In Touch (May/June 1979), Part Two

The son of Clarence Crane, the successful Ohio candy maker who invented the lifesaver, Hart Crane attained minor fame as an avant-garde writer, with his admiration and resentment for fellow poet T.S. Eliot prompting the creation of his most famous work: The Bridge (1930). Despite his publications in small magazines, Hart spent much of his time either temporarily employed as a copywriter or jobless and under the financial support of his father. In 1932, at the age of thirty-two, the writer’s longstanding bouts with depression led to his suicide. Although Hart had a minor same-sex relationship with an older man during his adolescence, modern literary critics have begun to read the vague imagery of his poetry as a surreptitious confession of his homosexual desires. Such an interpretation, in turn, can be found in the May/June issue of In Touch (which has been broken into two parts), where William Russo’s article makes the claim that Crane was one of contemporary society’s earliest gay poets. Also included in the second half of this issue (see the first half here) is a showcase of the Mr. In Touch Portland competition, a spread of model John Dillon, a praise of actor Ryan O’Neal, a readers’ survey, and Ian Whitcomb’s “Lost Boys” (about the sexual antics of an English boys’ school).

In Touch (May/June 1979), Part One.

The son of Clarence Crane, the successful Ohio candy maker who invented the lifesaver, Hart Crane attained minor fame as an avant-garde writer, with his admiration and resentment for fellow poet T.S. Eliot prompting the creation of his most famous work: The Bridge (1930). Despite his publications in small magazines, Hart spent much of his time either temporarily employed as a copywriter or jobless and under the financial support of his father. In 1932, at the age of thirty-two, the writer’s longstanding bouts with depression led to his suicide. Although Hart had a minor same-sex relationship with an older man during his adolescence, modern literary critics have begun to read the vague imagery of his poetry as a surreptitious confession of his homosexual desires. Such an interpretation, in turn, can be found in the May/June issue of In Touch (which has been broken into two parts), where William Russo’s article makes the claim that Crane was one of contemporary society’s earliest gay poets. Also included in the first half of this issue is a showcase of the gay lifestyle in Denver, Colorado, spreads of models Jim Rogers and Nick Rogers, an advertisement for the In Touch Lounge in Van Nuys, California, and a review of the book Young, Gay and Proud.

Honcho (May 1991), Part Three

The same-sex practices of ancient Greece, particularly those between an erastēs and pais, have been a longstanding inspiration and reference to the homosexual community, with the English author Oscar Wilde referring to the homoerotic urges of his male characters in The Picture of Dorian Gray as “the spirit that is Greek.” Such is the case, in turn, with Martin Rubin’s short story “The Riding Academy,” which is featured in the May 1991 issue of Honcho. Throughout the narrative, the writer makes several references to the homosexual deeds of the Grecians, particularly intercrural/interfemoral sex  (what the Greeks termed diamērizein) and the popular game ephedrismos, where nude participants carried each other atop their shoulders. In addition to the tale, this particular issue, which has been broken into three parts, features spreads titled “Gov’t Approved Prime Meat” and “Wrangler,” the short story “The Bottom Line” (about a down-on-his-luck policeman whose recent case takes him on a wild adventure into a sexual underground), and an article on crisis management in same-sex relations , particularly those dealing with AIDS, in its final third (see the second third here).