Cardinal alumni collaborate, take web magazine to print

BOSTON, MADISON AND SANTA ROSA - Flak Magazine, an online journal that has written about everything from the implosion of Michael Jackson's career to the rise of McGriddles breakfast sandwiches, is distributing its first print incarnation after five years on the Web.

Flak, which reaches more than 120,000 unique online visitors every month, is helmed by two former Cardinal editors. James Norton Cardinal '98 heads the magazine from Cambridge, Mass., along with managing editor Eric Wittmershaus Cardinal '98. of Santa Rosa, Calif.

Originally conceived at a truckstop just outside of Madison in the fall of 1998, Flak (www.flakmag.com) blossomed into one of the Web's leading independent dailies, with more than 40 contributors. It was cited in a recent issue of The Columbia Journalism Review, quoted by Businessweek, and praised by outlets as diverse as the Houston Chronicle, the Detriot Free Press and the Utne Reader.

Its 104-page print edition (www.flakmag. com/print) unites a raft of regulars - including Film editor and former Cardinal editor Sean Weitner Cardinal '00 - with guest writers like Slate's Rob Walker and cartoonists including The Atlantic Monthly's Sage Stossel.

"It's sort of a relief to see all those ones and zeros finally become something more substantial," says Norton,who earns a living as the Middle East editor of The Christian Science Monitor. "As terrific as the Web has been to us, there's something intensely satisfying about finally creating a physical artifact. Online stuff can be pretty ethereal."

The magazine, which was printed in October will be sold in bookstores across the US, and by online mail order.