew. Maybe folks won't bring up the... uh... uh... uh... bunny bling ...?
( ROFL :-) )

January 30, 2011 | Unregistered CommenterAlaska Pi

This just shows you are a good sport. And also a party animal :-D

January 30, 2011 | Unregistered CommenterJulieB

Auntie loves ur new hair!! Love & miss u so much!...

January 30, 2011 | Unregistered CommenterLaurie Dash

LOL!!! U shud have taken one pic with that shiny red wig and given ur bunny ears to Jobe.. remember, he is the kid around???? :D ROFL!!!

Hes so adorable in that wig and so are you wid ur new ears! :D

January 30, 2011 | Unregistered CommenterSuji

Amazing Uncle, as usual! Nice stuff, funny too!

January 31, 2011 | Unregistered CommenterGane

There's a club, and women there where bunny ears all the time, and no one makes a big deal about that. Perhaps it's because they wear high heels. Maybe you should go back and try it again, this time wearing the heels. I bet no one makes a big deal about it at all. Try it. See. Get back to us on it.

January 31, 2011 | Unregistered Commenterdebby

WEAR bunny ears. Good gravy. *blush*

January 31, 2011 | Unregistered Commenterdebby

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