What is Rabbits of Realness?
Rabbits of Realness is a publishing project that emerged from cross-country phone calls and letter exchanges. The joint pursuit of peace, liberation, and compassion united artists and poets Spoon Jackson and SaraMarie Bottaro. They envision a world full of equal and open access to creative expression that connects everyone to their inner rabbits.
Both born and raised in California, SaraMarie moved across the country to obtain degrees in Studio Art and Peace and Justice Studies from Tufts University while Spoon found language, poetry, and literature close companions during incarceration. Spoon proceeded to establish a global network that unites activists, creatives, and supporters across the social spectrum. Working as an extension of Spoon’s Realness Network, Rabbits of Realness centers a growth narrative and encourages its audience to believe in the power of their creativity and experiences.
“The personal is universal,” is one of Spoon’s most repeated reminders when discussing artistic inspiration. Rabbits of Realness hopes to build a community welcoming personal (and therefore universal) truths in many mediums. Its first project, a children’s zine titled How to Write Your First Ever Letter, distills letter writing into approachable steps that center meaning. A continuation of Rabbits of Realness’s vision manifests in subsequent zine publications that combine art and poetry, such as Ancient Bee Being, Break Open, and the first in the Spoonful of Wisdom series. The forthcoming projects combine Spoon’s and SaraMarie’s art and words in a new and dynamic way due to the design work of their first intern, Alice Fang.
Rabbits of Realness envisions the freedom of heart and spirit like rabbits roaming freely on a boundless terrain. “Our wisdom and art will continue to mesh together like clouds in the sky and rain down inspiration, magic, love and beauty seen and unseen…[What we’re doing is] only felt by the heart and spirit,” Spoon wrote in one of his letters to SaraMarie about the project. Rabbits of Realness looks forward to spreading its message through future publications and productions in various genres and mediums.
The posts on this substack will be free to all, in line with our mission. If you choose to become a paid subscriber, you will be directly supporting our creative labor (and printing costs) and helping us bring more of our many many many ideas to life. Thank you so much for being here!
A note: Spoon always enjoys letters - he will write you back! Feel free to reach out to him at this address:
Spoon Jackson B-92377
CSP – Solano
Level II, Bldg D24, 150
Vacaville, CA 95696-4000
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If you’d like to order any physical copies of our zines, you can peruse them here.
If for some reason the zine you ordered didn’t arrive, please reach out directly to SaraMarie by replying to your order confirmation to request a refund.
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