Actress and author, Julianne Moore, says that when she was growing up her Scottish-born mum was a point of difference. Julianne was born in North Carolina but, as an ‘army brat’ moved around the United States.
“My mother came from Scotland when she was 10 years old in 1950. I grew up with a strong sense of my mother’s culture not a sense of assimilation.
“Lots of books talk about that – ‘oh we’re all American now’ but I think there’s something interesting about the dichotomy between a child born here and the culture of a foreign parent. There’s a sort of tension.”
This tension is the subject of Julianne’s latest children’s book, My mom is a foreigner, but not to me.
She said it was difficult for her to have a non-American born mother because at least her mother spoke the same language.
“But I still got the questions about why my mom talked funny. I would say ‘what do you mean?’ I really wasn’t aware of it. We had food at home, that others didn’t. And my mother was so alien to the rest of the world around us, but so familiar to me.”
Julianne says the book is about celebrating who you are and where you’re from.
“My mom used to say to me when I was growing up – ‘remember, you’re not 100% American, there’s this other part of you’.
“She wanted to make sure I knew about it and celebrated it and didn’t want it to disappear.
“I think it’s important for kids to know they can have more than one culture in their lives; it’s okay to have it all.”
The book is available via Amazon.
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