Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Clarence Page capped off his Common Reading Scholar-In-Residence at the University this week with a speech given Thursday, Oct. 26. The topic of his speech was J.D. Vance’s memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy.”

Page grew up in the same town Vance came from, Middletown, Ohio, and was able to offer a unique insight in to what it really takes to attain upward mobility in the working class.

Despite growing up at a different time and being a different race than Vance, Page said his life was similar to the author’s. Like Vance, Page also witnessed the deterioration of industrial economies and the effects that upward mobility can have a person and their loved ones, which the author covered in his book.

Page discussed the many reasons why poverty is so rampant in the working class of America, including job flight, self-defeating values, badly-funded schools, drug addiction and learned helplessness, among others.

“Your tribe determines your belief,” Page said, adding that this reality is one of the reasons why a dispiriting culture can be so detrimental to success. Page cited a statistic that stated only 44 percent of working class white Americans expected their children to be more well-off than them. He said neither him nor Vance were sure of whether success is circumstantial or something that comes about due to natural ability.

Page credited his high school newspaper advisor, Mary Kindle, as the woman who inspired him to turn journalism into his career.

“The important thing to me was that somebody had some faith in me,” Page said. From high school, he went on to college at Ohio University. After college, he enjoyed a prolific career in journalism, becoming a member of the editorial board at the Chicago Tribune, winning two Pulitzer Prizes and receiving the 2017 W.M. Kiplinger Distinguished Contributions to Journalism Award.

Page also offered advice to budding journalists. He told the audience the most valuable lesson he learned as a starting journalist was to get names right, especially in obituaries. He also encouraged aspiring reporters to not feel dejected by setbacks, but rather see them as opportunities to grow and become smarter.

The journalist also mentioned he thought so many working class individuals were drawn to Donald Trump as a presidential candidate because they felt Trump was someone who appeared to be “on their side.”

“This was the third time I heard him in his visit, and I’m always so impressed by his depth of knowledge and how he always relates something to something that’s very current,” journalism professor Kelly Taylor said. “He has an excellent dry sense of humor that, if you listen carefully, is kind of entertaining.”

“I liked his sense of humor and how he was not afraid to talk about politics to everybody,” freshman Victoria Calabrese said about Page.

J.D. Vance will be visiting the University in November, and Page said the one question to ask Vance is, “What do you want to do next?”