About the Cover
Cover. Snapshots provide a moment of coherence in the midst of the
often-hectic dynamics of family life, holding families together for a moment.
This month's cover image provides an opportunity to reflect
upon those featured in the snapshot. Inevitably, it will be held up
against the larger and more complex memories each family member
holds about their lives together. For behind each family photograph are
other imagined visions of the family—as it once was, as it might fully
exist now, and as it might yet become. Despite the limitations inherent
in capturing a single moment, there is a promise in each snapshot of
the larger family story that maps the births and deaths, rifts and renewals,
and health and suffering of those who belong to the family,
through birth and by choice. This issue's cover image was taken on
July 1, 2002, in Hamden, Conn, where members of the Burgess and
Del Valle families joined together in celebration at becoming one family,
as the Burgess family plans to adopt Felix Del Valle's children.
Featured from top left are family friend Courtney, Jelisa Burgess, 11,
David Burgess, 14, David Burgess (their father, a Baptist minister), Lori
Burgess, (holding Felix Del Valle Jr, 8), and Kyia Del Valle, 10. At bottom
are Crystal Del Valle, 6, and Zachary Burgess, 5. Felix Del Valle,
who is dying from Lou Gehrig's disease, and his daughter, Janet, were
not present for the occasion. (AP Photo/Douglas Healey)
Robert Sember and Marguerite Ro
[Table of Contents]
Copyright © 2003 by the American Public Health Association.
