The author buddies up to a lion at the Berlin Zoo at age 5. Sedating animals for photo ops was common in Europe and Russia in the ’80s. (Photo courtesy Tess Martin)

Alex is a cofounder and editor of The Seattle Globalist. He's a visual journalist whose work has been published by PBS, The Seattle Times, FRONTLINE/World and the Seattle Weekly.  Alex teaches journalism in the University of Washington's Department of Communication and recently directed the documentary film Barzan.