This summer, 1,500 Princeton first-year students read student Jordan Salama’s famous travelogue, “Every Day the River Changes: Four Weeks Down the Magdalena.” Earlier this week, the Class of 2026 had the opportunity to hear directly from Salama at the annual Preread Assembly during Orientation.
“At a place like Princeton you are in a very unique and privileged position to be able to pursue these threads of passion that are exciting to you,” Salama told students seated in Jadwin Gymnasium on Sunday, Sept. 4. “I want all of you to think about how you can create those small moments of beauty and passion in your communities that make an impact, and bring that into your experience here and also after you leave Princeton.”
Salama, a Class of 2019 graduate, spoke in conversation with President Christopher L. Eisgruber, who began the tradition of selecting a different book each year as a way to introduce incoming students to the intellectual life of the University. Topics of pre-read books have included free speech, supporting first-generation college students, and how to live a meaningful life.
Freshmen lined up at the microphones in Jadwin Gymnasium to ask Salama about his famous “Every Day the River Changes: Four Weeks Down the Magdalena” trip.
Eisgruber said he hoped students would be inspired by Salama’s physical journey on Colombia’s Magdalena River, as well as his intellectual journey from university researcher to published author in just a few years. “Every Day the River Changes” was named a Kirkus Best Nonfiction Title of 2021. The book was originally written as Salama’s senior thesis and bridged his studies in Spanish, creative writing, environmental studies, journalism, and American studies Latin.
Salama described his academic path at Princeton as non-linear — in a good way. He explored different subjects and classes and took advantage of the various international experiences and research opportunities offered through the University. He considered becoming a television writer until he took the Creative Nonfiction class with Pulitzer Prize-winning author John McPhee, senior fellow in the Program in Journalism.
“Through conversations with Professor McPhee — who was interested in many of the same things I was, which were stories about people, nature, history and culture — I realized that there is a career that can be made having these kinds of meetings and writing these kinds of stories as a way to learn about the world,” said Salama.
Salama first visited Columbia for a summer internship after his freshman year at Princeton and returned after his junior year to spend four weeks traveling down the “Mighty Magdalene.” The river is considered Colombia’s most important river culturally, socially and economically, and the book focuses on the stories of the people Salama met on his journey.
“A lot of this book is about having these conversations with empathy and respect … How have you handled people in so many different kinds of breakups?” Eisgruber asked Salaman.
“I wanted to learn and I wanted to have conversations, but I also wanted to live life with people as if they were living it,” explained Salama. “I did things like play music, play soccer with people, watch soccer with people, talk about the interests we had in common. Starting the conversation with those things … that opened the door to later doing these conversations that were a little deeper and shed more light on how people lived. They trusted me, and I trusted them.”
By learning the stories of strangers, Salama also learned about himself. “There is value in going out and having conversations with people as a way of understanding yourself,” he said.
Ultimately, Salma said his book is about what can come out of conversations based on empathy and respect.
“A lot of this book is about the value of having these kinds of conversations with people,” he said. “How can we bridge these divides or different lived experiences by starting first with shared experiences and then, perhaps, expanding to more difficult topics.”
Students in the audience also asked Salama a series of questions about the challenges of traveling to Colombia on his own, his process as an interviewer and writer, and his advice for Princeton students. Madeline McDonald, a first-year from California, wondered how Salama decided to expand his senior thesis into a book.
“I wrote the thesis with this in mind,” said Salama. “One of the things I want everyone to take away from this conversation is that there are a lot of people coming out of Princeton who turn their theses into real-world things. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a book. There are people who start companies with their thesis or use it as a starting point to pursue a Ph.D. There are many ways to use your thesis to gain greater understanding.”
The conversation between Salama, Eisgruber and the Class of 2026 will continue in the fall during smaller roundtable discussions at the residential colleges. A recording of the Prereading Assembly is available on the Princeton University Facebook page.
First Years participate in the Pre-Read Assembly while wearing their Class of 2026 t-shirts that read “Go on. Change the World.” Salama encouraged the students to explore the world and follow their passions.
