The Column of Life

According to The Queens' Vernacular (A Gay Lexicon by Bruce Rogers), "chicken" is gay slang for a young male beneath the age of consent. It came to mean almost anyone who even looked young. It's seems appropriate for those who can't vote, but there's a population greatly appreciated by those in the life that hovers between boyhood and manhood. Federico Fellini, late Italian director of note, came to notice with a fine flick in 1953 called I Vitelloni , which translates "the young bulls." It is also a reference to older veal "from an animal that's 18 to 20 months old, and has cut its first two permanent incisors. The meat is deep pink to fairly deep red, firm, and considerably more flavorful than milk-fed veal, though not as flavorful as that from mature animals. In Tuscany many prefer vitellone for grilling." The young men in Fellini's film were pushing 30 and its plot had to with their avoidance of maturity. Be that as it may,...