TEXARKANA MAGAZINE
GOOD EVENING TXK COLUMN BY BAILEY GRAVITT
O n March 3, 1931, President Herbert Hoover signed a law officially declaring “The Star Spangled Banner” our country’s national anthem. That’s how March 3rd officially became National Anthem Day—a day that observes not only our anthem, but the songs nations around the world have adopted and chosen to represent their national identity. I love that National Anthem Day isn’t just about our culture. It’s a true reflection of how music has this neat little way of bringing us all together. Iconic is an understatement when you’re describing our national anthem. As I pondered on the thought of our United States anthem, and how well it reflects our country’s core values, I got to thinking about what my personal anthems are. We all have those songs that describe our life somehow, or maybe a song that has absolutely no biographical ties to your reality, but you still feel like it speaks to you in some way. I decided to pick five songs I felt represented me as my anthems. “Tik Tok” by Ke$ha Ah, the party anthem of all my middle school peers! I was 13 years old when I
heard this BOP for the very first time in the Richmond Road Dollar Tree parking lot, and my life was changed forever. True story. “The party don’t start ‘til I walk in” describes me perfectly. I love to party and have a good time! I love to make my friends laugh, love to bring everyone’s mood up, and love to let loose after a long week. Ke$ha was the embodiment of what kids my age at the time wanted to be—wild, rebellious, and free. She didn’t care what anyone thought about her, she just wanted to have a good time. “Unwritten” by Natasha Bedingfield You are straight lying through your teeth if, one—you say you hate this song, or two—you say that it’s not a seriously motivational BANGER. I have a theory that if someone listened to this song at least once every single day, they would never need a motivational speech or self-help book again… A little dramatic, yes, but I just think we all have moments in our life where we look at our story and wish we could have rewritten some things. We convince ourselves that there is no way to turn things around now, we can’t fix our past mistakes, but that’s why “staring at the blank page before you” sounds so liberating in this
song. We CAN’T go back and do it all over again, but we CAN look at the blank page in front of us and change the narrative TODAY because while we may have made some regretful decisions in the past, the REST of your story is still unwritten, and only YOU can write it! “ On The Altar” by Upperroom When you are touched by the riches of Jesus’s mercy and abundant grace for the very first time, you have no choice but to be wonderstruck and in awe of a love so deep that you cannot not give everything to Him. Every word of this song is my heart cry to my Heavenly Father. “I will live on the altar, you are worth what you ask for.” I went into last year proclaiming that this would be my life’s anthem. What God asks of us is not always easy, but He is worth what He asks for, and not only that, but He asks us to sacrifice out of love for us because He knows it’s what’s best for us as humans, and that truly is the most beautiful part to me. He doesn’t ask us to love Him body, soul, and mind just because He says so. He asks us to love Him because He knows that our willing sacrifice is the only thing we can do to be truly fulfilled at our core. This song
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SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT
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