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.