As one of the alumni quoted in “R.I.P Story Week,” I need to address an issue raised by the letter to the editor from Courtney Zellars regarding Story Week (Nov. 3).  Ms. Zellars states: “The alumni voices were OK but readers also must read their comments with more than a grain of salty skepticism—both alumni mentioned graduated over 20 years ago in 1993. Both are also biased since they are affiliated with/paid by Story Week.”  While the former is true (I graduated in 1993 with a master’s from the Fiction Writing program), I fail to see how that makes my voice as an alum any less significant.  More importantly, while I have participated in Story Week events on several occasions, I was never paid for my contributions as Ms. Zellars wrongly assumes.  It was my honor to be a part of Story Week (pro bono), to see old friends and teachers, as well as meet students and learn about the exciting things they were doing in a program I loved and was proud to be a part of in my years at Columbia.

Arnie Bernstein

1993 Fiction Writing alumnus

Story Week participant