For over ten years, library graphic designer Carla DeMello has created an original design to represent the Cornell University New Student Reading Project book. Her goal is always to highlight a key image from the text that will entice readers to explore the book and consider a central, but perhaps not obvious, theme. This year, DeMello based her design on the crane because of its profound significance in Japanese culture. A symbol of good fortune, it is also closely connected with the Emperor and his relationship to divinity. She created this sculpture before photographing it and placing it against muted, but unmistakable emblems of American and Japanese patriotism. In particular, she has grayed out the American flag’s brash colors, questioning the hard lines and arrogant policies responsible for the internment of Japanese Americans.