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24 GU I D E to Y E L L OW S P R I NG S | 2O22 – 2O23 been in vain because he hasn’t made a lick of difference to or an impression on any of his students. Depressed, he decides to end his life. Handgun in hand, he returns to his school, to a statue of none other than Horace Mann, adorned with his famous Antiochian “Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for human- ity” quote. Fowler tells Horace that he is ashamed to die, but alas, there is nothing more to be done. Just as he is about to pull the trigger... (dramatic pause...) he is whisked away into the Twilight Zone! Ghosts of his former students appear to him, saying that he has, in fact, made a difference to them, in such personal ways he could never know them all. Fowler returns home, alive and happy, gracefully accepting his retirement. Rod Serling got his bach- elor’s degree at Antioch Col - lege. In much of his work, the Antiochian influence is clear, but never quite so directly as in this episode of the TV show he created, produced, hosted and wrote most of the scripts for. In this episode, which Serling wrote, it is Fowler’s visit to Horace Mann that brings him into the Twilight Zone. Horace Mann is clearly a gatekeeper to the Twilight Zone. And as if we needed more proof, we can thus extrapolate that Antioch College and Yellow Springs are huge landmarks of the “Professor Ellis Fowler, a gentle, bookish guide to the young, is about to discover that life still has certain sur - prises, and that the campus of the Rock Springs School for Boys lies on a direct path to another institution, commonly referred to as the Twilight Zone.” Thus begins “The Twilight Zone” episode “The Chang - ing Of The Guard.” Fowler has been teaching for 51 years and is being forced to retire. Pondering his fate and his past, he comes to the conclu - sion that his whole career has ROD SERLING AT ANTIOCH COLLEGE By VANESSA QUERY From August 2010 ▲ Rod Serling served as writer-in-residence at Antioch College between 1962 and 1963. P H O T O : A N T I O C H I A N A , A N T I O C H C O L L E G E • Groceries • • Supplements • • Bulk Goods • • Body Care Products • • Essential Oils • Natural • Non GMO Organic 142 Dayton St. 937-767-1888 OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK! Mon–Fri: 11–6 Saturday: 10–6 Sunday: 12–5 ;