Macaron Self-Portrait

Macaron Self-Portrait

COVER | Natalie Jeng

Macaron Self-Portrait (acrylic paint). Piedmont High School senior Natalie Jeng is the first-place winner in The Monthy‘s 18th annual Cover Art Contest. The third-place finsher in last year’s cover contest with Charming, a bowl of Lucky Charms cereal floating in milk, Jeng decided this year to create a self-portrait of her winking, smiling, arm-crossed self surrounded by another one of her favorite treats, fluffy macarons. These, however, are enormous, larger-than-life confections in vivid reds, pinks, greens, yellows, and browns. “People know me at my high school. I’ve famous here for drawing food, because I love food, and I also love drawing food,” the young artist said. “This is the first piece where I really combined them.”

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.