Chattanooga Pulse

Inside The Towers
Good investigative and artistic writing by Cody Maxwell [“Inside The Tower Walls”]. You’re inspiring and authentic and engaging. I would love to see a follow up to find out more about the tunnels and what’s underground in Chattanooga. Thanks for a good read.
Leah Ashley

No New Job Creation
No, Stuart James, the “stimulus” did not create any new jobs [“It’s Jobs (and the Economy), Stupid”, Beyond The Headlines]. It only moved jobs from place to place. If it spent tax dollars, the dollars were taken from somewhere, destroying jobs there. If it spent borrowed money, the money was loaned to Uncle Sam instead of to someone else. If it spent newly printed money, printing the new money reduced the value of existing money. Besides, our President said his stimulus would keep unemployment under 8%, and unemployment is now around 10%.
Andrew Lohr

Kudus To Dr. Rick
Many thanks for that thought provoking column [“It’s Good to Laugh—Because Then You Live Longer”, Shrink Rap]. I try to follow most of those ideas and principles but it is not always easy, of course. It is important to stop and ponder what effects your behavior might have on other individuals as well how it might ultimately affect your own life’s journey. A moment to simply pause and reflect on past situations can be a positive influence on how to avoid future pitfalls or simply to acknowledge how and why events occurred and move forward with a renewed commitment for a happy and healthy life. Keep up the good work and continue help steer all of us who rely on your sage advice.
Robert B. Brumfield

The Fat Lady Still Sings
In reading an article about opera by Stephanie Smith [“Opera-tunity in Chattanooga”], I read her opinion that the days of the fat opera singer are over.  Not true!  I recently watched an opera on television from the Met where both leading singers, male and female, were behemoths.  I have never, ever, seen larger people singing in an opera at the Met and I would venture that Rudolph Bing, who fired any singer who was overweight, such as the great Eleanor Steber, would be turning over in his grave if he saw these two heavyweights on the stage of the Metropolitan. The opera I saw with the two gigantic singers was an  “Aida” production and this opera is so  strenuous that it does call for singers of more heft, but singers with beautiful bodies have also sung these Verdi roles for many years.
Mildred Perry Miller

Editor’s note: Thanks so much for your comments, Ms. Miller. We do just want to point out that the remark about the “days of the fat opera singer are over” was made by chorus master Darrin Hassevoort, and was not writer Stephanie Smith’s personal opinion.