One day, shortly after hard copies of Every 90 Seconds arrived with their periwinkle covers to my doorstep, I rounded the corner into the office I share with my spouse and stopped short. I heard familiar words — words that sounded a lot like my words — in someone else’s voice.
The voice was Susan Bennett’s and the recording was a beautiful narration of Every 90 Seconds. My spouse had downloaded and was playing the then-newly released audiobook.
Among the many things that have surprised me on this journey with Every 90 Seconds, my reaction to hearing Bennett narrate the text was one. I suddenly felt connected to a stranger who had traversed every word of the text, co-creating an invitation to listeners to build a different world together. I was curious what she thought of the book’s messages, what it was like to travel the chapters alone in a sound studio. Did she stumble when she found that annoying typo in the last chapter, like I did during a bookstore reading? I wondered about inflections in her reading that caused me to listen and hear my own words in a new light.
And like so many other moments with this book, I also felt terribly out of my league, not knowing the rules of etiquette. Was it ok or weird or was I actually supposed to reach out to this person who had taken such care with words about which I cared so deeply?
As is the case in this wired world we live in, Bennett and I ended up connected on social media. And while she could suddenly see a bit more into my life and I into hers, the more time that passed, the weirder I felt about reaching out to say wanted I wanted to say all along.
So when I learned this week about the promotion that has Bennett’s recording of Every 90 Seconds on sale through Audiobooks until June 3, it seemed as good a reason as any to finally say: Thank you, Susan Bennett. Your narration of Every 90 Seconds was beautiful. I’m so grateful for the care you took with words that matter much to me.
And thank you also to all who give the book a listen (or a read)!
***
Every 90 Seconds is also available from Oxford University Press or:
Trauma Research Notes 
Thank you for sharing your powerful and beautiful words with the world!
I just loaned my copy of Every 90 Seconds to a friend.
Leanna
Leanna Stoufer (she/her)https://www.mypronouns.org/what-and-why Legal Advocacy Program Training Specialist Project Safeguard PO Box 40250 Denver CO 80204 720-337-4468 (o) 720-618-6531 (c) Leanna@psghelps.org
Project Safeguard is providing services both in-person and remotely, by phone or video. Also, we close at noon on Fridays, so any message left after 12:00pm will not be received until the following Monday.
Anyone needing immediate assistance outside our open hours can reach out to these local hotlines:
SafeHouse Denverhttps://safehouse-denver.org/ (24/7 hotline for survivors of domestic violence): 303-318-9989
The Blue Benchhttps://thebluebench.org/ (24/7 hotline for survivors of sexual assault): 303-322-7273
The Rose?Andom?Centerhttps://roseandomcenter.org/ 720-337-4400.
Additional local and national resources can be found on Project Safeguard’s websitehttps://psghelps.org/resources/.
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