OPINION
Page 5
Vol. XCV, No. 23-S
95 Years of Editorial Freedom
Managed and Edited by Students at
The University of Michigan
Editorials represent a majority opinion of the
Daily Editorial Board
An alternative
TWENTY homosexual high-school students are
enrolled in an instructional program in the basement
of a church in New York City. These students have been
harassed and abused by their peers at regular schools.
Many of the students have dropped out of school because of
harassment. This new program has given them a second
chance to earn a diploma.
It is not an accredited school, but students receive credit
toward a high-school diploma which is then transferred to
their regular schools. Many of the students will eventually
return to their old schools, but some may never return
without the program.
The chancellor of New York City schools, Nathan
Quinones, has recently been getting a lot of heat over why
the city is funding such a program.
The instructional program, which began in April, was
given one teacher and some educational supplies by the
city's division of off-site educational services. This
division also supports programs in prisons, drug-
rehabilitation clinics, and for pregnant teenagers.
The school has been informally named the Harvey Milk
School in memory of a homosexual San Francisco super-
visor who was murdered in 1978.
The Institute for the Protection of Lesbian and Gay
Youth, a non-profit counseling group, expects enrollment
to triple this fall.
If these students are being harassed because of their
lifestyles, then something is wrong with the school system.
But these students can not afford to wait for the entire
system to correct itself. Perhaps, in a couple of years, the
school system will have programs designed for these
students. In the mean time, this program must be suppor-
ted.
The City of New York should continue this program as a
temporary solution and work toward increasing
awareness of discrimination in the school system.
Thursday, June 20, 1985
The Michigan Daily
T3WROST'/' RoSTE1Ko'NSKI, ANDt IA 'WE NEEDA kA'K NxSSTMA TAAT';
GCATo I& To 1[E14'CAE ?RJ&ID.NT ?ASS SIMPLE MDP VARP"..
AND TthtcoE GUY 'obAT CrWiebOy Si UP noO Do YOUrTis.o
ALL TAOSS LOOPHOLES IN TKE CODE PUT TREW THEE
SumOWre~lerSreenadct ritual.
red and green, with yellow for the middle. Traditionally,
By William Beeman before the village competition could begin, the space for
Sumo wrestling, Japan's latest export to the United the purification ceremony is carried out by the wrestlers
States, may look like just another exotic athletic com- and their attendants before each day's match. By entering
petition, with two immense masses of flesh grappling with the ring in ritual fashion, the contestants drive evil from
each other in a ring. But for Japanese, this harkens back the competition space.
to ancient images of massive mountains and mighty seas The Sumo ring is not only an arena for competition, it is
confronting each other ina contest of life forces. a center of spiritual power. Almost all Shinto rituals
In fact, Sumo wrestling is not only the great national assume that the gods become manifest through human
sport of Japan but a reenactment of 1,500-year-old beings. Sumo wrestlers once they enter the ring literally
religious rituals. call divine power to earth during the course of the contest.
SUMO HAS its origins in Japanese village religion, a In some sense, they become gods for a brief moment. In
blend of Buddhism and Shinto. Shinto is concerned with the clash of their titantic bodies, they release all of the
the forces of nature and agricultural fertility - an im- power of nature.
portant consideration in Japanese village life. Sumo was In rural Japan, this assured that the land would be fruit-
originally a contest which served to release the power of ful, and that prosperity would rain on the village. The side
nature to make the land fertile and ensure prosperity for of the village from which the winning wrestler came
the community. would prosper more than the losing side, according to
For rural Japanese, food came either from cultivation tradition.
of the land or from the sea. Villages were often divided into SUMO WRESTLERS have ranks to which they may be
two halves - mountain side and sea side. The opponents promoted and from which they may be demoted. The
in Sumo were taken from the two halves - a "mountain" grand champion, called yokonuza, will never be demoted,
opponent and a "sea" opponent. Even today, Sumo although he may retire when no longer able to maintain a
wrestlers often take ceremonial names which include the winning record. He is a national hero, but in essence he
word mountain or sea. becomes a kind of living diety as well.
The symbols of the land - rice and rice straw - and the In understanding - the religious origins of Sumo,
symbol of the sea - salt - continue to be an important Americans can better appreciate some of the cultural for-
part of the competition. The Sumo ring is made up of rice ces that motivate the Japanese people. As the national
straw, the wrestlers themselves wear ceremonial aprons sport of Japan, Sumo embodies elements that weigh
which have Shinto rice symbolism incorporated into heavily in Japanese life.
them. Before entering the ring wrestlers toss a handful of The enthusiasm with which Japanese continue to support
salt into the air. Sumo shows how close these ideas continue to lie to the
THE RING itself is a ceremonial replica of a Shinto core of modern Japan.
shrine. Tassels incorporating Shinto color symbolism are
suspended from all corners of the ring - black, white, Beeman wrote thisfor Pacific News Service.
BLOOM COUNTY
Letters to the Daily should be typed,
triple-spaced, and signed by the in-
dividual authors. Names will be withheld
only in unusual circumstances. Letters
may be edited for clarity, grammar, and
spelling.
FMHEiR- I
HAVe A
CONF655ON
10 MAKO.
Ir46l#AHGT YOUK WW/G5 M4P
tAUW619,P A sHUMC CHAIM iM
WASHINGON, PC.,7O FIASH 1IHC
50M T/AFK/CAN A/'IASSAPOK WI/
iNC 51 XAIC P64M Of C(/w'm
JOHN AND A At TUBA B(AYCR.
by Berke Breathed
/tANK5 FR 9ENG AC AGY, I WAS
S AIHW/THME, OHOGN EV5EiENT
0N. YOI'E1 0 56E 9///OVr
GOWHP Ni7t ANY /tt -0.
TOU 4LH'" /ITY.
K.