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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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Wednesday
Oct052011

Chicken and chicks at Abby's Home Cooking - all elements of this post made possible by Steve Jobs

DateWednesday, October 5, 2011 at 10:05PM

I got up this morning, stepped outside and found that everything was frozen. I always go out for breakfast the morning after I return from a trip, so I warmed up the car, buckled Jobe into his car seat, got Margie and then jumped in to drive off to Abby's Home Cooking, but the windshield had iced-over, so I had to clean it off.

I kind of forgot about that kind of thing while I was in New York, sweltering most of the time.

I did not take my camera to Abby's, but decided that I would rely solely on my iPhone, so that is what I used to photograph this chicken and chicks that sit in a window at Abby's.

iPhone - one of Steve Job's gifts to the world. Of course, I put this post together on a Macintosh. Rather than drag Margie out here into my office to show her the post on my computer, I will show it to her on my iPad.

This Steve Jobs guy - he totally remade my life.

I'm going to miss him.

AuthorWasilla, Alaska, by 300 | Comment7 Comments |
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Reader Comments (7)

I too will miss him . . . .

October 6, 2011 | Unregistered CommenterAnnetteJ

This Steve Jobs guy - he totally remade our world and the way we live in it. How different life would have been without him. Thank you for all the good you've done, Mr. Jobs. We appreciate it. Bought my first Mac in 1986 and have not been without one ever since.....

October 6, 2011 | Unregistered CommenterGrandma Nancy

i'm not a Mac or I pad person , but he did accomplish a remarkable thing

October 6, 2011 | Unregistered Commentertwain12

Every time I have my grands (6 and 4) and they get fussy and I dig out my iPod and they play games (Angry Birds is the favorite right now) or watch a video, I thank Steven Jobs.

Last week during yet another high school soccer game, the 11 & 13 year old grands were watching the movie "Rio" on my iPod sharing the earbuds between them. Again, thank you Steven Jobs!

We bought our first computer in 1985, an Apple IIe. We thought we were something..we even doubled the capacity to a whopping 128K! Who would dream that the whole industry would develop to what it is now....and how mind boggling to think what is to come.

So RIP Steven Jobs!

October 6, 2011 | Unregistered Commenterhockeynana

He was in my opinion a 21st century Edison.

October 6, 2011 | Unregistered CommenterJoe from upstate New York

I hear ya brother! How many people can truly say they changed the world for the good of mankind? Rest In Peace, Steve.

October 6, 2011 | Unregistered CommenterFidj

How many read the news using one of his products?

Somewhere, there's a nerd tinkering in his/her parent's garage who will know it's ok to think outside the box, to dream big dreams and follow his/her heart, That's what Steve Job's legacy proves.


Rest In Peace, Steve. You left the world a better place and you'll be missed.

October 6, 2011 | Unregistered CommenterJames

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