My Top 5 Favorite Holiday Songs of the Season

Well, we have now left thanksgiving behind us and so begins the most wonderful time of the year....... listening to Christmas music 24/7 for 27 days (approx. 4 weeks) starting TODAY.

Over the years, I've enjoyed listening to holiday music from both contemporary artists (i.e. Mariah Carey, Kelly Clarkson, and Michael Buble) and classic artists (i.e. Dean Martin, Jackson 5, and Brenda Lee). Now that I'm getting into the holiday spirit, I just thought it would be fun to create (and share with you all) My Top 5 Favorite Holiday Songs of the Season.

Speaking of Brenda Lee, she starts off the countdown at #5 with a classic that will always get me into the holiday spirit: Rocking Around the Christmas Tree.

#4 is another song to sing and dance to at your next holiday party: Jingle Bell Rock by Bobby Helms

At #3 is one of my favorite holiday songs of the 80's-Last Christmas by Wham!

At #2 comes from the Glee cast covering Band Aid's Do They Know it's Christmas? from my favorite season (Season 3) and one of my favorite scenes in this episode entitled "Extraordinary Merry Christmas."

Finally the #1 song that will really make you want to sing in the car is no other than Mariah Carey's All I Want for Christmas is You:

Now these are just a few of my favorite songs of the holidays so now I want to know what your favorite holiday songs are so please comment below and I look forward to reading your comments. 

That One Awards Show I Always Look Forward to........

American Music Awards Logo (2011)-thatgrapejuice.net

Well, it's the weekend before Thanksgiving and with so many projects, papers, and exams to start working on, I just think that tomorrow would be the best time for me to have some "me time" of my own.

So, What am I going to do during this "me time" you ask? Well, I'm really excited and looking forward to watching one of the biggest award shows of the year...... it is the annual American Music Awards.

The American Music Awards, according to the AMAs website, pays tribute to the most influential and the most iconic artists of our generation. Over the last month-and-a-half, millions of fans have casted their votes online and on Twitter. Now, they get to watch which artist comes out on top and the performances that could be the most talked about on social media.

Speaking of performances, you can expect performances from Iggy Azalea, Garth Brooks, Sam Smith and the world television premiere performance of Taylor Swift's new single "Blank Space." Swift will also be the first recipient of the Dick Clark Award for Excellence.

Leading the pack with the most nominations for this year's show is Iggy Azalea with six (including Artist of the Year and Single of the Year for "Fancy featuring Charli XCX"), Katy Perry with five, John Legend with four, and One Direction with three.

I always look forward to this awards show because it's a who's who of the music industry and it's also a good way to (almost) end 2014 with a bang.

To see which artist goes on top and see what may become the most talked-about performances of the night, check out the 2014 American Music Awards airing tomorrow night at 8/7 central on ABC.

P.S. I will be live-tweeting some of the biggest moments happening tomorrow night so go right ahead and follow me at: @rbartz11.

Finding My Voice

In high school, we are always separated into cliques which can be a good thing or a bad thing. In college, it is totally different. What's different is that we have to find those niches of people that have the exact same interests, dreams, and motives as you and I do. Throughout my time in college, I happened to not only find my place but also found my voice on the SMSU Forensics Team.

What many of you reading this will assume that Forensics is about solving crimes and trying to fill out a crime scene report of everything that happened. However, that's not the case as Forensics is the collegiate version of a high school oral interp team. It gives people like myself to express ourselves through many different categories such as Poetry, Drama, Prose, and Persuasive Speaking.

SMSU Forensics Team  at St. Cloud State's Icebox Classic (Left to Right: Ann Kopitzke, Ryan Bartz, Nick Dorman, and Megan Bruns)-Photo courtesy of Ann Kopitzke

Some of my favorite tournaments that I attended are the Icebox Classic at St. Cloud State University (shown above), the "Bunny Bop" at South Dakota State University, and Twin Cities Forensic League Tournament(s) at Normandale Community College in Bloomington.

The reason why I love being on the Forensics Team is that it allows me to think critically on the pieces and that I love to get inside a character's head and make my voice heard on issues that I truly care about. Forensics has also given me many opportunities on making friends, and developing social skills in general.

This year, I am going to compete in Persuasive Speaking with the topic on Autism Awareness in the College Setting, and in Poetry with my speech centering on Making a Difference in the World. 

I am really excited to attend my very first Forensics Competition of the year at the University of Wisconsin-Stout on Friday December 5th and Saturday December 6th.

Stay tuned as I gear up to blog about my last moments of 2014 and what's in store for 2015.

Decemblurr is coming up.....

With the last month of the semester approaching, I think that there is a new vocabulary word that every college student needs to know; it is called "Decemblurr"

Now most of you reading this are saying "Ryan, thanksgiving and the holidays coming up, so what's the whole point of December becoming decemblurr?"

In my opinion, Decemblurr is a very busy time in a college student's career where a lot of papers projects, and a lot of last-minute test and quizzes are assigned as it leads up to the most dreadful week of a college student: FINALS Week..........

**There is an synonym with this word and that is "April blurr" which has the same definition above but only occurs during the month of April towards the end of the school year.**

Not only does a lot of homework gets assigned, there are also many on-campus and off-campus events (i.e. holiday parties) that students want to go to but they end up going or not going to the event.

As a senior in college, I think that I have every assignment and (perhaps) an event to go to under control; it just takes some serious time management and organizational skills to get my mind right in hopes that the next month will be the most productive month of my entire college career.

I know that I haven't gone crazy just yet, but I just hope that I become very calm and very sane as I take one step and one day at a time for the next month.

Hopefully, I can make it out alive...........

Winter Came Way too Early

Was it just me or did Winter come way too early in the Midwest? I started to question this a lot as I'm not much of a winter person myself. Even though I am from South Dakota, still not a fan of the snow.

However, there are some things about Winter that I tend to enjoy the most. What I do enjoy is looking through my bedroom window and see all the snow it has fallen and observe the beauty of nature on the SMSU campus. I just wish for once I can get a getaway to the Rocky Mountains or the Black Hills just to see a totally different scenery in the winter time. While I have never been to either both of these places during the winter, it would just be awesome that I can surround myself with the breath-taking view of snow all over the mountains.

SMSU Campus-Ryan Bartz's Facebook Page

Another thing that I enjoy about the Winter is being inside a lot. When it comes to Winter, I tend to be a "homebody" during the Winter season as I do not like to be out in the cold for so long. Winter is also a perfect opportunity to catch up on my favorite TV shows as I don't get to watch a lot of TV during the school year. As a matter of fact, I loved Snow Days growing up because it gives you a chance to do whatever you want whenever. For me, I take this day very seriously as it gives me a day to relax and not get so caught up in the hustle and bustle of classes and club meetings.

What I don't like about Winter are the sidewalks that turn very slippery so quick. I have a fear of just walking on the sidewalk and all of a sudden just fall straight on my face or on my butt. That is to be determined if that will ever happen to me this winter.

So long story short, these are a few of my favorite things about Winter but time will tell if this Winter will be a long one or a short one.

A Small Tiny Percent of Myself

Over the last three weeks, I have started to work on my Problem and Solution Speech for a class that will soon turn into my Persuasion speech  that I will be doing for Forensics this year. The topic that I chose was Autism Awareness in the College Setting.

The problems that I talk about in the speech are lack of support services, adapting to diff er ent learning styles, and the social skills that they struggle with when talking to their peers, faculty, and staff members. Then I go into solutions as to how to educate other college campuses about autism and what they can do to make college students with autism feel more welcome and becoming more inclusive.

Courtesy: musicalbridges.com

Overall, I felt very confident and brave about giving both my speeches in class. What was so brave about this was that I had an opportunity to talk briefly about the fact that I have autism. Now, what do I mean by autism? Autism, according to the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) is a "developmental disability that can cause significant social, communication, and behavioral challenges."

The main core issues that college students with autism face are the same issues that I deal with on an everyday basis. Throughout the last 3 years, I had to learn that being a college student with autism is never easy and it can be a challenge at times.

But you know what, it has never stopped me from learning to my best potential and never once it has stopped me from excelling both in and outside of the classroom. I know that Autism does not define me as a person; it only makes up a small tiny percent of who I am.

Looking back on both my speeches from when I gave it in class was my bravest moment of my life and I'm looking forward to merging both of these speeches into a Persuasion speech for Forensics.

Here I leave you with a quote from Sara Bareilles song Brave which I'll always remember for the rest of my life:

Say what you wanna say

And let the words fall out

Honestly, I wanna see you 

be brave

On Wednesday, I wore black (for a reason)

You know that scene in Mean Girls when the Plastics tell Cady that she can eat lunch with them and then Karen reminds Cady that "On Wednesdays, we wear pink?" Yeah, I did just that but I wore black instead as the day after the election was a sad day for progressive liberals like myself.

The reason why I wore black that day was how I was influenced on Facebook when a friend of mine posted a selfie of himself wearing black saying that it's a "sad day of progress, social change, and "liberty and justice for all...."

Overall, I'm pretty disappointed in South Dakota that we elected a guy who is still under investigation under the FBI and a governor who is such a liar. It is so repulsive that it's a slap in my face.

Not only the republicans wanted to control the state so badly they are trying to corrupt Congress as well.

I'm tried of Republicans trying to say that they have the young people's best interest but they don't and I'm tried of them trying to say one thing and saying another and not being called out for what they have said.

But you know what, I'm not going to have a pity party anymore, instead I'm going to make a difference in whatever I can to help bring change to not just in South Dakota but in America as well.

As I am wearing my South Dakota EqualiT-Shirt today, I'm proud of the fact that there are now 32 U.S. states that support marriage equality and while we have a lot of work to do with this issue (i.e. getting South Dakota to recognize same-sex marriage), I can now say that Change is coming and in order for change to come, we (the people) have to make it happen.

So what are we waiting, let's start changing the world one step at a time.

#TURNOUTFORWHAT

Tomorrow is a very important day in America: it is Election Day. This is also very important for young voters reading this blog because the people you vote for may be the people that you send to the state capitol or to Washington. Not only the people that you vote for are important, but the issues that appear on your ballot do affect your future as well.

I can now say that I have already voted (absentee) back in my home state of South Dakota and I'm really proud of the fact that I took the time to vote and make sure the things that I voted for were the right choices for me.

So, tomorrow I strongly urge you to vote on Election Day to make your voice heard because every vote counts.

If I need to persuade you more, check out this funny yet entertaining video from Rock the Vote's #TURNOUTFORWHAT campaign. This video features celebrity appearances from Lil Jon, Whoopi Goldberg, Lena Dunham, Darren Criss, and many more.

Halloween Memories

Halloween.....if I had a definition of what halloween really means; I would define it as a day where you can be anyone you want to be. You could be a witch, ghost, vampire, or perhaps your favorite character from a movie,

Photo Credit: winniethepooh.disney.com

Some of my favorite Halloween memories as a kid was probably dressing up as Tigger from the Winnie the Pooh series. Tigger was by far, my favorite character from the series because he was just all smiles and giggles and just like me, he would do anything to get Pooh Bear and his friends out of a sticky situation.

Another one would have to be in my first two years of high school, my English teacher would wear a fake bloody arm to see if anyone in the class would totally shake hands with the fake arm. When she came over to my desk, I had to shake the hand to see if it was real and all of a sudden the arm totally came off and then I screamed like I was in a horror movie. Looking back, it was the funniest thing that happened because of how I reacted to the fake arm coming off from her real arm; it was priceless.

My most favorite Halloween memory in college was last year, when KSSU News did a spooktacular newscast where we did our typical newscast but we wore our Halloween costumes during the entire newscast. This was a lot of fun for me as I got to let loose and not be so serious when being on-air.

So now that I've talked about my favorite Halloween memories, let's continue with this discussion and share your favorite Halloween memories, costumes, candy, etc. down below.

Hope you all had a very fun and safe Halloween weekend and I'm looking forward to reading what you have to say.