CONTEXT OF ISLANDS
We believe that the United States territories of Puerto Rico, Guam, the US Virgin Islands, American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands, are needlessly absent from national conversations involving politics, policy, design, and innovation. At the same time, local discussions negate the impact that federal issues have on life in these jurisdictions. That is why we are focused on bringing local issues to the national conversation, and national issues to local consideration. In the face of a challenging environment for journalism, we seek to pioneer innovative news publishing that is focused on rising students and journalists; raise awareness of the existence and conditions of the territories; and inspire inclusion of these citizens in all critical considerations. With ardent tenacity to eradicate the insularity between the nation and the territories, we publish the context of islands.
The work by Pasquines is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
William-José Vélez González
Editor in Chief
William-José Vélez González is a native from Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, and a graduate from Florida International University in biomedical engineering, engineering management, with a minor in international relations. He served as the national executive vice president of the Puerto Rico Statehood Students Association for 5 years. He lives in Washington, DC, where he works at the Children’s National Research Institute and runs Opsin, a nonprofit design studio dedicated to making design more accessible. He is the founder and Editor in Chief of Pasquines.
Isabella Philippi Cámara
Puerto Rico Affairs Assistant Editor
Isabella Philippi Cámara is a recent alumnus of Ohio University with a bachelor’s degree in specialized studies, focusing on diversity studies and social media. She is now hoping to start her full-time career in journalism. Isabella has interned at GFR Media (El Nuevo Dia and Primera Hora) and currently works as a freelance journalist for Latino Rebels, while a student member of both the National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ) and the NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ Journalists. She is a bilingual reporter focusing on beats of Latinx issues, national and local politics, entertainment, and culture.
Holger Droessler
American Samoa Affairs Associate Editor
Born in Germany, Holger Droessler earned a PhD in American Studies from Harvard University in 2015. He is an Assistant Professor of History at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts. A historian of 19th- and 20th-century US history, he studies colonialism, capitalism, and the Pacific Ocean. His current book project, Coconut Colonialism: Workers and the Globalization of Samoa, argues that the globalization of Samoa at the turn of the 20th century was driven by a diverse group of working people on and off the islands.
Aras Troy
Political Affairs Associate Editor
Aras Troy is a US Army veteran and journalist and based in Washington, DC. He studies Global Affairs at George Mason University and Economics at the Paris Institute of Political Studies. Troy has worked in the US territories as well as internationally in Europe and Korea in national defense, humanitarian disaster relief, and archaeology.
Stephenie Glisson
Human Resources & Recruitment Assistant Director
Ozodbek Nematov
Human Resources & Recruitment Intern Coordinator
Ozodbek Nematov is an international business management student at the University of Social Science.
Brian Gibson
Web Design & Development Coordinator
Stavros Asvestas
Human Resources & Recruitment Intern Coordinator
Stavros Asvestas was born and raised in Athens, Greece. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration and he currently is a post-graduate student at the Guglielmo Marconi University of Rome, studying human resources management. His interests include economics, geopolitics, and philosophy. In his free time, he enjoys reading books, travelling and playing chess. Stavros is a Human Resources & Recruitment Intern Coordinator.
