Friday

Comin’ straight out of Baltimore, LaDawn Black is preaching the good word that leads away from the playaz and the pimps (hard as it may be) and straight toward relationship bliss. Prince Charming isn’t going to stage a daring rescue in the produce aisle, even if you shop regularly at Social Safeway. And bolstered by a heat-seeking missile programmed with the ideal requirements (employed, financially secure, Taye Diggs look-alike), the search is still a lost cause. It’s a tragic injustice best explained away by the urban myth that all the good ones are married or gay. But apparently the myth is just that, and the good ones are programming their own heat-seeking missiles to target quality black women. For some reason, though, neither side is making a direct hit. Stripped Bare: The Twelve Truths That Will Help You Land the Very Best Black Man won’t tell you how to turn a bad man into a good one or how to land a goldmine. What it does is provide a 12-step program for stripping away all the misconceptions that lead to disappointment. Author and radio host Black lays out the road map to finding a solid relationship. Pimps be damned: It just got harder out here for them. Put down your baggage when Black reads at 7 p.m. at Borders, 931A Capital Centre Blvd., Largo. Free. (301) 499-2173. (Melanie Boyer)