JUNE 7, 2019

Happy Friday, and happy Pride! We’re celebrating with a special viewing of the documentary Stonewall Uprising here at Audible HQ, and we just released You Do You, a storytelling celebration of true queer tales with Tan France and Nikki Levy, which is part of June’s free monthly selection for members. Here’s what else is going on.

This is our new pet cause.

For anyone who’s given up on the dream of bipartisanship, we present Animal Advocacy Day, an annual event where New York lawmakers from both sides of the aisle fawn over each other’s pets and vote on animal-related legislation. This past Tuesday, Republican Senator James Tedisco brought his pet Corgi, Grace, with him to the Capitol, and the state senate had a very productive day passing nine animal-related bills, including one that will ban cat declawing if signed by the governor. Cheers for our furry little citizens (and bipartisan politics!).

How many steps to greatness?

We’ve long been perplexed by our culture’s obsession with multiples of 10 (why is your 40th birthday more meaningful than your 43rd?). It turns out the side-eye was warranted in the case of the 10,000 steps requirement for health: the supposedly magic number was really just part of a marketing campaign for a 1960s step counter. Manufactured by Yamasa Clock and Instrument Company, the pedometer was branded as Manpo-kei, which translates to 10,000 steps meter. The arbitrary number is now debunked; still, we can’t help feeling that our preoccupation with steps has had some benefits—it’s certainly made us better listeners. We recommend the satisfying meta-ness of hearing David Sedaris wax obsessive about his Fitbit while getting your steps in—and getting fitter, too. 💥 💪😅

Please say they didn’t do it for the ‘gram.

Three men were busted for stealing $600,000 worth of prized succulents to sell on the international black market. It seems that fat plants, and particularly the Dudleya species so popular on Instagram, are fetching high prices as domestic status symbols in Asia. While we enjoy fascinating true tales of stealing beauty—Susan Orlean’s The Orchid Thief being the most famous in the botanical vein—this real-life trend is extremely concerning, especially considering that poaching could bring these desert beauties to the brink of extinction. We’re grateful to the wildlife detectives (the Billy Jensens of our national parks?) on the case.

Getting ready for some TV turn-on.

We’ve got a big night of TV on Sunday (shout-out to our DVRs! 🙌). Big Little Lies returns to the small screen, and we cannot wait to see what type of dramz Meryl Streep brings to the Monterey Five. Also on Sunday, we’ll be cheering on one of our all-time favorite narrators, Santino Fontana to bring home the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for his role in Tootsie. Good luck, Santino—we’ll be rooting for You! (See what we did there? #hadto)

We saved the bestie for last.

Tomorrow is Best Friends Day, and we are ready with a brand-new June #TBLT (that’s our year-long To Be Listened To challenge, BTW). This month, we’re all about listening to a recommendation from a friend—and to put our money where our mouths are, nine of our editors had the pleasure of inflicting recommending our favorites to another editor, and listening to personalized suggestions from our colleagues in turn. A hip-hop memoir, a serial killer saga, and an under-the-radar bildungsroman ensued—because hey, that’s what friends are for. Join us, won’t you?
Till Next Week!
—the audible editors

Audiobooks in This Edition

You Do You Audiobook By Tan France, Nikki Levy, Janine Brito, D.J. “Shangela” Pierce, Emma Willmann, Gigi Gorgeou
Citizen Canine Audiobook By David Grimm cover art
Calypso Audiobook By David Sedaris cover art
Provenance Audiobook By Laney Salisbury, Aly Sujo cover art
The Orchid Thief Audiobook By Susan Orlean cover art
Alien III Audiobook By William Gibson cover art