Living Up The Street

These prompts can be used for in-class discussion, exploratory free-writing, or reflection homework before or after reading the essay collection.

Pre-Reading Personal Response Prompt

What is your family/cultural/personal relationship with work, money, and wealth? What thoughts, beliefs, and experiences shape how you view work and money? Write a personal biography or a family biography that explores relationships with money, labor, and survival.

Teaching Suggestion: Since this topic is personal and potentially sensitive, sharing might be made optional. Responses should be 3+ paragraphs so that students might return to the draft for Activity 1 (see “Activities” section). Prompt students to write about what adults around them said and did regarding work and money when they were small children, what they learned about work and money at school or among peers, and/or what they learned about work, wealth and money from television, music, or other media. By reflecting on these questions, students gain an entry into the central themes, especially Poverty, Race, and Identity.

Post-Reading Analysis

What aspects of Soto’s environment shaped who he was as a youth? As he grew up, how did his character and his beliefs change? Compare what he believed about himself as a child to what he believed about himself as an adult. Focus especially on his attitudes toward work, wealth, and money.

Teaching Suggestion: One of the most powerful aspects of memoir writing is the author’s ability to write about their own contradictions, especially contradictions that come about as a result of growing older. Use this question as a writing activity or class discussion to help readers explore Soto’s depiction of those contradictions. This discussion may connect to the theme of Violence and Environment.