What is Commonplace Pages?
Commonplace Pages is a blog site dedicated to the discussion of the thoughts and experiences of Richard José Llorente, founder of Latine Lege and current student at Amherst College (’28E, B.A. in Classics). Though set up on June 2026, the idea of Commonplace Pages had occurred to him in the months before, as he saw the need for a site to keep his family, friends and proximates updated on his experiences abroad. Though here you will find posts primarily on my time outside Miami, I intend in the future to write about my readings also.
The Author
Born on March 1, 2005 in Louisville, Kentucky—but having been raised in Hialeah Gardens, Florida—Richard is a second-generation Cuban-American who first studied coding in his youth, enrolling in the Web Design strand at Miami Lakes Educational Center (Class of 2023) before assuming History at the Miami Dade College Honors College (Class of 2025), North Campus, before finally taking on Classics at Amherst College (see above). He is primarily recognized outside of the classroom for his Latine Lege website (link), launched in October 2024, as an aid for new students of Classical Latin (see its About page). He is especially fond of Plutarch’s Parallel Lives; his favorite bit of Latin writing is verses 1-56 Virgil’s Aeneid, Book II; and his favorite English poem is Lord Byron’s Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage (1812-1818).
To his friends and peers, he is known for his voluminous hat collection, neat style of handwriting, crude Latin verses, and very peculiar variety of spoken English (heavily influenced phonetically by Northern English). He also has a prodigious habit of staring at colored Mercator projections. When he is not engaged in any of the above business, he can be found walking around parks and specializing in playing Ryu against his brother in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (2018).
The Goal
The goal of Commonplace Pages is to illuminate interested parties on my activities; this site is intended as a general tool to update my folks on the happenings-on in my life. It shall primarily tackle the issues of my travels, but in the future I plan to expand it beyond that.
- Time at Amherst: By far the most dramatic transition of my life yet, here you will find writings about my time in Amherst College: What has passed, is passing, and will have passed. I shall also be addressing my goals while at the College, and any opportunities I try to take.
- Time Abroad: 2026 is proving a big year for me. It is not only the year of the Strasbourg Summer Program on the European Views of the American Revolution, 1776-1804, but also of my time at the Worcester College in Oxford University as a visiting student. I shall attempt to cover these experiences as best I can while away.
- Writings on Readings: While reading is among my more blessèd habits, the great shame of it is that all too often I have had no-one to discuss my literature with. This blog will serve as a place where I can fix this, and give some of my thoughts on reading Plutarch, Homer, Cicero, etc… and perhaps provide fresh insights.
I hope you enjoy reading my blog entries as much as I do writing them. If you are more curious about me and/or what I do, you may always write to me through the Contact page (link). Ad proximum, or to the next!