This month's cover was supposed to be a simple job - a photo of Ruth Gruber MA'31 with the Statue of Liberty shining in the background. Ruth lives in New York City, just a few miles from the statue. And Lady Liberty is the largest statue in America, visible from all over New York's harbor. All we had to do was ask Ruth to stand in front of the statue, and voilà, a cover shot.

Simple, right?

Wrong.

The trouble with the Statue of Liberty, from photographic point of view, is that it's standing on an island. In the water. Away from convenient places to stand.

So our art director, Earl Madden MFA'82, had a brainstorm. Why not put Ruth on the Staten Island Ferry, which makes many voyages every day and passes within view of Lady Liberty on every one? He called up New York photographer Nina Kowaloff Barnett '69 and made a date, January 16, 2002. They'd set up all the equipment on the deck of the ferry, snap as many shots of Ruth as needed, and then retire for a hot beverage, a job well done. Simple.

Wrong again.

It seems that the Staten Island Ferry, like most ferries, moves. The Statue of Liberty comes into view - or a useful view, from a photographer's standpoint - for only a brief time. And January can be wicked cold, especially out on the water, with wind howling in after it's raced unimpeded across several thousand miles of ocean. The "simple" shot would take hours and four trips across New York's harbor, with Ruth rushed out every time the statue came into view, and Earl standing just outside the camera frame to shield her from the wind, and Nina snapping as fast as she could.

Our spring cover shot is just what we wanted - it shows a smiling Ruth standing in front of a placid harbor and a sun-drenched Statue of Liberty. It sums up all that Ruth helped those refugees find - safety, freedom, and entry into a new world - all in one image. It cost us a lot of trouble, but it's a picture that speaks with an eloquence that is, well, simple.