Opinion Writing Blog (JOU-3363)

Another Rounds Intoxicating Journey Q News By Cassandra Mischak Imagine participating in a social experiment where you and your closest friends embark upon an activity to enhance the quality of your daily lives. Sounds intriguing, right? However, let’s say that the activity of your choice is consuming a specific amount of alcohol each day to better your life. Well of course, for most people, that will most definitely not end with the best results. The Danish film, Another Round , directed by Thomas Vinterberg, will not only have you crying with laughter at some scenes, but it will also make you feel quite uneasy from time to time. Most importantly, this movie will leave you in deep-thought of a deep, meaningful message. This 117-minute comedy and thriller film premiered Dec. 18, 2020.  You might recognize the award-winning main character of Another Round, Mads Mikkelsen, as Hannibal Lector from the disturbing series Hannibal. The storyline is centered around Mads Mikkelsen, who i...

  ‘Another Round’ Movie Review Draft Q News By Cassandra Mischak Imagine participating in a social experiment where you and your closest friends embark upon an activity to enhance the quality of your daily lives. Sounds fun and interesting, right? However, let’s say that the activity you choose is consuming alcohol to better your days. Well of course, for most people, that will most definitely not end with good results. The Danish film, Another Round, directed by Thomas Vinterberg, will not only have you crying with laughter, but also make you feel quite uneasy from time to time. Most importantly, this movie will leave you in deep-thought of a meaningful message. This 117-minute comedy and thriller film premiered Dec. 18, 2020.  The storyline is centered around Martin (Mads Mikkelsen) who is a high school history teacher going through a midlife crisis. Aside from managing chaos in his job, he is also constantly grappling with his marriage and family life.  Mads Mikkelsen,...

High Point University’s Kazoku: A True Hibachi Experience By Cassandra Mischak Q News High Point University is the home to three fine-dining restaurants that are all located in the heart of campus. As students, you are able to make a reservation at one of the restaurant labs once a week. Fortunately, each student can use a meal swipe in replacement for the cost of the three-course dinners. Since these dining labs are present at the university to help prepare students for proper etiquette, professional business attire is required. All three of these on-campus dining restaurants build the students' confidence in professional settings that go beyond an office cubicle.  The first restaurant to open on campus is a steakhouse called 1924 Prime, located in the R.G Wanek Center. In the fall of 2022, a Mediterranean, high-end restaurant opened inside the Kahn Hotel, directly beside the Nido and Mariana Qubein Conference Arena.  But most recently, this year, a family-style, teppanyaki d...

Overcoming Adversity:  How Do You Cope With Grief? Cassandra Mischak Q News I will never forget the day my godmother took her own life. Nov. 22, 2013. I was just a young girl, 11 years old in 6th grade. My mom and I were driving home from my weekly piano lesson on an early, rainy, Friday evening in November. It happened to be the week before Thanksgiving.  I was so excited for the weekend, just like any other elementary student. Particularly this Saturday, I had plans to go to a pottery art class with my godmother, Michelle.  As my mom and I were discussing the layout of that day, we had an incoming call from my brother and Michelle’s son, Ashton, as they just got off of the middle school bus, going to spend the night at Ashtons house.  My mom answered on bluetooth for us all to talk and laugh about our days, like we always did, but this time, that was not the case. They were in complete panic. There were minimal words we could understand out of the boys’ frantic sho...

Are Abs Made in the Kitchen? Q News By Cassandra Mischak Have you ever found yourself asking someone what workouts they do to get such visible and toned ab muscles? I know that I have asked multiple people that question far too many times. I have spent and wasted countless hours either in the gym or in my room holding five minute planks, following the 10-minute Alexis Ren ab circuit video or even doing the 200 crunch YouTube challenge.  I would beat myself up from time to time because I never saw the physical results I wanted to see. I would look in the mirror every night after I showered hoping to see the outline on my stomach that I dreamt of having, but instead, I would go to bed with tears trickling down my face from utter disappointment.  It wasn’t until I complained about this to my personal trainer that I realized how useless those exhausting, unnecessary core sessions were.  In reality, I know I am most definitely not the only one who was under this false impressi...

  An Unusual Type of Substance Abuse Q News By Cassandra Mischak When you hear someone mention the phrase substance abuse, what comes straight to your mind? I think it is safe to say that I can speak for the general population. When hearing the word substance, in reference to abuse, most people's brains automatically think of alcohol, tobacco, stimulant drugs, marijuana or even certain hallucinogens.  In complete retrospect, my brain goes straight to a looked over substance that practically ruined my life. Laxatives. Laxative abuse is one of the most life-threatening eating disorders, and unfortunately, it is often ignored.  It is also a common misconception that there are only three types of eating disorders you can suffer from.  A triggering phrase that lives rent free in my head that I constantly heard from all my peers is, “you don’t have an eating disorder if it’s not anorexia, bulimia or binge-eating.” I decided to innocently swallow my first laxative during m...