Who is Gary Soto essays

Who is Gary Soto essays The great Gary Soto is a well-known Chicano writer, the word Chicano means Mexican-American, a slang word they use to describe themselves and their culture. Soto is talented poet as well as writer; he has created many short stories, novels, and scripts ( ). All his writings have been influenced by events during his lifetime, including his childhood, college days and married life. Gary Soto was born April 12, 1952 in Fresno, California to a poverty ridden family. Soto went through the toughest times, he worked for half his childhood to help support his family, and doing this he took away time from his education, which showed through his low grades ( ). He attended Roosevelt High School and graduated with a GPA of 1.6. It was obvious that school was not that of importance to him, but soon later he realized that education is the key to success in life ( ). At the age of 20, life for Soto was becoming clearer to him. He first started getting interested with literature, while he was attending California State University at Fresno. There he received his Bachelor of Arts in English in 1974, and continued his education at UC Irvine, where he acquired his Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing ( ). While Soto was working hard to get his graduate degree he met his wife Carolyn Oda. She was a young Japanese-American woman who was working on her degree to become a Veterinarian. Together they had a daughter, and named her Mariko ( ). The United Farm Workers movement had an influence to his writing. As a fellow Chicano he believe it was important to gather the underpaid minorities in California a chance to form a union to raises wages and benefits. This movement was lead by Cesar Chaves and Dolores Huerta in the mid-1960s ( ). To go along with this movement, he was also a follower in the Civil Rights Movement. It stressed the equality of all minorities in the world, so they could be trea ...