Things really seem to be heating up these days between Rihanna and her baseball player beau Matt Kemp.

This past weekend, Rih Rih flew back to the states from Berlin to meet Kemp's parents in their hometown of Arizona. She left Germany early where she had just finished up performing at the Echo Awards just so she could make it in time for his annual Ante Up for Autism gala on Saturday; a cause that hits close to home for Kemp, whose younger brother is autistic.

"Men lie. Women lie. Numbers don't."

Hov may have been referring to record sales but I'm referring to the overwhelming statistics facing black women in America: 70% of us are single and 42% have never been married. To make matters worse, the pool of black men to choose from is steadily decreasing as more black men continue to marry outside their race -- 1 in 6 to be exact. So, why are the majority of black women still stuck on the idea of only dating black men when the numbers are clearly not in their favor?

According to Karyn Langhorne Folan, there are a number of reasons, and in her book, "Don't Bring Home a White Boy," she closely examines the deep rooted issues black women have about dating outside their race. The former Harvard Law professor turned author became interested in issues surrounding interracial relationships after she married her Irish American husband in 2004. From slavery to selling out; sexual myths to family reactions -- you name it, and Karyn covers it in an insightful and witty manner.

Black Voices caught up with Karyn to discuss her reason for writing, "Don't Bring Home a White Boy" and how black women can benefit from reading it. You may not walk away thinking, "I need to find me a white boy!" but I guarantee you will walk away with an open mind and an open heart.

BV: What made you write the book?

Right now if every black man and every black woman married each other there would be 1.8 black women left over and we know that's not happening. We know that black men are marrying out; we know that a lot of black men aren't interested in marriage; we know that there are black men and black women -- and certainly people of every race and every gender -- who are gay or mentally unstable, unhealthy or incarcerated who are unavailable for marriage anyway. To me the solution was just obvious. The world is full of men -- America is full of men -- but we [black women] are not seeing ourselves or seeing those other men as possible marriage material nor are we seeing ourselves as women they would be interested in and that's a problem. The book is timely in the sense that I'm almost sick of these stories of single black women who can't find a man. I'm practically screaming every time one comes on like "THERE ARE PLENTY OF MEN!!!"

Roses are red

Violets are blue

I'm SO over Valentine's Day

I'm hoping you are too

If you're a guy in a relationship, celebrating Valentine's Day is not an option -- it's a requirement. Each year you're forced to top the last and if you disappoint it may be your last. If your girl says she doesn't care about the holiday, guess what? She's LYING!

If you're a girl in a relationship, you spend the weeks prior to V-day trying to predict what your man will do to profess his love for you this year. If he goes all out he's the best thing since sliced bread but let him come up short and you'll find yourself reevaluating how much he supposedly cares because if he really loved you he would have pulled some stunt out of 'Hitch,' right?

If you're single -- like myself -- Valentine's Day simply serves as yet another sad and painful reminder of the fact. And like many, you view February 14th as the commercialized and overly hyped production that it truly is. If I sound bitter, you're right. However, all biases aside there are plenty of people who would agree that the so-called annual 'celebration of love' causes more harm than good and you'll be happy to know it isn't just the "single ladies with their hands up," who feel this way.

Lala wrote a few words about the event on her website.