Top
A blog by Bill Hess

Running Dog Publications

P.O. Box 872383 Wasilla, Alaska 99687

 

All photos and text © Bill Hess, unless otherwise noted 
All support is appreciated
Bill Hess's other sites
Search
Navigation
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.

Blog archive
Blog arhive - page view
« I seek a July 4 photo of American freedom for a civilian mass audience of Greece: Part 1 of 4: Breakfast at Abby's | Main | iPadding it: with Jobe, Kalib, Margie, Chicago, Jim and Pistol »
Monday
Jul042011

We will begin our Fourth by being among the first to eat breakfast at the brand new rerstaurant, Abby's Home Cooking

DateMonday, July 4, 2011 at 9:24AM

The other night, I pedaled my bike eight miles down from my house to pass by the Mahoney Ranch. "Hey Bill!" Mahoney horse Stoney shouted at me as I passed by, "what do you plan to do for breakfast on the morning of July 4?"

"Hadn't really thought about it," I shouted back. "I'll probably just cook some oatmeal, with berries and walnuts. Why? What does a horse care about what I do for breakfast July 4?"

"Bill!" Stoney  the horse shouted back. "Oats are for horses! Leave the damned oats alone! On the morning of the Fourth, you must do breakfast at Abby's Home Cooking! Corner of Church and Seldon - right where Fat Boys Fattery used to be. Abby's opens at 9:00 AM, July 4, for the first time, and I want you to be there. Take your family and order breakfast. I am not asking. I am ordering. You be there. You will be glad I demanded this of you."

"Abby's?" I said.

"Yes, Abby's!" the Mahoney horse answered.

"Okay." I said.

"Okay then," the horse neighed with approval as Mahoney horse Jake stepped into the picture. Stoney then turned his attention to the succulent grass of the Mahoney Ranch and with just one swish of his tail killed 52 mosquitoes.

This is the Abby that the horse referred to and that's her new restaurant behind her. Her name is Abby Hammond now, and she is opening the restaurant with her husband Andy, but she grew up as Abby Mahoney and that is why the horse so concerned itself about where, as soon as I post this, I will take Margie, Kalib and Jobe and eat breakfast today. 

The Mahoney horses look out for their people.

This is Abby and Jeremy. The stool was made from local, wildfire-killed spruce by Abby's nephew, Joe Mahoney. 

This wood used to be the siding of a barn into which horses could take shelter from the wind.

This is Abby's son, Justin, who made the tables for the restaurant.

This is Justin with his friends Andrew O'Brien and J.D McCullum, making a toast for success with tea, coffee and an empty flower vase.

I could write much more, but I see it is 9:00 AM right now. I am hungry. I must post this blog and get over there.

But first, late last night, thinking about Abby and her little venture, I again pedaled my bike down to the Mahoney Ranch and paid a short visit to Grotto Iona, built as a place of prayer by Paul George Mahoney, the patriarch of the Mahoney Clan, in honor and memory of his wife, Iona.

I felt quiet and peaceful there, as it always has whenever I have stopped by.

As I pedaled home from the Mahoney Ranch, I saw this guy, riding his horse down a trail upon which I used to often ski. I would just take off from my back porch and go, but now there are subdivisions in the way and I have not skied since I lost my shoulder and got a new one.

This coming winter, I must remedy that.

Now, I will exercise the freedom that we celebrate this day and will take Margie, Kalib and Jobe to breakfast at Abby's Cafe.

Happy Fourth of July, America!

 

View images as slides

 

 

AuthorWasilla, Alaska, by 300 | Comment5 Comments |
in , , , ,

PrintView Printer Friendly Version

EmailEmail Article to Friend

Reader Comments (5)

Happy 4th and i hope you enjoyed the breakfast

July 4, 2011 | Unregistered Commentertwain12

forgot to add that i love the woodwork and the idea of recycling the wood, just beautiful

July 4, 2011 | Unregistered Commentertwain12

much success to abby's. love the home-made furniture! and the style of that one glass i saw. i'm leaving in a couple mins - it's 5 30 pm here in pa, to go to my sister's for our cookout. have a great day, bill!

July 4, 2011 | Unregistered CommenterRuth Deming

Saw you running around taking parade pictures! Hope breakfast was good and you took time to watch a little bit of the parade.

Happy 4th to you and yours!

July 4, 2011 | Unregistered CommenterAkMom

Wow, that's beautiful woodwork. What a talented kid!
Always love to see horses in Alaska :)

July 4, 2011 | Unregistered CommenterMikey

PostPost a New Comment

Enter your information below to add a new comment.
Author Email (optional):
Author URL (optional):
Post:
 
Some HTML allowed: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong>
Alert
Comment Moderation Enabled
Your comment will not appear until it has been cleared by a website editor.

Notify me of follow-up comments via email.