David Porter
Bio
David A. Porter has been the editor at large for Stereo Embers Magazine, an online music site, since 2007. David received an MFA in Creative Writing and an MA in English from San Francisco State University. He is a Rutgers graduate.
Stories (12/0)
Five Proven Health Benefits of Playing the Piano
American novelist Kurt Vonnegut loved music so much he once said: “If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph—the only proof of God he needed was music.” While many of us perhaps feel this way, did you know there are proven health benefits of playing the piano? Yes! Tickling the ivories doesn’t only seduce your ears and fill your soul—playing music can improve memory, reduce stress, and encourage creativity! So maybe it’s time to free your inner Mozart?
By David Porter5 years ago in Longevity
Ways to Get Better at Working Under Pressure
Oftentimes life seems like an endless series of stressful situations, particularly at work. Work is hard — if it wasn’t, we probably wouldn’t get paid. Sitting on the beach isn’t very stressful, thus we rarely get paid to do it, unless you’re a lifeguard, and then you’re getting paid to make sure everyone who’d been lying on the beach, then decided to jump into the water, makes it back to the beach (which is probably pretty stressful). Working under pressure is tough, and always necessary, unfortunately, but there are a few ways to get better at working under pressure.
By David Porter5 years ago in Journal
Songs About Long Distance Relationships Every LDR Couple Should Listen To
Songs about long distance relationships have been around as long as there have been long distance couples. It was John Donne who first underlined the ache of romantic separation in his poem, “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning:” "Our two souls therefore, which are one, Though I must go, endure not yet A breach, but an expansion, Like gold to airy thinness beat." From here it’s straight to The Beatles' “P.S. I Love You.” Is there anything harder than long distance love, if you’re in it? Probably not. Long distance couples have a tough row to hoe, for sure.
By David Porter5 years ago in Beat
10 TV Couples Who Hated Each Other in Real Life
If you grew up with network television shows in the 70s and 80s, like I did, most of the shows were ensemble pieces, and it seemed like everyone enjoyed each other’s company. Most TV couples seemed as if they were pretty compatible in real life, like the Jeffersons or Archie and Edith Bunker, Simon and Simon, Mr. Roarke and Tattoo…it always seemed like Mr. Jefferson, as played by the legendary Sherman Helmsley, might have benefited from some anger management counseling, but overall, I never had the feeling he hated Isabel Sanford. And the Cunningham household always seemed like a loving home. But here's ten couples who probably weren't so happy showing up to work...
By David Porter5 years ago in Geeks
Best Spring Break Destinations for Families
As the father of a seven year-old, I love family travel. If you live in the Northeast or the Midwest, by the time January reaches its chilly conclusion, you’re probably already thinking about the perfect spring break destination. Most school vacations take place in early March, when there’s still about a month left of winter. If you’re lucky enough to live in the United States, there are plenty of family-friendly, budget-friendly spring break destinations on both coasts. I’ve got ten that are perfect for your family spring break, in no particular order, mostly because I’d love to do all of them!
By David Porter5 years ago in Wander
The Weirdest Food Laws in the USA That Are Actually Real
Did you know you’ll probably pay a hefty fine if you buy a cold beer or a hot toddy for a moose in Fairbanks, AK? Ensuring the Last Frontier’s moose are teetotalers is just one of the weirdest food laws in the USA. We live in one of the most litigious countries in the world, so it makes sense that some of our food laws are downright odd, strange, and somewhat unnecessary. I’m really a burger and fries kind of diner myself, and I’m a pizza addict, so I’m rarely doing anything illegal at the table. You might be a bit more adventurous than I am, so here’s a baker’s dozen of some of the weirdest food laws in the USA—keep them in mind whenever you sally forth on a culinary adventure.
By David Porter5 years ago in Feast
The Subtle Ways Anxiety and Depression Affect Your Work
There are many ways anxiety and depression affect your work. Depression and anxiety can be mental disorders on their own or the symptoms of mental illness, including mood disorders such as anxiety disorder, bipolar disorder, clinical depression, and major depressive disorder. Regardless of your mental health, stress affects us all, and even those of us who are balanced and content can suffer from symptoms of depression and anxiety.
By David Porter5 years ago in Psyche
How to Write a Job Interview Thank You Email
I’d like to talk about how to write a job interview thank you email, but first I’d like to mention some excellent advice a friend of mine once gave me: “Go on every job interview you can,” he said. “It’s an experience you can’t pay for.” He was absolutely right. You can pay someone to drive your car to Seattle or toss you out of an airplane or bury you up to your neck in sand, but you can’t pay someone to interview you—you can, of course, and your friends probably need the money, but what good would it do? As all job seekers know, the interview, phone or, even better, face to face, is like knocking at the gates of Oz. It’s all about exhilaration and terror and trying to stay at the absolute top of your game for at least an hour.
By David Porter5 years ago in Journal
Must-Follow Tips for Traveling with Kids
I have plenty of tips for traveling with children. It’s actually traveling with “child,” in my case, since I only have one. I love traveling with my son, Leo, who was born in August of 2010 in Nicosia, Cyprus, the easternmost island in the Mediterranean. We’ve done a lot of traveling in Europe, including tours of the Aegean, Athens, Israel, Milan, Venice, Vienna and Lisbon, which we visited in 2012 to see Bruce Springsteen play at Rock in Rio, and in the USA where, during the summer of 2016, we visited eight states! We’ve been on boats, in cars, on planes and on trains. We’ve eaten grilled octopus on a beach outside Mykonos Town and rode a gondola under the Rialto Bridge; we’ve swam in the waves of the Jersey Shore and picked blueberries in Rhode Island. And there’s plenty more to come.
By David Porter5 years ago in Wander
Best Films of the 1950s Everyone Should Watch at Least Once
It was the decade of Cecille B. DeMille, John Ford, Alfred Hitchcock, Billy Wilder ,and William Wyler, when every film, especially those on this list, felt like widescreen epics – and many of them were movies so sweeping in their ambition and scope, in the magnitude and magnificence of their storytelling, that you couldn’t help being swept away. Here are a dozen of the best films of the 1950s, in reverse alphabetical order, the ones I think it’d be a crime to miss if you want to drink a deep draught of a golden age for American cinema.
By David Porter5 years ago in Geeks
Things I've Learned from a Great Father About What Makes a Good Man
The things I’ve learned from a great father about what makes a good man are many, to be sure: honesty, hard work, generosity and a sense of humor. If you ask me about my dad, I’ll tell you these are his four most salient characteristics and the four values I strive to embody—I’m not sure I’m nailing it, but I’m trying, every day, to follow his example. Doing so makes me a better man and a better father.
By David Porter5 years ago in Families
10 of the Greatest Rock Albums Ever Made
I have to confess, as a card-carrying member of Generation X and as someone who was in the stands when some of the greatest rock albums ever made were actually released, I have spent an inordinate number of hours in the midst of “greatest rock albums ever made” conversations. I’ve grown up reading list after list, too; everything from the first-ever Rolling Stone 100 Greatest Albums of All Time to The Observer’s 100 Greatest British Albums. I’ve devoured countless books about music, including my bible, The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock n’ Roll. I’ve perused myriad issues of Mojo and Q, as well as Creem when it reemerged while I was in college. So I’ve had a chance to vet the opinions of a great many outstanding critics while constructing my own edifice. Where has it gotten me? Down a rabbit hole where you drown in classic rock and die with your motorcycle boots on.
By David Porter5 years ago in Beat
