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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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Thursday
Jun162011

The Tikigaq Harpooner boys "Three-Peaters" - basketball is big in Point Hope

DateThursday, June 16, 2011 at 9:51AM

No time to write much, so I will keep it brief. Basketball is big in Point Hope. Really big. And this year, the Tikigaq Harpooner boys won the Alaska State 2A Championship for the third year in a row. This is senior Zach Lane, one of the "Three-peaters." 

Actually, this is graduate Zach Lane. High school is behind him now.

I wanted to get a picture of all the Harpooner three-peater boys, but a few were out of the village. I had imagined photographing them with a harpoon and basketballs out on the ice, wearing white, to make it clear that the name "Harpooners" means more to them than does the average high school team name, but I was not able to pull it off.

I barely got this photo. Leonard called to tell me the boys were on their way to the high school just as I had finished packing so I could get on the plane to Barrow. So I had to hurry. Afterward, I almost missed my flight.

Left to right: Three-peaters Robert Omnik, Jacob Lane, Coach Leonard Barger, George Vincent, Solomon Frankson and Michael Tuzroyluk, Jr.

Coach Leonard Barger, on the ice, with his rifle and beluga hook. This was Leonard's first year coaching varsity, but he had been the middle school coach for a few years, where he had worked with all but the senior boys.

"It's been fun," he said. "It was a good year."

Both Rex Rock Sr. and wife Ramona have been on this blog recently. Before he was taken by surprise, nominated and elected to serve as the President of the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation, Rex had been coaching the boys and he was he who had led them to their first two state championships.

He still showed up for every game and before hand would meet with the team and then would see them through the game.

Ramona is coach of the Harpoonerettes, who had the best season in the lead but did not win the tournament. They have next year to look forward to.

This is just a typical night at the school gym.

By now, readers know two-old Jonathan Frankson, son of Jesse and Krystle. He is a strong kid and can already stuff the ball.

 

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AuthorWasilla, Alaska, by 300 | Comment3 Comments |
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Reader Comments (3)

I just heard about the earthquake in Anchorage. Are you folks okay?

June 16, 2011 | Unregistered Commenterdebby

To set any minds at ease - that quake was down by Nikiski. Caleb felt it, but I didn't. Maybe it hit while I was riding my bike, going over bumps or something. Anyway, it was pretty routine. Whenever we feel the earth start to shake around here, we tend to think, no big deal, but we always know, that just like in 1964 when this area took the most powerful quake recorded to that time and maybe now the second most powerful, another big one is building up and it is going to get us sooner or later and there are a lot more people living in this area now than there were in '64.

June 16, 2011 | Registered CommenterWasilla, Alaska, by 300

Good. Glad to hear it, Bill.

June 16, 2011 | Unregistered Commenterdebby

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