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Our catch phrase is on its way.

Dear Fellow Earthlings,

My second birthday was spent in Panama, where my father was working. I have an aunt named Thelma Yolanda Figueroa-Johannes -- born on January 30, 1948, 20 days after I was. She was my chief playmate in Panama in the early days of 1950, but then she and her parents (my grandparents) headed back to Guatemala and left me and my parents in Panama. I was too young to realize it, but my dear grandfather Francisco Figueroa (“Abuelito Pancho”) passed away on May 13, 1950 in Guatemala. The precious times I had spent with him in Panama faded from my memory. On June 17, 1950 my sister Rosalie was born in the town of Ancon, in the Panama Canal Zone. Now that Mom’s father had passed away and Rosalie was born, my parents made the decision to return to Illinois. We took a ship back to the United States, arriving in New York City. My Uncle Donald (“D”) Walker drove from Caseyville, Illinois all the way to New York City to pick us up and drive us the 1,600 kilometers back to Illinois. We stopped at a diner somewhere in Ohio. There, displeased that Mom would not buy me any pie, I put my tongue on the floor of the diner and licked the floor in order to show Mom that I wanted pie! Mom had me stick out my tongue so that she could wipe the black crud off of it – but she just couldn’t get it all wiped off. To this day I still hunger for good pie served at diners, quite similar to the way Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith, the "Men In Black" love pie. Anyway, I was back in Caseyville, Illinois – and once again living with my Dad’s parents Joe and Lorene Walker. Suddenly I had no chance to speak any more Spanish, for the only Spanish speaker in that area was my mother – and she wanted to speak only English. So English it was!

Steve Walker

Earthsaver and Jingles Creator


© 2013 Steve Walker, The Jingles-The Japan Foundation for English Pronunciation, Summit Enterprises.

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