Jasmine Bager

Newest Americans: stories of immigrants who help make the country great

By Jasmine Bager• Digital Storytelling• April 3, 2018

When Mexican director Guillermo del Toro won his best directing Oscar recently for “Shape of Water,” he said: “I am an immigrant. The greatest thing our art does is to erase the lines in the sand. We should continue doing … Read more

As Saudi Arabia modernizes, an expat child of its “Little America” creates a time capsule

By Jasmine Bager• Story Craft• January 23, 2018

It isn’t often that you open a book and leap into your childhood. A wave of nostalgia washed over me as I flipped through New York-based photographer Ayesha Malik’s book, Aramco: Above the Oil Fields. “We don’t … Read more

Poetry finds a (calming) home in the hurly-burly of 21st century New York

By Jasmine Bager• Story Craft• December 7, 2017

Just a stone’s throw away from the high-finance hustle of the World Trade Center in NYC, I came across a simple blue-and-white sign on a glass door that read: The Poets House. The first thing I noticed was the … Read more

5(ish) Questions: “Bodega Stories” creator talks about her love for the corner store

By Jasmine Bager• Strictly Q&A• October 12, 2017

One of my earliest childhood memories was having cash in my hand and roaming a baqala, or a corner store, in my Middle Eastern hometown. I remember the South Asian employee who patiently watched me decide which treat to buy … Read more

New York’s “Subway Therapist” and his collage of a city’s hopes and fears

By Jasmine Bager• Strictly Q&A• October 5, 2017

The 14th Street subway station was hot and noisy with gossip and foot traffic, with a lingering scent of something musty I couldn’t immediately identify. I could hear mediocre performers play instruments in the distance, the subway’s automated announcements weaving … Read more

5(ish) Questions: Iran’s “Blogfather” talks algorithms, hyperlinks and the lost art of communication

By Jasmine Bager• Strictly Q&A• April 6, 2017

Six years is a long time to be away from cyberspace—especially when you’re known as the Blogfather. At one point, 20,000 visitors came to Iranian blogger Hossein Derakhshan’s site every day. Words, it turns out, mattered – too much, … Read more

A Saudi feminist’s spoken-word performance finds its power in protest

By Jasmine Bager• Narrative News• February 16, 2017

Waad Janbi, a Saudi feminist and aspiring filmmaker, has long fought against misogyny using her hands–furiously typing on her smartphone or laptop. But last month, for the first time, she fought it using her feet. When I marched for … Read more

Dying along with Whitney Houston at the Future of Storytelling Festival

By Jasmine Bager• Narrative News• October 13, 2016

In a gutted museum in East Harlem last weekend, I plunged into arctic waters, went on an African safari, flew like a bird and even experienced the last few minutes of a celebrity’s life. New Yorkers are notorious for living in their … Read more

The badass women of the Qur’an: “An Emancipatory Reading”

By Jasmine Bager• Narrative News• September 12, 2016

Want an end-of-summer beach read that’ll turn heads faster than a Burkini ban? Consider Asma Lamrabet’s book, Women in the Qur’an: An Emancipatory Reading, which has just been translated into English from the French. Not only is the subject … Read more

How Saudi Millennials are using social media to revive an ancient literary tradition

By Jasmine Bager• Narrative News• August 18, 2016

History is happening in Saudi Arabia right now — but I’m not referring to the feminist presence at the Rio Olympics. I’m talking about an ancient cultural and literary … Read more

About Jasmine Bager