Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • 47

The Detroit News 1 Section detl i Today in Features Television "Grand Ole Opry" moves from Country Music Television to smaller Great American Country network. Page 2D TIn Detroit Nm Mm All day, every day. httpAJetnewscom Dear Abby 2D Faith 5D Comics 6-7D Editorial 80 Saturday, September 6, 2003 Eoeakfast Serials 'The Valley of No Return' Starting Monday in The Detroit News Author takes children into Author John Tomerlin's adventure story "The Valley of No Return" is set In a scenic canyon in Arizona that he vis ited long ago. Robin Buckson The Detroit Newi Wayne State University professor Michele Valerie Ron-nick researched intellectuals, left to right, Richard Theodore Greener, James Monroe Gregory and Wiley Lane for the "12 Black Classicists" exhibit. Exhibit uncovers little-known African-American intellectuals Latest serialized novel is a multicultural 4 survival story Preview '12 Black Classicists' Detroit Public Library 5201 Woodward Detroit noon-8 p.m.

10 a.m.-6 p.m. Thurs, Sat through Sept. 27 Free lecture by Michele Valerie Ronnick 10:30 a.m. Sept. 13 Call (313) 833-4043 By Susan R.

Pollack The Detroit News orty years ago, when John Tomerlin '-4 wrote the "Twilight Zone" TV episode, "Number 12 Looks Just Like You," he delved into the realm of science fiction to explore enforced con i 4 i formity. In his latest work, a serialized novel for young readers called "The Valley of No Return," the southern California author spins a fictional adventure tale set in a real canyon occasionally ravaged by floods. He discovered the scenic By Joy Hakanson Colby The Detroit News DETROIT Professor Michele Valerie Ronnick, who teaches the classics at Wayne State University, has been on an intellectual archeological dig of sorts since the early 1990s. "I've been collecting, organizing and preserving information about African Americans involved with the classical subjects of Latin, Greek and mythology," she says. "It started with ine wondering this: "Who are the black classicists that deserve to be in the history Ronnick was determined to find out, and the results of her "dig" went on exhibit this week at the Main Detroit Public Library, the first stop for her photo exhibit, "12 Black Classicists." The exhibit will go on a national tour of colleges and universities when it closes here Sept.

27. The exhibit was funded by the James Loeb Classical Library Foundation at Harvard University. "My research made me realize that there was a whole pattern here, an intellectual chapter of American history that almost nobody knew about," Ronnick says. "I'm trying to connect the dots. It's very exciting." The professor's dozen scholars, 11 men and one woman, taught Greek and Latin at the college level.

She says their achievements laid the groundwork for the serious study and (eaching of languages (philology) among African Americans. SI "Everyone who studies language and literature in the U.S. jpday, be it Italian, Swahili, ganskrit, English or Arabic, can trace the origin of their disciplines to the scholars fea-Eiired in this photo installa- Arizona site, and its history, on a long-ago camping trip with his daughter. Whether in print or on TV, his stories transport viewers or tion," Ronnick emphasizes. The professor's search began when she ran across a reference to William Sanders Scarborough (1852-1926) as the first black member of the venerable Modern Language Association.

Scarborough, who was president of Wilberforce University in Ohio, was born into slavery and secretly taught himself to read and write. When he mastered those skills, he went on to learn Greek and Latin. Also featured in the exhibit are Lewis Baxter Moore, who earned a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania for his work on the Greek tragedian Sophocles and Wiley Lane, the first black professor of Greek at Howard University in Washington, D.C. "I discovered that black schools like Wilberforce, Howard and Hampton (University) taught the classics," says Ronnick, who is white.

"But somehow, people in the field became invisible. My exhibit is meant to show that knowledge of Latin, Greek and mythology is not a white elitist thing. The historic African-American classicists were all eggheads in the best sense." You can reach Joy Colby at (313) 222-2276 and jcolby detnews.com. ,11 Wx readers outside their everyday lives into intriguing, imagined worlds. Starting Monday, readers of The xnrn Detroit News can join Tomerlin's 13- 1 I About the series year-old characters, Jamie Merriman and his Havasupai Indian friend, Salia, as they confront danger, week by week, in "The Valley of No Return." The multicultural survival story, pitting U.S.

military mining interests against a Havasu Canyon tribe threatened with exile from their ancestral land, is the latest offering from Breakfast Serials, a literacy-boosting program that delivers original books to school classrooms through the nation's newspapers. Running 18 Mondays in Features through Jan. 19 (excluding Dec. 22 and 29), the serialized novel is aimed at 4th through 8th graders and is expected to reach some 25,000 students in more than 700 Michigan classrooms, according to Sharon Martin, manager of The Detroit News' Newspapers in Education program. "Valley" is not available in libraries or book stores and, by contract, will not be published online, she says.

As a veteran author and screenwriter (his TV credits include ABC's 1974 adaptation of The Picture of Dorian Gray" and such io6os-era westerns as the "Lawman" series and Steve McQueen's "Wanted: Dead or Tomerlin, 73, believes books deliver the biggest boost to the imagination. Please see AUTHOR, Page 3D Grandparents Day turns 25, but few people celebrate it fey Kimberly Hayes Taylor What: Breakfast Serials is a literacy-boosting program that delivers original, serialized novels to school children through the nation's newspapers. It appears regularly in The Detroit News. When: "Valley of No Return," written by John Tomerlin and illustrated by Michael Lacapa, begins Monday and runs 18 Mondays in The News' Features section (excluding Dec. 22 and 29).

The story: Written for fourth through eighth graders (but with appeal for all ages), "Valley" is a multicultural adventure story set in Havasu Canyon, an Arizona branch of the Grand Canyon famed for its natural beauty. Less well-known is the fact that floods occasionally rampage through the valley on their way to the Colorado River. One afternoon in the autumn of 1909, two young teenagers one the son of a mining engineer, the other the daughter of a tribal leader whose people are threatened with exile from their ancestral land set out to visit "Dead Man's Falls." A prank played on them by a young member of the tribe becomes potentially lethal when a flash flood cuts off their return. This is a tale of the lessons they learn during their common struggle for survival. Note: Detnews.com does not have permission to publish this series online.

To order: Contact Sharon Martin, manager of The Detroit News' Newspapers in Education department, (800) 678-0789 or (313) 222-6411; or e-mail dnieicJdnps.com. Artist Michael Lacapa illustrated the story in a vibrant, colorful Southwestern style. who supervises stores in Metro Detroit. "I honestly think it's one of the holidays that people come in the store for something else and go, "Oh, I didn't know it was Grandparents Langoni thinks the holiday is becoming more popular. "It's not like Mother-in-Law's Day that was around for a few years and then fell by the wayside.

"It's gaining ever so slightly and it's going forward." Angie Sankey, a store manager for Carlton Cards in Dearborn, laughed when asked who celebrates Grandparents Day. "Nobody's buying the cards," she says. "They are looking at them, but nobody's buying anything." Nancy McGrath, manager at the Amy's Hallmark store in Roseville, believes the holiday will eventually gain more ground. "It's probably just because people don't know about it," she says. You can reach Kimberly Hayes Taylor at (313) 222-2058 or ktaylordetnews.com.

The Detroit News Sue Miner is the only person she knows who has celebrated National Grandparents Day. The Otter Lake, resident says she received a card one year right after her first grandchild was born. "It was kind of exciting. It reminded me that I am a grandparent," she says. "It's nice to have it, but if Grandparents Day didn't happen, I probably wouldn't notice it." Sunday marks the 25th anniversary of National Grandparents Day, a holiday founded in 1970 by Marian Lucille Herndon McQuade, a West Virginia mother of 15 childrea It didn't become a national holiday until 1978 when Congress proclaimed the first Sunday after Labor Day as Grandparents Day and President Jimmy Carter made it official.

Even after a quarter century, the holiday has been slow to catch on. i "It's still coming along," says Dee Langoni, a district manager for American Greetings Corp. lYffi i Vi: Submit items to mat's New, The Detroit News, 615 W. Lafayette Bvd, Detroit, MI 48226. Music Win a chance to hang out with Em Is Eminem the new Willy Wonka? He's giving fans the chance to join him in the studio as he shapes his follow-up to last year's "Eminem Show." The promotion is tied to the release of his protege Obie Trice's debut album "Cheers." Three of the first 500,000 pressings of "Cheers" will include a golden ticket that awards the winner to an all-expenses-paid trip to Detroit where they will hang in the studio with Em.

No word yet on if Augustus Gloop will appear on a track. Obie Trice's "Cheers" hits stores Sept. 23. Television Channel 50 will air last weekend's jazz fest If the overcast weather kept you from the last weekend's Ford Detroit International Jazz Fest at Hart Plaza or you just want to hear some of those great performances again, Channel 50 (WKBD-TV) is coming to the rescue. The station will air a two-hour special at 8 pm Sunday featuring high lights of the three-day event, including performances by Roberta Flack, Cha-ka Khan and saxophonist James Moody.

"Access Hollywood's" Shaun Robinson, saxophonist James Carter and flutist Alexander Zonjic will host the speciaL In addition, winners of the local Heineken Jazz Fest Quest tal ent search will be announced during the telecast -f Compiled from Detroit News staff and wire reports Obie Trice's new CD, "Cheers," comes out Sept 23. i C-J Weekend's Top 10 has Metro Detroit's hot and happening entertainment events. Pa9e4D "I -I ii it i iti i- rt rfl i ft ri i 1 i-.