Amber Yoder is an Associate Producer for Paul Devlin Productions, an independent film company in New York. She is also an artist, a screenplay writer, and a filmmaker. And…you guessed it…she is my daughter. Of course, I love Amber as a mother loves a daughter. But I also admire Amber as a person and as a professional. When I hear other women complaining about their daughters, I feel sorry for them. I was blessed with Amber. I have learned so much from her.
Last spring, Amber graduated from Denison University and moved to New York City to pursue her dreams. There’s no doubt in my mind that Amber will leave a big and positive mark on the world. In the future, I will show you some more of Amber’s pieces and also some interesting video from Paul Devlin Productions.
Amber looks at the world in very unique ways, and her pieces always reflect this unique vision. In one series of art prints, she climbed inside a hole in an old tree to photograph the world from the inside out.
The following short art film is one of my favorites from Amber’s college days. It is a very thoughtful piece and quite poetic in nature. For the filming, Amber snuck into some old houses that were scheduled for demolition in an area not too far from her school. The broken picture of the American flag was a random object in the house. On the same day that Amber was filming this, I wrote the poem you will see below. I did not know her topic, and she did not know mine, at least not on a conscious level. Our connection is sometimes eerie.
Occurrences
by Amber Yoder
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The Window Seat
by Julie Buffaloe-Yoder
Next to rain warm windows, rusty screens,
wood makes a seat wide enough
where children disappear behind curtains,
dream, maybe find last year’s pink candy
that was hidden, forgotten.
There are spots of life on old wood
gummed with the fingerprints
of some day in summer
when tiny blue butterflies
zig zagged past and June bugs
pinged on the screen.
There is always a clay figure there
molded by hard, little fingers,
spelling bee certificates,
school pictures faded stiff and maybe
cherry drops melt on sun soft wood
because a grandfather gave them
to a girl who pretended to cough.
There are curtains, fat with wind,
that smell like bacon cracking
in a big black pan.
Rows of green tomatoes
turn yellow, then red, forever
leaving circles of small stains.
A girl carved her name there
with an old pocketknife
the night she overheard
her father sobbing, and babies
have chewed that same spot
for more than a hundred years.
There might be a fly there, sun crisp,
on its back, maybe missing a wing,
not antiseptic and pretty but
a source for neverending stories.
Pennies stuck there,
once lifted,
leave faces in the wood.
There is a life there that sings
because that is what wood will do.
But when the dark storm blows,
the window will be closed.
That breath, frozen in time,
for a moment, disappears.
Eventually, old wood will be
boarded up, broken, forgotten,
replaced by pressboard.
How quickly plowed down.
Not easily sold.
Wow. Both pieces are beautiful and I throughly enjoyed them on their own, but the connection–both that it happened and how they work together–is amazing. A large portion of my research is involved with mother-daughter relationships and its wonderful to see it portrayed here.
Hi, Brigindo:
I was just looking on your blog to see if you have anything posted about your research? I’m so curious. I was a young mother, so I’ve always wondered if that has anything to do with all the crazy fun we had/have.
Of course, that’s not to belittle older mothers, either. I’m sure if I had one now that I’m older, I’d still be crawling around on the floor acting silly. Amber is awesome, so that made it easier, too.
Please let us know if your research will be published for the general public and when!
Thanks for your kind comments!
Julie,
I don’t write any details about my research on my blog because academia isn’t always the friendliest when it comes to blogging, so I try to keep myself somewhat unidentifiable.
Drop me a line at brigindo@gmail.com if you’re interested and I’d be glad to tell you more about it.
BTW I was a young mother too and I definitely think I wouldn’t be as playful at this age as I was then.
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That makes sense! Yep…academia. Boy, they really loved me (tongue in cheek). I will definitely e-mail you, because I am curious. Thanks so much!
Julie
when it is good, there is nothing stronger than a mother/daughter relationship. The video was good and I loved the poem–together you are right a bit spooky. Put a stamp on the poem–it is really good.
Thanks so much for your kind words, Scot. I really appreciate it. I’m still trying on a bluebird poem, but what I’ve done so far isn’t cutting it. The work you have posted is awesome!
I appreciate the challenge, though, because it will definitely turn into something eventually. Take care & thanks again.
Julie, Oh my, that is amazing…really. How totally cool!
And I hope it’s not just young mothers who get the chance to have such amazing experiences with their daughters. I can’t wait to be a mom!
Hi, Holly! Thank you so much.
Nah…I think it just depends on the attitude. I once knew a very young mother (maybe 20) who acted like a blob. I swear, if she ever got up off the couch, it was to go get something she could eat during the next soap opera. I felt sorry for her kids.
You’ll be an excellent mother!! Thanks again!