Marriage Contract Essay

When entering into a marriage, the bride and groom may wish to sign an agreement detailing how assets will be divided if the marriage breaks down. Marriage contracts, often referred to as pre-nuptial agreements, can be drafted and signed before the marriage or during the course of a marriage. Depending on the jurisdiction, formal requirements may need to be met (i.e. agreement in writing, signatures, witnesses) before the contract is valid. A marriage contract can deal with each person’s obligations in the marriage, upon separation, annulment or divorce, or division of assets when one spouse dies. Applying for a marriage license A marriage license is required before getting married. The license itself does not mean that you are married but that you can get married, within that province, at any time during the next three months. To obtain a license you must apply in person to the marriage license issuer in the community in which you intend to get married. The Director of Vital Statistics will provide a list of issuers for a particular area on request. Only one of you need apply for the license but you will need to supply the relevant documents for both partners. As well, a fee will be required at the time of the application. Please contact the appropriate Vital Statistics Office beforehand in order to confirm these details. The Marriage Ceremony You may choose to have either a religious or civil ceremony, either type must be witnessed by at least two people. Religious ceremonies can be performed by any religious representatives registered with the Division of Vital Statistics under the Marriage Act for that Province. Civil ceremonies are performed by Marriage Commissioners, who are appointed by the Director of Vital Statistics and a fee is charged for this type of ceremony. Registering the Marriage The religious representative or Marriage Commissioner who performs your wedding ceremony will also assist you in completing the necessary Marriage Registration Forms. These are then sent to the Division of Vital Statistics where your marriage is registered and a legal record is kept. At the time of the marriage you may be provided with a statement of marriage. This is a document that can be used in the interim period to show that you are legally married. However, you should apply for your marriage certificate from the Director of Vital Statistics, again there is a fee for obtaining a marriage certificate and you should contact the Vital Statistics Office in order to find out the cost.

Myself, the Writer Essay

Every human being in this world has what he or she enjoys doing. On my part, I have a liking for writing and it has become my hobby since my high school years. I developed fondness towards the art of writing after having been encouraged by my language teacher. She used to do a lot of writing and had written several books and articles that were published in journals, magazines, and newspapers. She used to write on virtually every topic especially on issues that were emergent within the society. This teacher became my role model. This paper shall give a summary of the reasons and challenges I meet during writing. Reasons and Challenges in Writing: As stated earlier in the introduction, I developed my desire in writing during my high school days and from that time I have enjoyed every bit of my hobby, writing on almost every topic in the day to day life in the society. One of the main reasons as to why I have a liking for writing is that I have a strong yearning to progress in writing. Writing also assists me in developing new skills and advancing knowledge on various subjects. Writing also helps me in expressing my feelings (Hodges, p 9). There are however many challenges that I encounter in writing. Extra caution is needed when writing due to the strict rules and legislations that have been established to govern writing. These acts to limit the extent to which an individual would wish to express his/her ideas (Elbow, p 12). Writing can also be a challenge in that finding the right words does not come easy. Writing requires total commitment and it may be discouraging especially when you are unable to come up with the necessary words that would express a phenomenon (Elbow, p 26). Writing can not be done in a haphazard manner and therefore requires adequate time and vast research on the topic. Writers get frustrated when some topics of interest do not have enough information upon conducting research. Conclusion: Writing is part and parcel of my life and despite the challenges that I face, I am determined to overcome them and excel. It is only through writing that the unspoken minds can be read and understood. Just like any other field, success in writing requires total commitment. Work Cited: Elbow, Peter. Writing with power: techniques for mastering the writing process, (2nd edn) 1998. Oxford University Press US; ISBN 0195120175, 9780195120172 Hodges, Richard, E. â€Å"The Conventions of Writing. † In Handbook of Research on Teaching the English Language Arts, ed. James Flood, Julie M. Jensen, Diane Lapp, and James R. Squire. 1991. New York: Macmillan.

How Frankenstein and Blade Runner Essay

Science is the most important tool in the progression and maturation of society and its values. Both Mary Shelly and Ridley Scott create characters pushing the boundaries of scientific exploration and understanding and in doing so they reveal flaws and shortcomings in the upheld values of the time. The narratives of Frankenstein and Blade Runner are linked strongly to their context with important messages or warnings within them. At the time of Shelly’s writing the ‘Age of Enlightenment’ was coming to an end, after years of threatening nature with its unrelenting attitude toward scientific endeavour at any cost. Scott addresses the dangers of globalised consumerism which brings as much bad as it does good, in Blade Runner its spread and influence has a strangle hold on Earth. The Industrial Revolution, borne from Enlightenment ideology saw a fast progression in production technology; this meant that more things could be made faster. These improvements saw for the first time in history, sustained growth in incomes and population, however the cost of the period fell entirely on the environment. The Enlightenment values left no room for consideration of the negative effects it was having on nature; destruction of habitat through logging and mining, waterway and air pollution, the conquest and victory of man over his environment was all that was important. In Frankenstein, Shelly created the creature to reveal the true effects. Victor Frankenstein’s creature was horrific; its own father could not bear to look upon it, â€Å"its unearthly ugliness rendered it almost too ugly for human eyes†. Frankenstein, in his scientific endeavours had created the Industrial Revolution’s ugly child – put on show by Shelly to demonstrate the undesirable and harmful effects of the Industrial Revolution. The creature can be seen as a metaphor for the reality of the Industrial Revolution, and its repulsive form shows its true cost, in doing so challenges its benefits. In Blade Runner Tyrell has created the Replicants as moneymaking products purely for commerce. He tells Deckard, â€Å"Commerce is our goal here at Tyrell†, and through this model he has accrued unquestionable global power through technological advances. The ‘life’ Tyrell has created in the Replicants is turned into a commodity, this is accepted by society in Ridley Scott’s dystopian world of globalisation and greedy pursuit of profit. This world Scott has created is the epitome of fears in the 1970s and 80s of consumerism and what it could change the world into. Tyrell embodies the worst extreme of consumerism, where everything is seen as a potential source of money and power; the viewer is introduced to this consumerism-worst-case-scenario in the opening scene. Hellish flames rise out of heavy industry factories and low diegetic music that jars and screeches creating in an uneasy and uncomfortable atmosphere for the viewer, intended highlight the bad place that this future world is. The central values of this new world act to highlight to the emerging problems in the 1980s world Scott was living in. The Enlightenment Era saw the relentless pursuit of science and knowledge, exploration and conquest, which is reflected perfectly in two characters – Victor Frankenstein and Robert Walton. Both are in the forefront of their disciplines, both are pushing the boundaries and both are forced to end their pursuits to save their own lives. The change in attitude they experience is due to the realisation that their values and reasoning are incorrect and if continued will damage themselves and the people around them. It can be argued that Frankenstein does not actually change his views, however he is forced to concede his mission as the ship he is on returns home, i. e. the times are changing him. This is a direct parallel with the shift in societal values that was occurring around the time of Shelly’s writing, and it can be argued that this text played a role in influencing that change. Enlightenment gave way to Romanticism due to the realisation of its destructive power, and the damage it had been causing as it progressed. Walton, an explorer with sights set firmly on finding a North-West passage for the purpose of personal fame, glory and immortalising his name. Exploration for the sake of exploration – a mission destined to fail, because there was no real need, no purpose and lack of emotion attached to it. Victor was successful in his mission; ‘to create life’, which he did with reason, rationality and a scientific mind, the perfect Enlightenment scientist. However his process was void of any emotion. He worked alone, long hours and lack of human companionship induced a craze in which he blindly worked until he was finished, upon completion he saw the horror that he had created and it did nothing but bring misery to his life from then on. The Enlightenment Era values lacking in emotion failed and gave way to Romanticism, which was fundamentally based on strong feelings and irrational emotion as society recognised their importance. Both characters had goals; their processes of reaching them were flawed by the lack of emotion and as a result, ultimately failed. In this way these characters challenge the values of their context. Scott, through the character Eldon Tyrell and Roy Batty shows the importance of maintaining the best qualities of humanity and to loose them would be at the peril of the human race. Pursuit of science without remorse is common to both texts and in Blade Runner it is shown in Tyrell, who is portrayed as removed from reality because of his work. He has very limited human interaction as he has surrounded himself with Replicants who serve him although he shows no attachment to them. Scott shows through Tyrell that with the overtaking of technology and without relationships, humanity is lost. Roy Batty, a Replicant, rises from being a robot to becoming human in a display of supreme compassion and forgiveness when he saves Deckard from falling off a building. In this, the climactic scene of the film, Roy turns from a savage animal, howling and wiping blood across his face into the hero of the story. The chase ends as Deckard is left clinging on to the side of a building, and Roy chooses to catch him as he falls and pull him to safety. For this act, in the eyes of the viewer he ‘achieves’ human status. This notion is backed up by the soft lighting illuminating his face accompanied by a soundtrack of peaceful diegetic music. Also, the on screen subversion of Roy and Deckard’s apparent humanity, camera shots cut between a high angle close up shot looking down on Deckard and a low angle close up looking up at the angelic Roy, firmly placing Roy as better than Deckard. In these two individuals Scott shows importance of the key human qualities of compassion and forgiveness. In Scott’s context these values were becoming increasingly important as nuclear weapons were being added to he arsenal of many countries and the alarming amount of the destruction and devastation they could bring in the hands of a remorseless and uncompassionate leader. Tyrell embodies the values of society at the time, driven by consumerism and greed, and reveals their flaws contrary to Roy, who as a Replicant is seen as lower than human, however, he challenges this and proves it to be incorrect. The rational processes that are integral to the Enlightenment values, are demonstrated most clearly when Victor is putting together his creature. But, it is these processes that clearly show flaws in their own philosophy. As an Enlightenment Era scientist, Victor has all of nature at his disposal, to experiment and conduct tests on however he likes. His deeds show this; the torture of animals in order to discover the â€Å"inner workings of the natural world†, without remorse he digs up countless corpses in the night in search of ‘perfect’ body parts to put together and form his creature. The problems in this approach to science are evident in the cruelty and horrific acts that its moral code condones. These acts have been committed without emotional or human attachment, values that are fundamental in Romantic ideals. In describing these events and directly attributing them to Enlightenment ways, Shelly describes the realisation society is coming to that its values must change. In staying true to the scientific values of the time, Frankenstein exposes their flaws and as a result unwittingly challenges them. A collective character in Blade Runner are the Replicants, as synthetic humans they display similar character traits and can be seen as one ‘race’. The science and technology behind the Replicants has advanced to the point where they have been created as sentient beings, the newest models even have their own manufactured memories. However, giving them their own rational thought has brought danger. They became aware of their exploitation and on the new world we hear of a ‘bloody revolution’ where Replicants had tried to gain independence, resulting in loss of human and Replicant life on a large scale. The technology inside the Replicants and its development had been allowed to progress unchecked to the stage where it caused harm to the human race. In this way Scott is highlighting the possible dangers of allowing boundaries of science to be pushed without fully understanding the effect it will have on the environment, animals or the human population. This reflects the contextual fears brought about by the recent 3 Mile Island nuclear accident. Here nuclear power draws a parallel with the Replicants – progressing from assisting humans to harming them. In this way Blade Runner can be seen as a cautionary tale warning of the dangers of allowing science to progress faster than human understanding of its true capabilities. As a character, the Replicants are the epitome of scientific progress pushed passed its breaking point, bringing bloodshed and loss of life. Their ‘Bloody Revolution’ is the ultimate challenge of the values in the 2019 world Scott has created. Both Mary Shelly and Ridley Scott create characters that reflect the values of their contexts and also characters that embody new and changing ideals, these characters and their actions work to highlight a problem with societal values or to show the good in them. Both texts have a strong science base, Victor at the forefront of medical technology and Tyrell at the forefront of robotics and synthetic life, this allows them to push boundaries and create situations where the authors can ask questions of, reveal problems with and challenge societies’ values. As science and technology progresses, so will the need for humanity to evolve to incorporate it into daily life. Blade Runner and Frankenstein show the importance of maintaining a strong sense of humanity, in all of its imperfect forms, as societies and worldviews adapt and develop alongside technology.

Compare and contrast about the book Indian Killer and movie, Smoke Signal Essay

‘Inidan Killer’ by Sherman Alexie can be kept under the term murder mystery books, however there are lots more than the mysterious killings. Sherman wants to take his reader on a journey through the dark heart of current Native American life. The reader finds a mixture of substance abuse which gives rise to self-hatred, which is mixed with an ironic pride of being the native of America. With analysis of the characters of the book reader feels that the fuel is present there to ignite the fire. It is felt that the difference due to the color of the skin results in sourness in any relationship that arises between a dark kinned and a white skinned person. The story mainly surrounds a man, John Smith who was immediately adopted after his birth by a white couple. Throughout the book John is seen suffering a complex because of his skin color as he is of Indian origin. He previously has no idea about what an Indian is except from the books that her mother bought to read, from some documentaries and movies. He knew that no white people would like his or her daughter to date with one who is an Indian or simply just because of his dark skin. During one of the protest powwow, John meets an Indian called Marie Polatikin who also fights for the njustice Indians are facing. The protest usually included a professor of Native American literature class and a cop who later turned to be a mystery writer as both were quite partial to the Americans. Days passed and both, John and Marie were busy with their respective works but in the meantime the tension between the white and native communities also started to rise. The first body due to these differences was found with owl feathers and another white college student suddenly disappeared from an Indian casino parking area. This gave rise to violence against Indians in Seattle and a group of men started beating Indians f that area. To retaliate this, Marie’s cousin brother tortures a white hitchhiker in the same way as he was tortured by his stepfather who also was a white man and tried to beat the â€Å"bad† Indian out of him. The characters and the situations described in â€Å"Indian Killer† are actually representing an existing widespread problem. Three types of Indians are shown, one that are drunk which means that even if they are aware of the wrong treatment from the white community they don’t say a word in protest because they think they would not be able to defeat the whites. The second type of Indians are noble or good Indians who are in such positions that they don’t usually get disturbed due to these events. If any Indian from either of the two categories uttered a word about land claims or anything that seemed for the whites like threatening for their status quo, was immediately tagged as malcontent or radical. This was the third and the most problematic category of Indians for the existing whites. And this is the category that Sherman Alexie deals with in his book, â€Å"Indian Killer†. The reader gets carried away and starts caring for the characters o matter whether they are white or Indian because nothing actually matters, as all the characters are human and interesting. When Marie tells that the reason behind the killings is the ghost dance, Sherman Alexie wants his readers to examine their opinion of Indians and the consequences of the way they had been treated in past. Sherman Alexie has made use of overt and subtle racism along with harsh reality and few descriptions of violence. The story and plot goes along swiftly and straightforwardly. This novel can be an eye opener for those people whose land it was where their families had immigrated. Smoke Signals† is a movie which is also written by Sherman Alexie and is a film in which a young Indian, Victor makes a trip to pick up his father’s ashes who had fled from the family years back. Victor sets off in search of his father and everything about him and in this way tries to find his identity too. He has to borrow money from his neighbor and friend Thomas who in turn wants Victor to take him along his journey. Unflinching frankness of Indians is seen in the film and the comic scenes that make people laugh loud are in fact satire on Indians or the rest of Americans. Thomas here is seen quite considerate about his friend’s pain and he has helped Victor quite a lot of time in life. Later in the film Victor meets his father’s neighbor and one time lover and comes to know about the reason of his abandonment. Sherman adds real color to the story of â€Å"Smoke Signals† with Indian reservations. Sherman has introduced confrontation of Indians and rest of Americans in a very peculiar way. A man, who has a tag, â€Å"racist redneck† written on his forehead, takes over the seat where Victor and Thomas were seated and that too of no particular reason at all. It is seen hat even when the film flashes from back to past and from â€Å"present† to â€Å"past† or vice versa, there is no change in the background or the people or the dress they were wearing. Alexie has talked about Indian reservation in the film as if it existed from long past without even considering the progress. But here Victor gives a fighting chance for survival and to move on. This is the point where Sherman’s character John and Victor of the book â€Å"Indian Killer† and film â€Å"Smoke Signals† can be compared. Both of them are not ready to surrender to the injustice by the rest of Americans towards Indians. They oth fight for their existence and identity. The film â€Å"Smoke Signals† was written by an Indian writer and almost the entire cast is cool, calm and collected of Indians. Smoke Signals† is an important movie and a turn point for Native North America because of the long misrepresentation of them on silver screen. The Indian Victor is stereotyped and along with Thomas looks like a typical Indian. Thomas has a lot of stories to tell throughout the movie and tells personal stories along with family histories and myths. There is no shyness in the movie about the drunkenness or hopelessness of the people in the past. Everyday and persistent racism is seen in the movie once they leave the reservation. The film is a journey of two young Indian men to more mature ones. In the film Victor is seen reminding Thomas of behaving like an Indian and to stop grinning all the time. In both the film â€Å"Smoke Signals† and the book â€Å"Indian Killer† the Indian characters are not ready to leave their identity and come face to face with racism. There are references from popular cinema in the movie as well as the book â€Å"Indian Killer† every now and then. The film leaves the audience and the readers of the book feel that the uthor has much more to explore and to say but due to their limitations they have stopped and ended. It seems that both the stories are original and even if the movie does not have any famous or big names attached to it is worth watching and realizing the real status. The story itself is very simple but the characters of the present generation do not seem to surrender to the prevailing situation and circumstances. They fight for justice and want their identity back by hook or by crook. â€Å"Indian Killer† and â€Å"Smoke Signals† both show the differences between father nd sons and the troubled relationships of the two generations. Usually films appear to be personal but this film with a simple story line is quite universal in nature. The characters are confronted with racism fact to face and the manner Sherman Alexie has presented the situation is very unusual. Sherman’s style is somewhat typical and in both the stories he has taken almost the same issue of racism but presented it in a different way. His characters are quite strong and not ready to accept injustice to their community and they fight for it throughout the story.

Texas History Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Texas History - Essay Example The Spanish Texas Spain nominally claimed the ownership of the territory but did not colonize the territory until after the discovery of evidence of the failed French colony if Fort Saint Louis in 1689. They established the first mission in Texas in 1690 but the tribes resisted their presence. The missionaries returned to Mexico and abandoned Texas for two decades. The Spanish return in 1716. Since 1716 to 1821, the Spanish occupation was continuous. The first formal municipality in Texas is San Antonio which is considered one of the ten largest cities in the United States. The Spanish Texas government made peaceful conversions and reached peace agreement with enemies such as the Apaches and Comanche. The Spanish continually made peace agreements and peaceful conversions of the tribes and by the end of the eighteenth century, there remained small number of tribes that were not Christianized (Mexicanroots.com, History of Spanish Texas). Though Texas became a Mexican nation in 1821, th e Spanish legacies are considered strong and lasting. The names of the physiographical features of Texas such as the Guadalupe Mountains and Llano Estacado served as reminders of the Spanish explorers. It was the Spanish who introduced numerous European crops, live stocks and livestock handling techniques. Christianity was very strong in the Texas Indians.

Homeland Security Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Homeland Security - Assignment Example I chose to study the New Town High School because this is the school that my daughter attends. She is involved in a number of the school activities, both curricular and co-curricular ones. Besides, this school is in my community and my neighbors’ children attend the same school. For these reasons, any security threat to the school is also a threat to our community; hence it is our responsibility to oversee the security of the school Interviews I interviewed the school principal, a teacher, a parent from the parent teachers’ committee, my daughter, and a junior student. The school principal has a good knowledge of security issues that the school faces, and takes part in formulation of policies that are instituted to address the issues. The teacher has been a member of staff for four years now and his interaction with both the students and administration enables him to access information from the two sides. The parent from the parent teachers’ committee has been a member of the committee for three years now. She interacts with students through her daughter who is a student in the school, and with teachers and faculty in the board. Being a parent in the school, she is concerned about the security issue of the school and lives in the same community the school is in and will give valuable information. My daughter is currently a senior in the school having attended it for the past four years. She actively participates in the school functions such as drills enabling her to interact with other students in an informal capacity, thus being able to pick up any useful information. Lastly, I will interview one junior student who, just like my daughter, participates in a number of activities in the school. The names of the two interviewees are withheld for obvious security reasons. Interviewer: Mr. Principal, could you please tell us the greatest challenges to security and safety of students and staff in the school. Principal: The greatest security chall enges are the manmade threats such as terrorist threats, arson, computer malware, and unprofessional conduct. This is because while we are able to predict and control or prevent natural disasters, we are not able to easily detect and prevent manmade threats because of their malicious intents. The school’s intelligence services are not so sophisticated to get hold of malicious plans beforehand, thus prevention is difficult. Interviewer: What measures has the administration put in place to keep the school safe from natural disasters. Principal: When constructing the premises, we ensured that they were away from fault lines that could lead to earthquakes. We are in constant touch with the meteorological department for any updates on looming disasters. With the break of avian and swine flu, we increased the stock in our clinic with sufficient equipment to detect and treat such pandemics. Besides, our hygiene standards are good with qualified personnel to keep such sanitation outb reaks away. Interviewer: Your school comprises a majority of black students. How are you able to ascertain that they are not a security threat, especially with respect to drug and gang activities. Principal: We are in the process of instituting a full time intelligence service with the help of the Department of Homeland Security. So far, we just look out for any strange activity among the students and investigate. Interviewer: What

Challenges Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Challenges - Essay Example All research methods basically engage in gathering certain facts through definite methods. All the methods that are used in different researches have weaknesses and strengths. For example, if a questionnaire is distributed to research participants, it is not possible for the researcher to make sure that all the respondents understand the questions in the survey in exactly the same way (Packer, 2010). In addition, it is not possible for the researcher to make sure that the respondents use the same language to write their answers even if they all understand the questions in the same way. Furthermore, research studies that are dependent on a single researcher’s observations are limited to the opinions and views or understanding of the researcher. Also, the presence of the lone researcher could have affected the reactions that were observed. The reliability of qualitative research can still be maintained in spite of these concerns. A coding frame relating to gender, age or the status of the contributor can be created to characterise each response from a research participant. The research transcripts can then be coded by two or more researchers. It is also vital for the researcher(s) to be careful to specify the background and details of the case study. The researcher(s) should also point out the differences as well as similarities between the case study being researched on and other settings of a similar kind. The researcher should also endeavour to illustrate how the research subject contributes to the recognized social theories as well as existing empirical