What’s the story here?

I find myself asking this question all the time, whether I’m in a new place far from home or sitting with my grandparents at the kitchen table. It is the most amazing question, especially when you are a storyteller like me, hungry for chronicles of the world. This is a home for those stories—our stories.

Here’s me:

An American writer of Argentine, Syrian, and Iraqi Jewish descent, I write about our beautiful world and the stories that define us.

(en inglés, pero cada vez más en español también)

I’m in my twenties and my interests span cultures and continents. I live in New York and I spend a lot of time based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I’m the author of two books, Every Day the River Changes (a river journey through Colombia) and Stranger in the Desert (an intergenerational search for my great-grandfather, a traveling salesman in the Andes). In my chronicles for publications like National Geographic, New York Magazine, The New York Times and NPR’s All Things Considered, I’ve taken the train across the United States and across Patagonia, camped out on uninhabited city islands within view of the Manhattan skyline, and played folk music with old-time musicians in the Appalachian mountains. I’ve immersed myself in the lives of migrant families from Ecuador selling candy on the NYC subway, and I’ve met Peruvian sheep-herders in the mountains of Idaho. Here’s my full bio.

I love writing letters, so consider these letters to you. My plan is to create a space for us all to slow down, and to make new friends. To do that, instead of getting lost in mindless scrolls and endless open tabs, I want to tell you just one story at a time. Sometimes that story will be from halfway around the world and sometimes it will be walking distance from wherever I am. Sometimes my letters will be longer and sometimes they will be very short and fleeting.

Here you will find deeply human stories about extraordinary people and places (aka: human geography). You will learn more about the Earth and its inhabitants in a way that is urgent and productive but also reminds us that all hope is not lost, that we can still fall in love with the world and feel empowered to make it a better place to live.

We will also have the opportunity to connect with one another in this community of curious people who want to learn how to use a journalist’s tools to explore the stories and heritages we hold closest. This will be the space to receive updates about my “family storytelling” classes and other programs, too.

At the end of the day, I like to write about hope — about journeys that connect us, about people who bring joy to each other’s lives, and about finding the beauty in the everyday.

I’m really grateful that you’ve decided to join me on this great big adventure, so I promise I won’t overburden you with letters. And I’ll try to write you on the weekends, when you have more time to breathe (and read), hopefully in a comfy chair or outside in the sun.

Thanks again for being here. Just like the people we will meet together, we are strangers no more. Write me a letter back anytime.

All my best,

Jordan -