02138: Sheer Vanitas

What do Chairman of Microsoft Corporation William H. Gates III ’77, world-class tennis player James R. Blake ’01, and Booker Prize winning author Margaret E. Atwood MA ’62 have in common, besides a killer forehand?

All three luminaries grace “The Harvard 100” list of the most influential alumni, the feature story of the first issue of 02138, an independent magazine for Harvard alumni that is attempting to become the publication of choice for its elite and accomplished community. The official press release gushes that “The 02138 audience represents the epicenter of the leadership class in America.” And this audience is presumably ready to whip out their checkbooks for the finest in luxury products: eager advertisers who’ve moved into the zipcode include Brooks Brothers, BMW, Wilmington Trust, and Neuberger Berman.

“We do different things than the [official] alumni magazine,” said Assistant Editor Gregory R. Atwan ’05. “We don’t do sepia-tinted looks back on the class of 1940. There may be an overlap in our audience, but not in our content.”

According to Daniel M. Loss ’00, the co-founder of 02138, this focus on profiling alums with fresh and contemporary achievements made compiling “The Harvard 100” difficult. “It was impossible to be completely objective...we recognized that this is a list that people would argue about.” And it shouldn’t be a surprise if 02138 wants to be contentious and talked-about. A close runner-up to the magazine’s numerical title was Vanitas, which Loss says ended up as the name of the magazine’s front section.

According to the press release, 50,000 copies of 02138 were mailed free-of-charge to Harvard alumni (FM had to rely on the online version to get the lowdown). Now, Loss and his associates just have to wait and see if their publication shakes up “the epicenter of the leadership class.”