Quote
"the only way to be quiet is to be quick, so I scare you clumsily, or surprise you with a stab." — Frank O'Hara
Ennis SmithAbout

Ennis grew up in Cincinnati, the sixth of ten children. In his first life he was an actor and singer; embarking on his second, he completed his BA at Empire State College, where he was a Richard Porter Leach Fellow.

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News

Latest Publication

Creative Nonfiction cover 2014-10-16 at 1.19.36 PM copy

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Current Affairs, My back pages, New York

Did she jump or was she pushed?

It’s every commuter’s nightmare.  Though actually there are several: the train stops just outside the station and sits for what seems like hours.  Someone pulls the emergency cord.  You discover that you’re trapped in a car from 125th to Columbus Circle with a religious zealot spewing a bottomless pit of bigotry laced with profound stupidity….

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Current Affairs, My back pages, New York

Manhattan on the Rocks

Looks like we survived the week.  What an advantage we have living on top of a hill; still, it’s tree-heavy here.  A stroll through our neighborhood revealed the carnage of both broken limbs and major uprootings.  Meanwhile New York rises from the ashes.  The trick for them: drain the tunnels, get the subway and buses…

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Current Affairs, Music, New York, Television, Vespers

Autumn Highs and Lows

The week that was ended as it began, with one of those happened-upon moments that are as indigenous to Manhattan as is Mitt Romney to an off-shore banking account: strolling up Broadway near Lincoln Center I was on a cell phone call when I heard the familiar strains of Scott Joplin’s The Entertainer.  The tune…

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Fashion, My back pages, New York

Finding a suit, and myself

Like all great romances it started slowly.  First it was underwear; later I graduated to socks and ties, little wardrobe resuscitators for a single guy on a budget.  I found myself returning, a little shy, but intrigued, wondering if this was the way out of my J. Crew-Gap-Thrift Shop-Army-Navy fashion esthetic.  After all I’d become…

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Music

Hal David, Lyricist 1921-2012

  What’s it all about, Alfie? Is it just for the moment we live? What’s it all about when you sort it out, Alfie? Are we meant to take more than we give or are we meant to be kind? And if only fools are kind, Alfie, then I guess it’s wise to be cruel….

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Current Affairs, My back pages, New York, Vespers, Writing

Summer’s Lease

The giveaway happened this morning.  It came in the form of a sneeze—several, actually, all so forceful that my coffee flew out of my cup into my face.  No burns, only embarrassed, accompanied by NY1’s confirmation of my suspicions: ragweed had launched its ugly spores into the air.  Zyrtec, take me away. In this way…

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Criticals, Current Affairs, Dance, Music, Short Cuts, Theater

Accent on Youth

As summer creeps to a close, I thank the stars for the Shins: look beneath the mind-bending time signatures of this pop group and you’ll find a neo-folk style that straddles eras as well as genres.  Its easy evocation of coltish youth suits Trey McIntyre’s choreography for the Shins-titled Oh, Inverted World, part of the…

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