,;;
I,1961I
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
I, 1981 THE MICHIGAN DAILY
'U' Foreign Students
Enjoy Local Holidays
is
By PATRICIA O'CONNOR
For most foreign students,
Christmas vacation is a stay-at-
home affair.
The pressures of studying force
them to remain rather unobtrusive,
Harriet Cady, an administrative
assistant at the International Cen-
ter reports.
k In addition, more than half of
the foreign students are of cultures
which do not celebrate Christmas,
a factor which negates somewhat
an extroverted holiday season.,
Most Stay
For the overwhelming majority
Trimester
Sets
Change
In Vacation
Drastic changes will be wrought
upon the'season of Christmas when
the University's year-round opera-
tion plan takes form.
No longer need. the suffering
student be forced to learn a course
over the holidays, nor will he be
immersed with worries of books
to read, papers to write or tests
to study for.
The summer of 1963 will herald
this revolutionary concept as the
fall semester will be pushed back
to begin in late August and extend
through middle December, to end
before Christmas, vacation.
This break will be cut from the
pistomary three weeks to two in
*rder to facilitate the entrance of
the next term, from the beginning
of January until just before spring
vacation.
The third semester runs from,
April until middle August.
But for the students who are
immediately setting up plans for
a carefree vacation in the South-
ern hinterlands two years from
now, there is one slight compli-
cating factor-registration.
It is unknown at this time
whether it will take place just
before, during or after vacation.
It is also true that students will
be deprived of one vacation-the
former midsemester break between
January and February-because it
will become congruent with the
Christmas vacation.
who remain in Ann Arbor, oppor-
tunities are available to enable
foreign students to become ac-
quainted with local families.
Through the Ann Arbor host
family plan, sponsored by the
Ann Arbor-Washtenaw Council of
Churches, foreign students are in-
vited to private homes to take
part in Christmas festivities.
Two other programs are those
sponsored by the American Asso-
ciation of University Women and
the Alumni Council.
Two Programs
Branches of the AAUW in five
state communities open their
homes to foreign students for the
holidays, while alumni living in
the Birmingham area often invite
back foreign students who visited
them during "Operation Friend-
ship" last fall.
The only other Christmas season
program locally for foreign stu-
dents is an International Students
Association party in which stu-
dents of every religious and cul-
tural hue take part.
Some foreign students go on
tours over vacation. Miss Cady will
guide a contingent of 35 on a six-
day junket through Washington
and New York through Jan. 2.
Varied Events
The group will meet a senator,
be hosted by University alumni,
tour the United Nations and on
New Year's Eve participate in a
dance at the International House
in New York.
The International Center also
publicizes two other tours, al-
though it has no official connection
with them. One is through a na-
tional program called VISIT,
Ventures for International Stu-
dents Interested in Travel.
This plan entails visiting many
small American cities where spe-
cial provisions are made for ac-
commodating students for a short
period of time.
Spartan Special
Michigan State University also
conducts a program, for which any
University foreign student is eligi-
ble,
However, because most foreign
students toured these cities when
they first arrived in America, and
because of the pressure of studies
and an incompatible culture, rela-
tively few such students partake
The
By MARTHA MacNEAL
Delivering his Christmas ser-
mon, a Universalist minister in
Philadelphia told his congregation
about the final explosion of the
myth of the Bethlehem star-and
the resurrection of that same myth
in a new context.
"When I was young and brash
and fresh out of divinity school, I
attended a program at the plane-
tarium on Christmas Eve. The pro-
gram showed exactly how the
Bethlehem 'star' was formed by
the momentary conjunction of
three stars as they approached
and passed each other in their
natural orbits.
"All this had been calculated
exactly, and a supposed super-
natural phenomenon had once
more been proved to be a perfectly
understandable natural occurrence.
I was delighted to see another re-
ligious superstition dispelled," he
said.
Manger Scene
"However, I was vastly disap-
pointed, when, as the lights began
to brighten, 'a manger scene com-
plete with shepherds and wise men
was illuminated on the wall, and
'O Little Town of Bethlehem' be-
gan to play softly.
"I approached the operator of
the projector afterwards and asked
him indignantly why such a brilli-
ant scientific disproof of religious
superstition had been marred by
seeming acquiescence to the whole
myth of Christmas.
"He looked at me coldly for a
moment and said 'There is such a
thing as poetry, you know'."
Real Lesson
This, then, is the real lesson of
.Christmas for all religious liberals,
for agnostics and atheists as well.
There is such a thing as poetry.
The Universalist-Unitarians and
the Quakers believe fundamentally
in the right of the individual to
decide his own beliefs. Therefore,
it is impossible to describe a spe-
cific religious doctrine which ap-
plies to all their members.
Generally, Universalist - Uni-
t'arians subscribe to the belief in
God as "the spirit of eternal and
all-conquering love" and believe
in "the power of men of good will
and sacrificial spirit to overcome
all evil and progressively establish
the kingdom of God."
Spiritual Power
The Religious Society of Friends
(Quakers) define the source of
spiritual power as the "inner light"
within the individual and sacred
to him.
If "God" must be defined as a
power over and above man, then
some Unitarian-Universalists and
Quakers (though probably not the
majority) may properly be called
atheists, because, for them, the
supreme power is the goodness of
human beings.
Many of the more liberal think-
ers in these groups deny the physi-
cal truth of the "virgin" birth, the
angels, the annunciation, the "Son
of God" concept and the later
miraclesrand resurrection of Christ.
Seeks Symbols
These, then, may be called fic-
tion, but fiction that springs from
the poetic heart of man which
seeks symbols to express those
ambitions which drive him to-
wards the good.
Was the ghost of Hamlet's father
"real"? Of course not, but that fact
does not lessen the ghost's mean-
ing, for Hamlet and for all men
everywhere.
So it is with the star, and the
"multitude of heavenly host, prais-
ing God and saying, 'Glory to God
in the highest, and on earth, peace
among men with whom he is
pleased'."
More Miraculous
Indeed, the fact the Jesus was
a man, an ordinary human being,
makes his life all the more miracu-
lous, and the poetry created about
him all the more inspiring.
There is an unfortunate tenl-
dency among intellectuals to re-
'Poetry'
of Christmas
tCHRISTMAS
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723 North University
WINTER LIGHT-Whatever else Christmas may or may not be, it is, unassailably, poetry. The light
breaking behind the trees may, to some, symbolize God or hope or rebirth, but even if it is noth-
ing more than light, it is still beautiful. Part of the deepest meaning of Christmas is that human be-
in the Christmas tours, Miss
says.
Cady
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You will enjoy giving SPODE
or Jensen or WEDGWOOD
for your Christmas gifts.
See our nice selection
of the finest in all gifts.
JOHN LEIDY
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ings can extend themselves beyoni
ject all religious doctrine as false
and meaningless. Religious liber-
als, atheists and agnostics often
show the same joy in crushing a
myth as the Universalist minister
felt before he learned about poetry.
No one who loves Shakespeare
for his insight into human love,
guilt;and sacrifice can permit him-
self to mock those same attributes
in religious doctrines, just be-
cause they are not actually "true."
Extends Himself
Man's uniqueness is not his rea-
son, but his ability to extend him-
self beyond physical reality into
beauty, love and hope . . . in
spite of reality which would crush
his spirit otherwise.
Christmas is then, for those who
cannot believe in the physical
truth of religion, a time to remem-
ber poetic truth.
Jesus Christ and his story sym-
bolize the power of human love.
When an intellectual who under-
stands poetry and what it means
to human beings looks at a carved
wooden creche, he will know fully
why "the hopes and fears of all
the years are met in thee tonight."
Peace Corps
To Get Break
The 55 Peace Corps volunteers
in training at the University will
receive a 12-day break in their
busy schedule to spend Christmas
and New Year's Day with their
families.
Since the Christmas holidays
are so near the University group's
departure for Thailand around
Jan. 19, the short vacation will
serve as their home leave.
The volunteers could only guess
as to how they will be spending
,next Christmas in Thailand, where
they will be teaching English and
vocational subjects and working
on malaria control and eradica-
tion.
With less than .5 per cent of
Thailand's population Christian,
celebration of the holiday there
is limited.
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