UKRAINIAN MONSTER
AN AMERICAN STORY

​​​In Ukraine, my family stood against the Soviet empire—
keeping their faith through constant threats, exclusion, and surveillance.
When we immigrated to America as religious refugees, freedom carried its own kind of exile. 

My family stayed rooted in their traditional conservative church community and tried to raise us in it.
I ran toward America's promise to “be anyone and do anything” 
as a skater kid in Portland.
I navigated church pews and heavy metal concerts,
conservative faith and liberal rebellion—long before I knew what any
of it really meant or what it would cost to figure out. 

Then my brother descended into mental illness and disappeared
onto the streets of Portland. I had to face a deeper truth:
neither the church nor America could save him.  

To get my brother off the streets, I searched for him in the darkest
corners of our country—
and began the search for freedom all over again.