A Kurdish female fighter from the YPG gestures as she carries her weapon near the al-Hawl area where fighting between Islamic State fighters and fighters from Democratic Forces of Syria are taking place in south-eastern city of Hasaka

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.