02138 Also Comes to Harvard
As Alex Beam reports, Harvard will soon get a new alumni magazine, called 02138. It's started by a young Harvard grad named Bok Kim, and the deep pockets come in the form of David Bradley, owner of the Atlantic and National Journal (no relation to yours truly).
Beam is (shocked, shocked) skeptical, saying that he can't imagine anyone other than Harvard grads reading the magazine. I think that's sort of the point. Whether that's enough to make any money for David Bradley, I don't know.
But I do like the idea. Harvard Magazine is pretty good, as far as alumni magazines go. Yet there's an enormous amount of material in the Harvard universe that doesn't get covered—particularly things that Harvard alums beyond Cambridge are doing—and competition between magazines is always a good thing.
Some months ago, Bok Kim took me to lunch here in Manhattan to pick my brain about his idea, which is of course enormously flattering and half the reason I'm giving him this plug.
The other half is because he seems like a very smart guy, and because I do think the magazine has a legitimate foundation, and because I'm always a supporter of new magazines.....
