Toya T's Soul JukeBox: "Something in My Heart" (remake) by V Bozeman

If you are fan of Empire, then V Bozeman's beautiful voice and face should be familiar to you. If you don't know her, it is okay because I am here to make the introduction.

Here is her version of the 90's R&B classic "Something in My Heart," originally sung by Michel'le.

He Had A Dream: Honoring Martin Luther King Jr.

On this day honoring the life and legacy of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I want to share a song that I learned at St. Francis De Sales summer camp in Roxbury, MA many years ago.  I am not sure of the song's title or writer. But, I am remember all of the words and plan to pass this song on to my own children one day. 

He had a dream. 

A wonderful dream. 

His name was Martin Luther King.

A preacher man was he. 

He marched for mankind. 

He died for freedom. 

Saying "We shall overcome." 

Yes.

We shall overcome. 

** pictures taken at Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in Washington, D.C.

#BlackGirlMagic Anthem: "Masterpiece" By Jazmine Sullivan

If you have not listened to Jazmine Sullivan's latest album "Reality Show," you need to run to your nearest music store (online or physical) and get it. She has crafted a beautiful album, with ballads, slow jams, uptempo dance joints, and self-love anthems. 

Today, I couldn't get her beautifully written and sung record, "Masterpiece." This is one of my favorite songs on the album. A "black girl magic" anthem. Jazmine sings about loving and accepting yourself---flaws and all---for the masterpiece that you are. 

Read the song lyrics and then check out a video of Jazmine performing an acoustic version of the song. 

Masterpiece by Jazmine Sullivan 

My eyes ain't used to these rays

I'm feeling exposed, but I can't hide no more

I can't hide

As the sun shines on all of my glory

My flaws don't look so bad at all

What was I so afraid of?

Every part of me is a vision of a portrait

Of Mona, of Mona Lisa

Every part of me is beautiful

And I finally see I'm a work of art

A masterpiece

Who is this I've tried so long find?

Filling my heads with lies that I'm not good enough

Then I heard something in my ear

Tell me I'm perfect, now that I know the truth

Time to show and prove

Every part of me is a vision of a portrait

Of Mona, of Mona Lisa

Every part of me is beautiful

And I finally see I'm a work of art

A masterpiece

And now I see the pretty colors on my canvas

I'm a work of art, a Mona Lisa

I'll share my picture with the world

Not afraid to let it show anymore

I can light the night, shine so bright

(Let my colors paint the sky)

I can light the night, shine so bright

(There is beauty in my eyes)

I can light the night, shine so bright

(And I can see it now, I believe it now, I can feel it now)

I can light the night, shine so bright

(Want the world to see, I'm a work of art. I'm a masterpiece)

I can light the night, shine so bright

(I am beautiful)

Every part of me is a vision of a portrait

Of Mona, of Mona Lisa

Every part of me is beautiful

And I finally see I'm a work of art

A masterpiece

What I Am Reading: Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes

It's a new new year, time to add a new book to my reading list. New Year.  If you have been following my "What I am Reading" series here on Figure Out Your Life blog, then you know that during the fall I began a movie-to-book themed reading series---that is, reading books that were the source material for movies that I have seen. I ended 2015 with the page-turning, and amazingly well adapted-to-a-movie, book "Gone Girl" by Gillian Flynn. Check out my other book reviews

here

.

In the spirit of starting off the new year right, I have decided to change up things and read an inspirational book. My first book of the year is "Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand in the Sun, and Be Your Own Person" by creator of tv shows "Grey's Anatomy," "Scandal," and "How to Get Away with Murder,"and queen mother of #TGIT (Thank God It's Thursday) on ABC, Shonda Rhimes. 

I am at the very end of this book and I love it. It is funny, insightful, and inspiring. Shonda brings us in her world and holds nothing back, as she recounts her one year journey of saying "yes" to everything that made her scared, nervous, and uncomfortable. During that year, she lost 127lbs, made the commencement speech at her alma mater Dartmouth College, got closer to her family and friends, shed some toxic friends, covered magazines, to name a few of the things she did once she stopped saying "no." My favorite chapters are "Say Yes to No" and "Say Yes to Who I Am." I have already bookmarked those chapters and I am sure I will going back to them over the course of this year when I need a boost. Highly recommend this book!!! Get it today---the ebook, paperback, hardcover, or the audiobook. 

Book Summary: 

In this poignant, hilarious, and deeply intimate call to arms, Hollywood’s most powerful woman, the mega-talented creator of Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal and executive producer of How to Get Away with Murder reveals how saying YES changed her life—and how it can change yours too.

She’s the creator and producer of some of the most groundbreaking and audacious shows on television today:

Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, How to Get Away with Murder

. Her iconic characters—Meredith Grey, Cristina Yang, Olivia Pope, Annalise Keating—live boldly and speak their minds. So who would suspect that Shonda Rhimes, the mega talent who owns Thursday night television (#TGIT), is an introvert? That she hired a publicist so she could

avoid

public appearances? That she hugged walls at splashy parties and suffered panic attacks before media interviews so severe she remembered nothing afterward?

Before her Year of Yes, Shonda Rhimes was an expert at declining invitations others would leap to accept. With three children at home and three hit television shows on TV, it was easy to say that she was simply too busy. But in truth, she was also afraid. Afraid of cocktail party faux pas like chucking a chicken bone across a room; petrified of live television appearances where Shonda Rhimes could trip and fall and bleed out right there in front of a live studio audience; terrified of the difficult conversations that came so easily to her characters on-screen. In the

before

, Shonda’s introvert life revolved around burying herself in work, snuggling her children, and comforting herself with food.

And then, on Thanksgiving 2013, Shonda’s sister muttered something that was both a wake up and a call to arms:

You never say yes to anything.

The comment sat like a grenade, until it detonated. Then Shonda, the youngest of six children from a supremely competitive family, knew she had to embrace the challenge: for one year, she would say YES to everything that scared her.

This poignant, intimate, and hilarious memoir explores Shonda’s life

before

her Year of Yes—from her nerdy, book-loving childhood creating imaginary friends to her devotion to creating television characters who reflected the world she saw around her (like Cristina Yang, whose ultimate goal wasn’t marriage, and Cyrus Beene, who is a Republican

and

gay). And it chronicles her life

after

her Year of Yes had begun—when Shonda forced herself out of the house and onto the stage, appearing on

Jimmy Kimmel Live

, and giving the Dartmouth Commencement speech; when she learned to say yes to her health, yes to play and she stepped out of the shadows and into the sun; when she learned to explore, empower, applaud, and love her truest self. Yes.

This wildly candid and compulsively readable book reveals how the mega talented Shonda Rhimes, an unexpected introvert, achieved badassery worthy of a Shondaland character. And how you can, too. 

**book summary taken from: http://books.simonandschuster.com/Year-of-Yes/Shonda-Rhimes/9781476777092

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Merry Christmas from Toya T to You


CHLOE & MAUD featuring CECILY - A Tap Christmas Song
MERRY CHRISTMAS ❤️ from my sister Maud Arnold and songstress Cecily Alexa Bumbray. Santa gave us the best gifts ever: Life, love, Art, Family, Friendships! We wish you and yours peace, love, and happiness! @chloeandmaud #MamaSaidNoTapShoesOnMyWoodFloor #barefoot #tap #music #happyholidays #merrychristmas __________________________________________________Thanks for sharing all of the videos- watch them on IG @chloeandmaud - prizes announced tonight!Thanks #Brandon and Gabrina Dixon and mom for all those lessons!!
Posted by Chloe Arnold on Friday, December 25, 2015

Monica's Special Message For My Students

Had the great pleasure of meeting Monica after her Code Red Experience Tour in NYC. I told her I was a long time fan and traveled to NYC from Boston on Sunday to see her, despite having to teach an early morning class the next day. She graciously offered to record a special message for them.

Monica and Toya T. Bucket List Moment. December 13, 2015

Me and My Students. Sociology. Social Inequality Class. December 14, 2015

Me and My Students. Criminology. Social Deviance Class. December 15, 2015

Still Standing By Monica --The Code Red Tour (Live at the Gramercy)

I told y'all in an earlier post that "Still Standing" was one of my top 5 Monica songs. Last night, I got to see her perform it live at the Gramercy Theater in New York City. The message of this song is so powerful. It is about overcoming the odds and standing strong. This song helped me get through some tough times. And, I feel it is fitting that I got to hear Monica sing it as this year---my best year in the last 3 years---comes to a close. I am truly grateful to be STILL STANDING.

Check out this song's lyrics and Monica's powerful performance:

Still Standing 

Mama always told me

Baby, you gotta walk by faith

And not by sight

Real talk, you gotta listen

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, ooh, yeah

Oh, listen to me now, I'm gonna say it loud

So you won't be confused 'bout what we talkin' 'bout

I been through the storm, had dirt on my name

I'm still holding on, champion of the game

(They said)

Whatever, don't kill, you make you stronger

Well, I must be the world's strongest woman

See I done, done a whole lotta growin'

Everything you say, I'm already knowin'

'Cause I

I been up against ropes

Everything you're going through

I been there before, seen them all come

And I seen them all go

You can bet your last that

My head won't hit the floor, never

And I'm still standing, standing, standing, standing

I'm still standing, standing, standing, standing

I had a lover take his own in front of me

I asked God, why is this happening to me?

But I didn't fold, I held my own

And now I'm deep in love with who I belong

(This is my life)

They say with age comes wisdom

And the white flag, I can't give 'em

Tryin' to tell you how it's s'posed to be

See, this is more than just a song to me

'Cause I

I been up against ropes

Everything you're going through

I been there before, seen them all come

And I seen them all go

You can bet your last that

My head won't hit the floor, never

And I'm still standing, standing, standing, standing

I'm still standing, standing, standing, standing

I'm unbreakable, baby

Luda, yeah, it's a family affair

I may have done the things they say I did

But I'm not who they say I am

Try to throw my name in the dirt

But I really don't give a damn

I'm still standing like the statue of liberty

And I put my name in the history books

So you'll forever remember me

Remember me as the toughest warrior

Or the ultimate fighter

'Cause I'm the truth and nothing but

It's like my hands on the bible

And it's the survival of the fittest

The realest, it's not a facade

Still standing on my two feet

'Cause I'm a child of God

Do something

I been up against ropes

Everything you're going through

I been there before, seen them all come

And I seen them all go

You can bet your last that

My head won't hit the floor, never

And I'm still standing, standing, standing, standing

I'm still standing, standing, standing, standing

I been up against ropes

Everything you're going through

I been there before, seen them all come

And I seen them all go

You can bet your last that

My head won't hit the floor, never

And I'm still standing, standing, standing, standing

I'm still standing, standing, standing, standing

I'm not gonna give up, never

Come too far to look back, oh

Oh, ohh, I been there before

I've seen it, I've seen it, I've done it

I've done it, I'm done, let me live my life now

I let it go, I let God, I let it go, and I let God

Don't hate me now

I ain't who I used to be no more

I'm still standing, I'm still standing

I'm still standing, oh, I'm still standing

I'm still standing, you can't take this joy away 

My Top 5 Monica Songs

I told y'all that I planned to end this year with a big bang. On Sunday, I will be attending my second concert of the month. This one is a little different because I have loved this artist for 20 years, from my preteen years to my 30s. I can remember first seeing Monica's "Don't Take It Personal" video on one of BET's (now defunct) music video shows and loving everything about her and the song. She was young, sassy, and gorgeous. Back when it was Monica versus Brandy (though I love both of them) in the teen pop singer wars, I was team Monica all the way. She was one of the artists on my music bucket lists to see perform live and this weekend I can check her off. Even better, I have VIP tickets and I will get a chance to meet her, get her autograph, and talk a picture with her. I hope I don't start crying (because that would completely mess up the epic picture I plan to take with her).

So, in anticipation of my Monica experience, I have compiled a list of my favorite Monica songs. Sit back and enjoy the amazing vocals of Miss Monica. 

Album---"Miss Thang"

Album---"Miss Thang"

Album---"New Life"

Album---"New Life"

Album--"Still Standing"