JLove is the author of three books: We Got Issues!; That White Girl; and Conscious Women Rock the Page!
As a writer, her cutting-edge articles on hip hop culture, white privilege, and social justice have appeared in The New York Times, Self Magazine, The Source Magazine, among other traditional and new media outlets.
JLove’s passion is connecting social justice issues with innovation people, products, and experiences, with the goal of shifting our cultural paradigm toward peace, justice, and sustainability. Her projects include bringing this conversation to TV, film, book publishing, and conscious goods and services.
Here’s some things you can do here:
That White Girl is a fresh and hard-edged novel chronicling a young woman’s quest for self-discovery while straddling two worlds, that of her middle-class Irish Catholic upbringing and her new family — the Crips, America’s notorious street gang.
What happens when a white girl flirts with the color lines and crosses the border into gang territory, where the bullets are in part real and the rules cannot be broken? JLove tells this incredible story inspired by her own remarkable life. Amber, a fearless white girl, has a passion for rap lyrics and an addiction to graffiti, but her journey begins when she becomes immersed in the power and grind of gang life after holding a gun to an innocent man’s head during a robbery.
That White Girl is a sharp and candid coming-of-age story, with hip-hop as its backdrop, that explores a young woman’s struggles and triumphs as she crosses boundaries, discovers her own limits, and finds a new way to express herself in a world divided into black and white.
View a Preview | Buy it Now | *That White Girl has been optioned for film.
Using Hip-Hop Fiction to Incite Social Change (CWRP)
Four women have teamed up to support educators who wish to use hip hop fiction in their classrooms to explore social issues and promote activism among their students. CWRP is based on three hip hop novels praised for their treatment of substantive issues from race relations to dating violence in a genre often criticized for glorifying street life and perpetuating stereotypes.
The curriculum contains over thirty lessons which are appropriate for use in middle school classrooms through university campuses. The novels upon which CWRP is based are: That White Girl, by JLove, The Sista Hood: On the Mic by E-Fierce, and Picture Me Rollin’, by Black Artemis, and is edited by Marcella Runell Hall, co-editor of The Hip Hop Education Guidebook. CWRP contains lessons on multiple subjects and disciplines including English, social studies, ethnic studies, race relations, women’s studies, criminal justice and health and sexuality to name just a few. CWRP is a curriculum for educators who want to introduce popular media in their learning environments to engage their students on meaningful social and political issues, facilitate their empowerment, and inspire them to take action.
Buy it Now | Sample Lesson Plan | Visit Conscious Women Rock the Page Online
A Young Women’s Guide to Bold, Courageous and Empowered Life
(Inner Ocean, 2006) edited by Rha-Goddess and JLove Calderon
There is a movement brewing among America’s daughters. Women are branding their own form of social and political leadership. Young women have huge hopes and aspirations for themselves, and for their societies.
They have limitless gifts to contribute and they have the talent and the right to make those aspirations realities. We stand firm that our growth from victim to vision is a universal process, and we celebrate the voices of all women. This book will explore the social, political and cultural landscape of young women’s leadership in this nation and take the reader on a journey through the hearts, minds, and souls of a new feminine generation as they speak honestly and courageously about the ten most pressing issues facing young women today.
Till the White Day is Done is a holistic journey involving a multi-dimensional and interactive experience through the interdisciplinary arts, education, and entertainment.
It includes an anthology, curriculum guide, documentary, and national “town hall” style tour. Elements of the project are in collaboration with Eradicating Racism, an initiative of 1+1+1=ONE, a 501(c)3 Brooklyn based non-profit.
This project includes the voices of Game-Changers, Paradigm-Shifters, Wisdom-Callers: Sonia Sanchez, Talib Kweli and his father, Dr. Perry Green, April Silver, Rosa Clemente, Danny Hoch, Inga Musico, Jeff Chang, Tim Wise, Suheir Hammad, M1, Esther Armah, Baba Israel, Chuck D, MC Serch, Marcella Runell-Hall and many more.
In this dark and dangerous era where America demands a new kind of voice, a new kind of leadership, into the arena steps JLove, writer, critical thinker, activist, leader. What makes her that important, that necessary, is that JLove is courageous, transparent, and, no doubt, fearless. Listen to her, read her, and you will hear what the world out to be, not what it is.
- Kevin Powell, activist, writer
As an author, educator, activist, and Certified Empowerment Facilitator, JLove Calderon has worked passionately on social justice, race, and gender issues for over 15 years. In settings that range from hip hop ciphers to the college classroom, JLove is widely respected for her advocacy of “truth, love, and freedom“ for everyday people, especially young people, women and girls, and lovers of hip hop culture.
