Author Bios

Tito Genova Valiente

Tito Genova Valiente

Articles by this author:

  • Heritage and the Cruelties of the Replaceable (Signos)

    An unusual collection can be found in a castle somewhere in Austria. Called the Schloss Loosdorf, the site was written in the magazine called “The World of Interiors” and shows the Neoclassical structure and its display of shards, or broken ceramic vessels and plates. History saw the castle occupied first by the Nazis and later by the Russians at the end of World War II. The Russian soldiers discovered the prized ceramic collection of the castle and soon they started breaking them, according to the story, and throwing them.

    By: Tito Genova Valiente
  • Dateline: Sorsogon (Signos)

    Sorsogon is now a city. I realized that when I went there last week to evaluate a non-governmental organization. With that appellation comes the expectation of a busy place and people with some sort of sophistication in taste. We expect angst in the crowd and pollution around. And yet, the citification of towns and communities are not exactly promotions in status; they are predictions of more problems of all forms.

    By: Tito Genova Valiente
  • Romancing/Romanticising the Sangkaka (Signos)

    I do not know whether I should be rejoicing that the “Sangkaka” is now “malled.” But I would continue writing and investigating its provenance and temperament the same way I would devote time to Chilean and South African wine. After all, to write about the lowly “Sangkaka” is infinitely more rewarding and gratifying than struggling with the death of a General and the overrating of a day called Valentine’s Day.

    By: Tito Genova Valiente
  • A Question of Divination and Horoscope (Signos)

    I always get this feeling horoscopes have gone already the way of the postage stamps (the kind one licks and pastes on an envelope) and telegrams (the proto-form of texting). And yet horoscopes are having resurgence over radios and in televisions.

    By: Tito Genova Valiente
  • Chronicling the Last Day of the Year (Signos)

    It is the last day of the year and even if this terminating of the year is a fairly recent human invention, we are convinced really that the 31st of December of any year is the last day of the year. And, sorrow and regrets are fashionable and smart response to this realization.

    By: Tito Genova Valiente
  • Namulaan (Signos)

    Some people have New Year’s Resolutions and some people buy round fruits. If I may borrow a classic comment from Cristy Fermin who is consistent with her abhorrence of Kris Aquino, which I share: Kris is someone who, it seems does not have New Year’s resolutions. The punch line is this: kaya si Kris inuulit niya ang sarili na parang kasaysayan.

    By: Tito Genova Valiente
  • Dialogues of the Vanishing (Signos)

    Each living day we destroy a significant building and put up one more unnecessary deceiving source of material convenience, we sever a link to the past and assure ourselves a terrible rupture from a future that will have meaning for us all rather than a one-sided contribution to the coffers of a government that is local in the limited sense of that word.

    By: Tito Genova Valiente
  • Let it Snow, Let it Snow (Ode to My Colonial Childhood) (Signos)

    Then – and even now perhaps – it was never kitsch to sing a song like “Winter Wonderland”: Sleigh bells are you listening/In the lane, snow is glistening. It becomes even mystical: In the meadow we can build a snowman/And pretend he’s Parson Brown.” Capping this colonial experience, it calls that Later on, we’ll conspire/As we dream by the fire.” A fireplace!

    By: Tito Genova Valiente
  • Days of Infamy (Signos)

    The 8th of December in the Catholic calendar is Immaculate Conception, a mystery of infinite density that non-Catholics would find allure in. Years and years ago, in 1941, this tremendous mystery, however, vanished with the skies filled by what were called then enemy planes.

    By: Tito Genova Valiente