PROMINENT NATIVE IS LITERACY ADVOCATE

Linda Bloodworth-Thomason predicts the next national issue following health reform will be education reform.

Bloodworth-Thomason is a Poplar Bluff native and creator and writer of the hit sitcoms "Designing Women," "Evening Shade" and "Hearts Afire."

She told the Missourian Monday that education reform may be a bigger national issue than health-care reform.

"I don't think children are reading like they used to, and there is not this great respect for language and literature," she said.

In the telephone interview, Bloodworth-Thomason said first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton was staying with her last week, and they discussed the woes of America's education system. "We talked about how to renew and revise it and get our children back on track."

She talked about the importance of reading and writing in her own career as a kick-off to today's YELL for Newspaper campaign. Hundreds of volunteers will hit the street today to hawk newspapers and raise money to support Youth, Education, Literacy and Learning.

Bloodworth-Thomason has done her part to encourage reading and education in her hometown.

"I think we all affect our little corner of the globe," she said. "That's what I am trying to do in some small way."

She has initiated and funded two programs aimed at improving education in Poplar Bluff. One called Charlie Classics is named for her grandfather and provides incentives for Poplar Bluff High School students to read literary classics.

In the past, students have won convertible sports cars, jet skis and scholarships. The other is a scholarship and mentoring program through the Claudia Company, named for her mother. She donates $1 million annually to the foundation to provide scholarships for girls who would otherwise not be able to go to college.

Her writing career and the literacy programs all stem from a collection of books left to her after her grandfather, Charles Thomas Bloodworth Sr., died.

"I think he would be very happy if he knew that," Bloodworth-Thomason said. "Maybe he does."

She said her grandfather inspired her to become a writer. He came to Arkansas with only a sixth-grade education and, due in large part to his study of literary classics, became a lawyer and newspaper editor.

"I was so impressed with the way he bettered himself with books," Bloodworth-Thomason said. "He had such reverence for the written and spoken word."

Her grandfather's library collection came to her following his death.

"I was not a particularly scholarly student," she said. "But I loved reading."

She worked as a newspaper reporter and an English literature teacher before becoming a freelance writer. She is the first American writer in television history to write 35 consecutive episodes of a series.

Bloodworth-Thomason is working on a new series called "Women of the House," starring Delta Burke and Terry Garr. "Basically it's me getting to say to Washington a few things I wanted to say." She will do all the writing for the new series.

"Hearts Afire" is starting a new season also. A writing staff works on that project.

She hasn't forgotten Poplar Bluff. "I love where I come from," she said. But people working in the entertainment industry and the political world can be insulated from the rest of the country.

"Many people in New York and Los Angeles believe there is nothing in between that is worth knowing about or reading," she said. "Sometimes I feel like a lone voice. I feel where we come from is very culturally rich. A lot of talent and assets have not yet been mined."