Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara is a retelling of my family’s journey to America, from breadlines in the former Soviet Union, to our arrival in California, and the honeymoon that followed. Inspired by the 1980s American soap opera, my mother became a mail-order bride from Russia to America, tak-ing my brother and me with her to California, specifically to the town of Santa Barbara. And this is where the story begins: the idea of touching something that felt untouchable.