Welcome to White Rose Magazine.

The White Rose collection, by Indrani Guharay

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Translation of Bhaaratha Samudhaayam Yaazhgavae (Slide 31) here.

Hand of God: Light

Elliot Toman

Look at how a single candle
can both defy and define the darkness.

Anne Frank

Throughout history, humanity has been given the option: feed the darkness or choose to create light. The task of creating light fell mostly to artists and religious leaders. Light has been used literally, figuratively, and metaphorically, all with the intent to show its infinite, eternal nature—its ethereal transcendence.

The interplay of dark and light has been a theme running from Greek and Roman sculpture to Renaissance painting to experimental film. Across cultures and eras, both architects and musicians have given it meaning in the peaks and valleys of their work. In the late 20th century, light art, or luminism, emerged: in these installations, light is the main medium of expression. 

Religions have also focused on the divine aspects of light. In Judaism, light is a symbol for God. In religious symbolism, light is often connected to our ability to see; sacred texts use the theme of blindness to describe those who are spiritually lost. 

Looking deeply into the flame of a candle bestows the ability to restore a whisper of hope—it connects immediately with our souls. After too many years of darkness, it’s time to begin to create light, in whatever form possible, again.

The Weather Project, Olafur Eliasson, 2003
Spirit Cloud, Xiaojing Yan, 2017
Saint-Pierre de Firminy, France, Le Corbusier, 2006.
Starlings, Menahem Kahana, Israel, 2016

“Faith is the bird that feels the light when the dawn is still dark.”
Rabindranath Tagore

Church of the Light, Tadao Ando, 1989
The Infinite Crystal, teamLab, 2018

“Light, alone, does not make light. There must be darkness for light to become light—resplendent with dignity and power.”
Tadao Ando

Between You and I, Anthony McCall, 2006

“What makes night within us may leave stars.”
Victor Hugo

“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.”
Plato

Approaching Shadow, Fan Ho, 1954
Double Vision, James Turrell, 2013
Ulrika Randel, 2018
Oberoi Udaivilas Palace, India

“A visionary is one who can find his way by moonlight and see the dawn before the rest of the world.”
Oscar Wilde

Jatiyo Sangsad Bhaban, Bangladesh, Louis Kahn, 1982
“Bernadette Twirling,” Rodney Smith, 2007
HYBYCOZO, Hybycozo, 2014

“All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle.”
Francis of Assisi

Grundtvig’s Church, Copenhagen, 1940
Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque, Iran, 1619  

“It is your light that lights the worlds.”
Rumi

Issue V

Elliot Toman

On Reading Thomas Kearney’s Memoir of His Travels Through the New World

Many, content within their cozy cells Of soft and safe familiarity, Will scorn or fear the daring that compels The youth to chase horizons, make them flee Until the understanding spans the whole Continuum of all humanity. To tread the planet’s breadth from pole to pole, To slumber under foreign stars, and share Warmth with…

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Hirelings in Shepherd’s Clothing

How Corrupt Leaders and Failed Reporters Are Fueling the Mass Psychosis

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Thanksgiving

Freedom is never free. As I bend the dough, I think about the fallen heroes’ ultimate sacrifices, and I thank them each time I prepare this delicacy.

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To Life

Of all of the pro-abortion talking points, only one seems to be the most honest to their cause, and that is the argument of personhood; is the fetus a human being, does it have value, and is it worth protecting? These are the questions to which pro-abortion advocates tend to resoundingly answer “no.” This is…

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Examining the ‘Israeli Century’

As the title suggests, Shain believes that, in the current century, it is Israel that will define Jewish life. The Diaspora will continue to exist, he says, and this is not a bad thing; but the prevailing zeitgeist will be Israeli.

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Arguing with Idiots

Our society has lost touch with the classical liberal values of freedom of expression and opinion. The great innovation of Liberalism was the ability to speak one’s mind without fear.

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Go Find Alice

Greater even than the loss of lives through Covid Times is the loss of freedom for the generations that follow. Were freedom to extinguish, then the souls lost have died in vain.

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The Covid Conundrum

Since March of 2020, the United States and much of the rest of the world has turned itself upside-down and inside out over the Corona virus also known as COVID-19. A “Corona Culture” has emerged in the West and its foremost symbol is the mask. People are constantly bickering over the usefulness of the mask.

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First Day of School

I am convinced now that the Soviet Union ultimately won the Cold War without firing a single shot at its mortal enemy. This phenomenon of radical indoctrination arrived at the doorsteps of my beloved, adopted country after the collapse of the USSR.

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Biafra: The Price of Freedom

The Biafra war, represents more than a fight for freedom. It was a fulfillment of prophecy, a connecting link between the Igbos and their Jewish brethren, who share the same struggles for survival, security, and sovereignty.

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A Revolution in the Human Soul – Part I

Without the proper morality, political systems are doomed to fail. But without the proper epistemology, or proper ethical and moral system, values and virtues remain obscured from the realm of human cognition.

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JFK: Why He Matters Still

This week is the 58th commemoration of the assassination of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Robert F. Kennedy quoted these lines in tribute to his brother, “When he shall die, take him and cut him out in little stars, and he will make the face of heaven so fine that all the world will be in…

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Felix Culpa

Departing from the Garden, Adam spoke
At length about the March of History,
Of dialectic, and the world that woke
Out of the fruit’s potentiality.

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Hallmarks of Tyranny

Part 1 : Division If “Never Again” means “Never Again,” it’s necessary to spot the signs that might indicate democracy is threatened. Totalitarian regimes arise with certain dynamics, and if we do not understand these signals, how do we protect hard won freedoms? And when trigger warnings appear that might be red flags for a…

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The Liberal’s Guide to COVID-19 Madness

Nearly two years living with the threat of COVID-19 drove us mad. Those crown-headed microbes reigned over our capacity to breathe, and think.

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Light after Darkness

Darkness swirls like a stormRapid and relentless, consuming Passage of time blurredBy monotony stretched endlessly It’s easy to lose one’s wayLike a boat with water far as the eye can see Every day a survivalOne after another Not unlike a weary stranded travelerSimply putting one foot before another Exhausted yet holding onAttempting not to fall…

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A Christian Celebration of Hanukkah

Now I understand. Hanukkah is deeply important to my Christian faith. Most of my years following Christ, I understood Hanukkah as a minor Jewish holiday that grew in cultural relevance as a response to western expressions of Christmas. I knew Hanukkah isn’t recorded in the Old Testament. So it has never been in my Bible…

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