Tag: Tanner D’Ortenzio


The 12-Foot Tall Steel Wall

by Tanner D’Ortenzio The Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990 is a United States law that bestows certain rights to artists across the country and the works they produce.[1] This law is the first piece of U.S. legislation that formally protected the moral rights of artists and their work. Traditionally a European practice, moral rights (separate from economic rights) essentially maintain the integrity of the artist’s work. While these laws do provide artists with protections in a large number of […]

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The Fantastical Case of the Vanicorn

by Tanner D’Ortenzio Sweet Cecily Daniher is an artist from the Bay Area who has quite the knack for finding rare and mystical unicorns in our modern world, as shown in her photography book I See Unicorns.[1] A tattoo artist by trade, Daniher has used her artistic ability to maintain a career that gives her the opportunity to put forth true forms of expression into the world. One of these expressions took the form of a “tremendously cool, dark blue […]

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A Coat of White Paint

by Tanner D’Ortenzio There once was an old, dilapidated factory nestled cozily in Queens, New York. Constructed in the waning years of the U.S industrial revolution, this factory served its role in expanding the industrial might of the United States by working in the exciting field of water meter manufacturing. In time the Neptune Meter Factory[1] underwent a drastic metamorphosis, changing from a damp water meter factory; to a world-renowned sanctuary for aerosol artists and daring creatives alike. Eerily similar […]

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Remembering the Rebels

by Tanner D’Ortenzio Alabama Code Title 41. State Government § 41-9-232 states the following: (a) No architecturally significant building, memorial building, memorial street, or monument which is located on public property and has been so situated for 40 or more years may be relocated, removed, altered, renamed, or otherwise disturbed.[1] Also known as the Alabama Memorial Preservation Act of 2017, this act essentially prohibits the removal or alteration of any kind to public Confederate monuments. This raises an incredibly important question: […]

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Supremacy Over Supreme

by Tanner D’Ortenzio The street-wear brand Supreme has become a colossus in the fashion industry ,with their signature box logo being recognizable in households across the globe. Supreme is especially popular amongst the youth of the United States, evolving over time to fit skate and hip-hop niche. Their popularity can be attributed to their rebellious and high-fashion inspiration, as well as the exclusivity of their products. Throughout their history Supreme has been accused of directly copying the work of famed […]

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An Inquiry into the Value of Foreign-Born Workers in the Agricultural Sector

by Tanner D’Ortenzio How much do you spend on a pound of strawberries? Or a gallon of whole milk? Most Americans spend on average $0.99 for a pound of conventional strawberries and $3.27 for a gallon of conventional whole milk. Now, imagine for a moment that our government decided to pass large scale agricultural labor reform focused solely on illegal immigration. This would cause our food prices to raise “over five years by an additional 5 percent to 6 percent […]

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Walking the Line: An Inquiry into Our Current Immigration Policies

by Tanner D’Ortenzio On May 19th, 1921, Congress passed the Emergency Quota Act establishing numerical limits on the total amount of immigrants and the use of a quota system for establishing limits on said immigrants. This landmark piece of legislation was passed due to a large amount of Jewish immigrants leaving Eastern Europe. Fleeing from religious anti-semitism in the forms of violent, targeted riots called pogroms and accusatory blood libels. Based off of the 1910 U.S. Census, this act restricted […]

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Clearing the Backlog: An Analysis of Our Current Immigration Court System

by Tanner D’Ortenzio The United States Refugee Act of 1980 was an amendment to the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. The main goal of this amendment was to establish a permanent and transparent system for the admission of refugees into the United States. The INA with the addition of The United States Refugee Act provides the U.S. government with a legal obligation to accept potential refugees and asylum seekers. With the steadily increasing amount of asylum seekers, this piece […]

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The United States of America v. Portrait of Wally

by Tanner D’Ortenzio The question, pondered by historians and inquisitive minds alike has garnered a multitude of books, articles, and discussions. What if Adolf Hitler’s paintings had gotten him into art school? As tantalizing as this possibility may seem, the fact of the matter is that the monstrous ruler of the Third Reich used this failure as fuel to systematically seize or demolish all forms of art and culture that he deemed as corruptive to the German people. At the […]

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