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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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« Kivgiq 2011, part 1 - Getting there: I back up one week in time to my beard trim with Leah, then get on a jet and fly to Barrow, where Roy feeds the King Island Dancers | Main | Kivgiq is over, I missed Jobe's first birthday, the weather is getting bad, but I hope I make our anniversary »
Monday
Feb142011

The birthday party that I missed

DateMonday, February 14, 2011 at 4:37PM

While the wind did not quit blowing, it eased off enough that the Alaska Airlines jet did make it into Barrow last night and so I boarded that jet and headed south, toward Anchorage.

During our Fairbanks layover, I turned on my iPhone and this picture came in as a text message from Lavina. It is from Jobe's first birthday party that took place on Saturday, February 12, as I was busy covering Kivgiq. Please take note of the places where the frosting is missing from the cake. The larger patch to the right was made by Jobe's butt when he sat on the cake and the small ones in front of that by his feet.

I am told that he did not like sitting in the cake. Both he and Kalib did enjoy eating it.

I hated to miss my grandson's first birthday party, but I so loved being at Kivgiq and I could not miss the final day. I will make it up to Jobe before the week is over.

The plane was packed leaving Barrow and did not get out until about 45 minutes late. Margie picked me up at the airport about midnight. Since breakfast, I had not eaten anything other than the two tiny pretzel and soy beans snack bags Alaska Airlines has used to replace the steaks, fish, chicken, rice, salads, fruits, cakes and all those things that they used to feed to their customers.

I was hungry, so we stopped at the McDonald's in Mountain View and we did not get home and settled down into bed until 3:30 AM. I had not slept much during Kivgiq and I had worked hard and been on the go constantly, so I wound up sleeping in today until nearly 1:00 PM.

It felt good, but I have a headache now.

Margie and I had planned to go back to Sakara Sushi this evening to celebrate our 37th anniversary, but we wound up eating a huge, afternoon breakfast at Family Restaurant and neither of us are up for a big meal tonight, so we will have to find some other way to celebrate.

I have so much work to do now - got to start putting my Kivgiq pictures into my home harddrives and then I face a huge amount of editing.

For now, though, I can't do anything.

I am wasted - no, not that way - just worn out and in need of a little downtime. 

 

AuthorWasilla, Alaska, by 300 | Comment6 Comments |
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Reader Comments (6)

Happy Anniversary to you and Margie! I hope you have some time to rest up so you can carry on as only you can! Take care and happy Valentines day as well!

February 14, 2011 | Unregistered CommenterCharlie

i remember the dinners on ak airlines....i actuallly had a really good chicken dish once in flight.

i have to say, there is a radiance about jobe that leaps out of the photos. what a cutie!

February 14, 2011 | Unregistered Commenterdahli22

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to you both! I hope you both had a wonderful time, and happy belated birthday to Jobe. His cake looked delicious! :)

February 14, 2011 | Unregistered CommenterShoshana

Happy Anniversary to you and Margie, have a great time.

February 15, 2011 | Unregistered Commentercawitha

Happy Anniversary ♥

February 15, 2011 | Unregistered Commentertwain12

Happy Anniversary to you and Margie!
Picture of happy birthday boy Jobe put tears in my eyes. Brought back memories of a damn fine son's 1st birthday 36 years ago and his own chocolate melee .

February 15, 2011 | Unregistered CommenterAlaska Pi

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