Christine Schoefer

Inside Out

Meet a handful of local alchemists who, right this very minute, are concocting attractively packaged, toxin-free beauty products to clear your skin, put roses in your cheeks, and make you smell irresistible.

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Stepping Off the Ladder

Twenty years ago, college-bound high school seniors graduated in June and headed straight to campus in September. But these days, more and more young students are taking a year off in between high school and college—a “gap year”—to travel, work, or re-energize before plunging full-bore into academia.

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Faces of the East Bay

In the Philanthropic Swim

In the Philanthropic Swim

Rockridge residents John Bliss and Kim Thompson may live far removed the gritty flats of East and West Oakland. But this philanthropic couple see themselves as one with the citizens of Oakland, particularly those who are struggling financially, and they’re leading a campaign to get their “financially blessed” peers to invest in the community like they have by funding city programs to teach kids how to swim.