Although they are more likely to describe themselves as more liberal the Hip Hop and Millennial generation believe almost as strongly if not more in the basic tenets of morality.

A recent study conducted by the Marist College for Public Opinion in January before the Haitian Earthquake discovered the following interesting things. The Hip Generation (ages 30-44) at 82% said that marriage commitments are not valued enough in this country. When asked whether there was a “decline in moral values in this country are headed in the right direction”, 65%   answered definitively. The survey also asked whether they considered themselves liberal or not? Only 28% of the Hip Hop Generation called themselves liberal. The other factors that showed up prominently were the belief that 80% felt that respect for people had all but disappeared. Seventy four percent believe that honesty and integrity are extinct.

It should be noted that the survey found that those Millennial (ages 18-29), have shifted in their core belief focus. Unlike previous generations which cite starting a family as having been their primary life goal in their twenties, they seek to be spiritual or closer to God as their primary long-term life goal.

It appears according to the poll the younger generation believes the following:

• Morally, the nation is headed in the wrong direction.

• 91% is immoral to claim someone else’s work as their own,
• 77% it is wrong to make business decisions motivated by greed,
• 65% believe it is wrong to increase profits by decreasing the quality of a product or service.

In conclusion, it should be noted the following as well, when asked do they believe in God:

• 84%- Yes
• 6%- No
• 10% Unsure

*Please note: This report presents the findings from a survey of 2,243 Americans equally distributed AA and non AA –including an oversample of 1,006 Millennials. Reports for Americans have a margin of error of +/-2% and for Millennial it is +/-3%. . Data were collected from December 23, 2009 through January 4, 2010 using an online, probability-based panel from Knowledge Networks.

{For more from Oretha Winston follow her on Twitter}

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Where are you from?
KP – Queens, New York.

Do you miss the city?
KP – Not terribly.  I miss the energy of the city.  I miss shopping.  I miss what I love most about New York.  It’s a great melting pot.

What was your childhood like?
KP – That’s a loaded question.  My childhood was rich spiritually.  And at times confusing because it was old school Pentecostal.  I had a lot of questions that were not being answered and could not be answered but I still asked them.  And when we were coming up children were supposed to be seen and not heard.  On the natural side it was challenging.  My parents split up when I was really young.  My mother was 22 years old raising three children alone in the ‘70’s.  My father died when I was nine years old.  My mother left my dad because he was a preacher in the church who left the church and backslid.

How did your dad backslide?
KP – There was alcoholism and drug abuse on my dad’s side of the family.  He was the only person in his family who was saved.  He had a real battle because he would go to church on Sunday and his entire family would stay home.  They didn’t do church.  He had an inner battle and it got to be too much for him.  He was a black man in the ‘70’s with a family to take care of and realized after the fact that he wasn’t really ready.  His dad died when he was really young and he had no male figures to really look up to.

What was the toughest time of your childhood?
KP – I remember being homeless and sleeping in my mother’s car when I was four years old.  I remember my mother would go to family members on my dad’s side and ask can my sisters and I stay with them.  Even if we could  sleep on the floor.  I remember them telling my mother there’s no room for us in the house and telling my mother she’ll be fine.  I remember my mother bundling us up in coats with tears in her eyes and taking us to sleep in the car.

How did that experience shape you as an adult?
KP – As an adult, I have to be honest and say that there’s not much that I’m afraid of.  But I work the way that I do because I have a bit of fear of homelessness.  I have to believe God to deliver me from that.  I have such a vivid memory of being homeless.  I remember I would not get my nails or hair done unless I had a show because I felt like it was money that did not need to be spent.  I’m talking about Kelly Price, “The Soul of a Woman” record.  I would have to give myself a reason to go to the mall and shop.  I don’t splurge shop.  I have too much in my closet to spend money on clothes.

How did you meet your husband?
KP – I met Jeffery when I was 13 years old at the state youth convention.  We were friends for years.  We would see each other during the conferences held throughout the years.  It was a different day.  When I saw him it was because we were in church somewhere.  He would come to wherever I was singing.  I always had a lot of guy friends and he was one of my really good guy friends.  It shifted when I turned 16 years old.  We talked to each other about things we couldn’t talk to other people about.  My family was homeless again when I was 16 years old and Jeffery’s mother was in the hospital with breast cancer.  Back then you had to have a physical address to be registered in school or the state would take you from your parents.  I had to keep it a secret.  Jeffery knew that mother and I were bouncing from house to house.

When did you know you were in love with Jeffery?
KP – I knew pretty quickly.  After being his friend for so long…my family bounced around for about five or six months with no place to live.  During that time his mother died from breast cancer.  Throughout her sickness and my homelessness we got closer and closer.

Tell me about getting pregnant at an early age.
KP – I look at my son and I do not regret my son.  I will never let some over religious, super pious, lying individual and I say LYING (all caps) make me feel guilty about my child.  I say that because it takes a lot of nerve for someone to act as if they’ve never sinned.  My grandfather is a COGIC bishop.  It was difficult.  I think I was more concerned about my grandparents being disappointed in me.  No one talked to me about sex.  My mother didn’t talk to me because no one talked to her about sex.  Much of what I learned I learned from school and television.

Did anyone in the church try to convince you to abort?
KP – No one tried to get me to abort.  But I was silenced and sat down.  It was desired that I get up and apologize before the congregation.  I have a girlfriend who’s father was her pastor and she got pregnant and she had to get up and apologize in front of the church.  I said absolutely not.  I sinned against God and not the church.  I bucked a lot of things growing up.  I got slapped in the mouth a lot.  If you couldn’t show me in the bible where I owed the church an apology then I wasn’t going along with it.  I owed God and my grandparents and my mother an apology.  I was involved in the music department.  I only did that because my grandfather said I had to.  As the preacher’s kid you did not have options.  But I had to sit down and not direct the choir any longer.

How did you get discovered as a singer?
KP – I had a dear friend name Darryl Douglas.  He was an incredible song writer and arranger.  He would use me to demo his songs.  One thing led to another.  There was another session singer who sang for Luther Vandross.  Her name is Cindy Mizelle.  When she was getting married, she asked Darryl to do all of the music for her wedding.  There were a lot of executives at her wedding.  At that time, George Michael came to New York to do an east coast tour.   He was looking for a great choir to back him up.  Cindy put in a call to Darryl who then called me and some others.  There were about 10 or 12 of us.  We showed up to Madison Square Garden and sang behind George Michael in January of 1992.  In February of 1992, Mariah Carey needed a choir for her Grammy performance and once again we got the call.  Long story short, Mariah was three hours late for rehearsal.  I just found out I was pregnant and I was sick as a dog.  We were on a break and I stayed around the rehearsal hall and started singing around the piano with my back to the door and Mariah Carey walked in and stood there and listened.  Someone told me Mariah was standing at the door listening and I shut up immediately and walked away from the piano.  I didn’t want anyone to believe that I was trying to be heard.  When the rehearsal was over I was preparing to leave, Mariah sent one of her background singers to me and he tried to get me to start singing again and I said no at first but then I started singing and she was hiding behind a pole listening.  Tommy Mottola arrived and heard me and said I’m going to make you a star.  I had no idea who he was at the time.  I looked at him and said “really” (dripping with sarcasm).  That’s how it all started.

How did church folks respond to you singing secular music?
KP – Are you kidding me?  According to them I was probably going to hell faster for singing secular music then for being pregnant.  That’s amazing to me.  My observation of the scripture that says having a form of godliness but denying it’s power…it came to life for me.  It’s been so clear that if you keep the form of godliness in public people really don’t care how ragedy your life is behind closed doors.  As long as you don’t do anything that brings them to shame.  I don’t have a problem doing what I do because I am the same Kelly in secular venues as I am in church pulpits.  I speak Jesus at my R&B concerts.

How have you been received by the Gospel music industry?
KP – It’s been a mixed bag.  Everyone at first was overjoyed.  Some of that joy turned to dismissal when people realized that I was not willing to make the announcement that they wanted me to make.  That announcement was for me to say that I was wrong for all of the years that I sang R&B and that I had been converted and that I would never sing R&B again.  I refused to make that statement because I didn’t backslide to sing R&B.  Doing  the gospel album that I did and touring with gospel artists opened my eyes to a lot more than I even cared to know about people who sing gospel music.  We need to be careful about what we’re allowing our young people to listen to.  I say that because I’ve been on the road with a lot of these people and just because the genre is gospel doesn’t mean that the music itself is.  Just because people call themselves gospel singers, that’s just a title and doesn’t mean they’re living a sanctified life.  Check my life.  Chile Please!

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Watch What You Put In Your Ears

I’m the only girl and the youngest child with four older brothers.  My mother made sure we had chores, did our homework, and participated in after school activities, like sports and Youth and Government. 

My brothers and I were not allowed to be lazy.  We even had summer jobs and sometimes part-time jobs during the school year.

I’ve been watching “Fantasia For Real” on VH-1.  Last week I wrote a review for the show:  Reality Show Review:  “Fantasia For Real”.  Fantasia’s brother “Teeny” seems to lack a sense of reality.  More importantly he seems to be down right lazy.  He wants his sister to support his lifestyle while he test drives sports cars, takes his girlfriend out, and sleeps all day.  I will share that I just signed my final divorce papers roughly a week ago.  Just so know where I’m coming from.

It is no fun as a woman being the sole provider for the entire family.  It’s trying.  It’s draining.  It’s out of order.  On my drive to and from work, I often see young Latino men on the corners selling fruit, flowers or even toys.  I see them at Home Depot, waiting for someone to ask them to come and fix something in need of repair, paint, put up some dry wall, or even mow the lawn.  When I go through the drive thru at just about any fast food restaurant (not that I’m eating out like that every day), I often see them behind the register.  I have asked myself (especially in this economy) where are the black men?  Are they too good for these jobs?

Recently, I posted on my Facebook page that I was looking for black post -production supervisors and post- production coordinators for a television show.  I reached out in particular to a black man, whom I know to be out of work.  I know that he has done the job as a post -production coordinator in the past.  I said, I need your resume ASAP to give to the Post Manager.  He responded, “Absolutely!”  Folks, that was last Friday.  Today is Wednesday.  I still have not received is resume!  I have not called him back.  I can only guess what the excuses will be.

Let me tell you point blank what laziness is.  It’s making excuses instead of making things happen.  If you have NO JOB at all, why are you too good for a retail job, fast food job, or even a entry level clerical job?  And for all of the black men out there who are entrepreneurs, I applaud you…Only if you’re not just throwing money at hair-brained schemes and get-rich-quick ideas.  Only if you’ve done your research, sought counsel and won’t financially rape the household you’re in to “try out” your idea.

It grieves me that so many black men are still expecting someone, namely women to take care of them, and support them all of the time.  Let me be clear…being a supportive woman in a man’s life does not mean we have to go along with every single thing you come up with.  I remember when a man I know, who had a family wanted to start a fish market.  The following week he wanted to open a soul food restaurant.  Oh and then there was the time he wanted a courier service.  It’s great to be enterprising.  To have the mindset of being in charge of your own financial destiny.  But it’s foolish and down right lazy if you do not do your homework.  It’s even worse if you are not passionate about what you’re trying to accomplish.  If you’re only doing it for money, then get any job until you can find your niche, so that your wife doesn’t burn out and your children don’t starve.  Chile Please!

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A Christian woman in Virginia who was ordered to turn over her daughter to her former lesbian partner in Vermont did not do so by the set deadline, a lawyer for the second woman reported.

Lisa Miller had been ordered by a judge in Vermont to turn over her daughter, Isabella, to Janet Jenkins by 1 p.m. Friday, but has not shown up, Sarah Star, Jenkins’s lawyer, told the New York Times.

Officer Tawny Wright, a Fairfax County police spokeswoman, meanwhile, said the Jenkins family had called the police and that a detective is investigating.

For the time being, the case remains a civil matter, Wright added.

Last week, Vermont Family Court Judge William Cohen, who awarded custody of Isabella to Jenkins on Nov. 20, noted that Miller appeared to have “disappeared with the minor child” and ceased communication with her attorneys.

For the past five years, Miller and Jenkins have been engaged in a custody battle over Isabella, who was conceived when the two women were living together in Virginia. Miller, a born-again Christian, had renounced her homosexuality just a few years after entering into a civil union with Jenkins in Vermont in 2000. Jenkins, on the other hand, is today still an active lesbian and has expressed disapproval in raising Isabella in a Christian home.

To read more, click here

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Pastor’s Ex Reveals “Life After The Down Low”

I had the wonderful pleasure of attending a business anointing service on New Year’s day. The service was held at The Ark of Salvation church in Atlanta, Georgia. I share this with you because the Pastor that facilitated the service was Nathanial Bronner of the Bronner Brothers dynasty. The purpose of the service was to transfer a business anointing to entrepreneurs in the same spirit in which  the anointing was transferred from Elijah to Elisha. (1 Kings 19:15-19)

Members of the Bronner family participated  in the service, that currently serve on the Board of Directorsof Bronner Bros Enterprise:

Bernard Bronner- President

Charles Bronner- VP of Finance

James Bronner- VP of IT

Nathanial Bronner-VP of Manufacturing

Robbie Bronner- Wife of Bronner Brothers founder and Mother to the 2^nd generation of Bronners

In his sovereignty, God had each of these individuals pray for the various entrepreneurs and Mrs. Robbie Bronner, prayed for the spouse of business owners, covering every aspect of the business. The Bronner family hails from four generation of entrepreneurs; because of the faithfulness and foundation that was initially set; the current 2^nd and 3^rd generation is able to carry the torch of this 60 year old enterprise, which was established by their forefathers.  The service not only reminded me, but showed me the true meaning of the scripture- that we are to leave an inheritance to our childrens children. (Proverbs 22:13)

2009 was a rough year for so many. Many lost homes, jobs, money, family, etc. It was a devastating time for America, everything that could fall, did. Lessons were learned, hard lessons but by the end of the year we were wiser and stronger. According to the news reports 2010 doesn’t look much better. This is a time where we must walk in our authority and take control over our  own destiny. For to long we have settled to work for someone else, retire and live out the rest of our days. We were created for much more than that and if the hardships of 2009 didn’t teach us anything, they taught us not to depend on another man’s resources for what we need. We have to create our own wealth.

We have to make up in our minds that we will be successful in 2010. We are survivors. As a people we have been here before: hard times, little money, unemployment we know it all to well; but we also know tenacity, hard work and survival. We come from strong stock that made lemonade out of lemons, collard greens out of leaves and leftover pig intestines into a delicacy- aka chitterlings.

This is a time like never before to pull on the stock that we come from and turn this crisis around. Tap into that entrepreneurial or creative spirit within. Utilize your God given gifts and talents to create new and exciting opportunities not just for yourself but your bloodline.  There is so much greatness in you. Use it!

Live Again! Dream Again! Begin AGAIN!

“With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible.”  ( Mark 10:27)

Remember  we really do  WIN!

God Bless you,

Judi

For more information:

Business Anointing Service: www.thebusinessanointing.com

Bronner Bros: www.bronnerbros.com

Written by: Judi Mason for www.elev8.com

Contact Judi: judi@divaink.com

Twitter: www.twitter.com/judimason

Judi’s Tidbits

Business: www.fatnhealthy.com (join the sweet-list for newsletter)

Blog- follow Judi’s cooking blog- Cake Therapy! (recipes, tips and more) www.fatnhealthy.blogspot.com

Facebook: become a fan: www.facebook.com/pages/Atlanta-GA/Fat-Healthy-Dessert-BarBistro/132558910614

Twitter: www.twitter.com/fatnhealthy

Why Aren’t You Fearless?

What’s Holding You Back?

Forgotten Where You Come From

How Did I Get Here? How To Get Back On Track

Don’t Be Afraid Of That Next Level In Your Life

“The Frog Prince,” a fairy tale written by the Brothers Grimm, gets a spin in “The Princess and the Frog” The tale of good times versus hard work is the recurring approach in this movie. The movie opens up on the tale of childhood best-friends-since Charlotte (voice of Jennifer Cody) and Tiana (voice of Anika Noni Rose).

Charlotte, the spoiled, headstrong but nonetheless endearing daughter of wealthy white patriarch Big Daddy (voice of John Goodman) can afford dreams of splendor, and has long had her heart set on marrying a prince. African-American Tiana — whose mother Eudora (voice of Oprah Winfrey) is Charlotte’s seamstress — has the more modest goal of fulfilling late father James’ (voice of Terrence Howard) wish to open an elegant waterfront restaurant.

Through dedication and hard work, Tiana earns the  money needed to open her restaurant, and Charlotte’s cherished desire looks likely to be fulfilled as well when handsome, jazz-addicted playboy Prince Naveen of Maldonia (voice of Bruno Campos) arrives in the Crescent City.
A scheming voodoo sorcerer Dr. Facilier (voice of Keith David) complicates all their lives, leading to a journey to the bayou and the remote lair of its 179-year-old queen, Mama Odie (voice of Jenifer Lewis), whose good magic may undo the hex. Along the way, we meet a fun filled, sweet-natured, trumpet-playing alligator Louis (voice of Michael-Leon Wooley) and gap-toothed Cajun firefly Ray (voice of Jim Cummings). Facilier’s demonic allies are darkly featured in a song and dance that reminds you of earlydark tales of the boogie man. His powers  unquestionably put Facilier’s occultism in its true moral light. More ambiguous and problematic is the depiction of Mama Odie (Jenifer Lewis), whose swamp home is an old shrimp boat marooned in a tree. Though feared as a witch, Mama Odie easily scatters the forces of darkness, and practices a form of divination while advising Tiana and Naveen to “dig a little deeper” and discover their real needs beneath their wants.  As this lavish romance unfolds, enhanced by bouncy tunes from veteran pop star and film composer Randy Newman, hard-working Tiana and lazy, carefree Naveen — initially at Hepburn-Tracy loggerheads — eventually come to exercise a positive, balancing influence on each other. The script, which emphasizes the value of love over material wealth throughout, reaches a resolution highlighting the transformative power of marital commitment.

It’s a welcome tale of a little hard work and dreams I definitely recommend you bring the kids and enjoy the screen time.

The length of the Movie Is 1 hr 35 min Rated G Animated

{For more from Oretha Winston follow her on Twitter}

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Gospel recording artist Tonéx is mourning the loss of his mother Dr. E.B. Williams who passed away on December 28, 2009. Williams served as the assistant pastor of Truth Apostolic Church in San Diego, CA where Tonéx became senior pastor after the untimely 2004 death of his father Dr. Anthony C. Williams.

Before she was known as E.B. (Elder Betty), she was simply Betty Lou Williams. After singing for various girl groups in the 60’s, Betty was on the verge of signing a major recording contract just a mere week before she got saved. She never abandoned her love for music appearing on choir and family album releases from the 70’s forward.

Even after giving birth to six sons, the youngest of which became known to the world as Tonex, E.B. remained driven. Continuing her education at the International Apostolic University of Grace and Truth, she eventually received a Bachelor’s Degree in Christian Education/Church Administration, a Masters of Theology, and a Doctorate of Divinity, all Magna Cum Laude.

E.B. Williams came full circle and returned to her ambitions as a recording artist in 2000 with the release of her debut solo album Simply Because produced largely by Tonéx. It was on this album where Tonéx first displayed his amazing talent for mixing traditional gospel styles with contemporary, a sound that he has employed with great success on later projects with Ann Nesby and the “first lady of gospel” Shirley Caesar.

Dr. Betty was a beautiful and youthful woman who touched many lives, was kind to all, and fully devoted to the call of God on her life. She will be truly missed.

No other details on Dr. Williams’ passing have been released at this time, but cards and condolences can be sent to Truth Apostolic Community Church, 8318 Jamacha Rd., Spring Valley, CA 91977. A post on Tonéx’s official website requests that you not send flowers.

For more information, please contact Judy Groover at 202-361-3939, e-mail tonex@sweetfinesse.com, or visit www.theofficialtonex.com. Details on the memorial service are to be released.

Written by Mark Chappelle Coston for Elev8.com.
Add him on MySpace or follow @MarkChappelle on Twitter.

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Why pray? There are many good reasons to do so. The most important reason, however, is that talking to God changes your perspective. Spending time in his presence makes you a better human being. You certainly have important personal issues you want to talk to him about, but please extend your concern beyond yourself and your loved ones in 2010.

The list above is not comprehensive, but it is a good start. Make a commitment to pray more often and more consistently this year. Include some or all of the worthy topics above.

God bless your efforts, Family.

Written by Sheeri Mitchell for Elev8.com

Follow Sheeri on Twitter! Or Visit her on Black Planet.

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This year more than any has been the year of the “Super Reality TV Show”. I am the first person to point out the negatives of TV programming. This time I thought I would change my approach and find the positives.

Reviewing the year I was struck by a host of positives that actually came from the shows. We saw Sex Rehab get discussed. We learned there is real talent in America. We hoped Ray J would get a date and New York a job. We watched the Kardashians move to Miami, get married and get pregnant. We cringed at Bad Girls behaving badly. We witnessed the housewife of New Jersey with too much money. We shook our heads as a successful girl group came apart. We laughed as Diddy hired another assistant. We cheered Lil’ Kim on as she danced and showed that she was a lady. We sat in awe as Millionaire Matchmaker Patti Stanger matched up a former Destiny Child member. We know the difference between the Jackson brothers. We questioned the actions of a housewife of Atlanta as she talked about being engaged to a married man. We viewed a woman’s heartbreak as she dealt with the love of her life moving on and becoming mega star.  We encouraged each other to start over as an entertainer showed kids; “Don’t do what I did’.

Here are the lessons which jumped out at me.

They were:

# 5- Sometimes the Bachelor Is a Murderer Never ever trust that the background match ups are actually done thoroughly by the TV producers. “Megan Wants To Marry a Millionaire” on VH1 was pulled quickly as one of the finalists, Ryan Jenkins killed his ex-wife. Apparently he had a history of off color behavior.

# 4- Dreams can come True.- Susan Boyle took the world by storm. She was not the cookie cutter performer you usually get but the voice gave us all chills. When she sang “I Dreamed A Dream,” we all dared to dream again.

#3- Christians doing great things can make great television. Children’s Heart Project, a project of the international Christian relief group Samaritan’s Purse, gave the ability for children to have the health care they needed all while cameras rolled.

# 2- Tough Love is often a good thing as VH1 showed us. We saw a reflection on how men perceive women and learned it really wasn’t what we wanted

#1- Parents are often embarrassing to the best of us. The only thing to be said is watch Keysia Cole ‘s mom, Frankie, and Toya’s Mom.

All these moments this year made me really appreciate that I can watch interesting things and be reminded that my life is not so bad. Here’s hoping 2010 Reality Programming entertains and teaches more.

{For more from Oretha Winston follow her on Twitter}

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Christmas is a time of wonder and creativity. It always amazes me the displays that teams of people will come up with to decorate streets, gingerbread houses, homes and offices buildings. The plans for many of these designs start the minute the holiday season is over Most people will say that their city by far has the best parade, light display and tradition in the country. These were just a few of the pictures of corners of this great country that were decorated with eye catching colors and arrays. Some homes and businesses have even timed music to their light displays.

Here are some great pictures from our great land!

{For more from Oretha Winston follow her on Twitter}

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