Beginning this week, Idyllwild Arts is reviving the oral tradition of sharing and learning history. For each of the next four weeks, a different speaker will tell a story about the early years of the school and the creation of the Academy. The idea originated with Pamela Jordan, President, Idyllwild Arts Foundation, who arrived on…

“Everyone loves the dead girl,” writes Alice Bolin in her new collection, “Dead Girls: Essays on Surviving an American Obsession” (William Morrow/HarperCollins). It’s a provocative claim that leaves Bolin, a University of Memphis visiting assistant professor of English, with some ’splaining to do — perhaps during her appearance on the Idyllwild Arts campus at 7:30…