Diana Kirkham, new Idyllwild School kindergarten and first-grade combo teacher, has taught for 32 years, 12 of those years in special education. She spent 14 years teaching at Hemet Unified’s Little Lake Elementary, hired by current IS Principal Matt Kraemer. She and her teacher-husband Pete moved to the Hill in February. Pete commutes to Hemet…

Guest speaker Edith Brix spoke at the Garden Club Annual Souper Membership Meeting at the Community Church Tuesday. Brix specializes in designs, centerpieces and floral arrangements made from natural materials from Idyllwild’s forest.

Idyllwild Arts Academy 2010 dance graduate Dakota Bailey won Best Actress, Short Film, at the Idyllwild International Festival of Cinema awards ceremony at the Rustic Theatre on Sunday, Jan. 15. Bailey won for her performance in “Standpoint,” in which she acts and dances the role of Aliza, a Jewish dancer in Nazi-occupied Poland. “Standpoint” won…

Swamp King Troy Landry (right) is stepping out of the Bayou and into Soboba Casino. If you haven’t yet seen History Channel’s “Swamp People,” you are missing out on all of the tree shaking, gator catching, Louisiana goodness that is the Cajun way of life. When the show first aired in 2010, it gained the…

Erin Crites, new full-time Idyllwild Arts Academy theater faculty member, knows improvisation, physical storytelling, Commedia dell-arte, and clowning — yes, clowning. Crites received a Master of Fine Arts degree from Dell’Arte School of Physical Theatre, took a master class from John Gilkey and has been an ensemble member. She is an ensemble member and current…