Letter to the Reader Christopher Bernard Letter Page 1     For our twentieth anniversary issue, we welcome back both James Bybee (several of whose new poems we published in the Winter/Spring 2009 issue) and Andrew Towne, who participated with gusto in the debate we publish in this issue. Of course, in every anniversary one makes a bow to the past and then sets one's eyes on the weirdness of the future, in this case especially regarding issues that have always guided, and galvanized, Caveat Lector: the value and purpose of art, the politics and other treacheries of contemporary culture, and like problems that enliven both the American and the international scene. Such interests led unexpectedly, not long ago, to a lengthy email exchange on "creative writing" programs and the larger issue of the effect of academia on the arts. That debate~Art Versus the Academy: An Email Debate~can be found in our Essays section. ~The Editors