From the Hollywood beat to the Peace Corps in Africa

Sean Smith is leaving as Los Angeles bureau chief of Entertainment Weekly to serve overseas in the Peace Corps — for two years. His farewell note went out today.

From: Sean Smith
Sent: Friday, January 14, 2011 2:00 PM
Subject: Leaving EW. And America. And Journalism (for now).

Dear Friends,

As many of you know, I am leaving my job at Entertainment Weekly and have joined the Peace Corps in South Africa as an HIV/AIDS prevention volunteer. Today, Friday, is my last day at work, and then I’ll be gone for two years and three months. For those of you I know through work, please contact Thom_Geier@xxxxxx and Jeff_Giles@xxxxxxx regarding any movie-related questions. No replacement has been hired for me yet, but if you have great suggestions, please contact jess_cagle@xxxxxxxxx. For all of you, I have attached a PDF of my new contact information, should you like to stay in touch. (I’d love that.) I’ll be posting video and updates on Facebook as I can, but I will be in a rural area with infrequent email access so that will be sporadic. I will have no phone or email access until April 1, and then will have access probably once a month after that, so if you don’t hear from me for awhile, that will be why. Thank you all for being such a joy to work with these past 13 years. It’s been an honor, and a true pleasure, to know you. I will miss you.

All the very best,
Sean

Sean Smith
Los Angeles Bureau Chief
Entertainment Weekly