In my long experience of bug-ranching, the number one problem honeybees are now facing is the disappearing habitat in nature--the Bermudafication of idle lands. Nowadays bees cannot survive on their own since open pastures are void of nectar-producing plants they used to contain. In fact, if you want to keep bees, you must plant bee-friendly crops yourself: the larger, the better. No, your flower
garden does not count, as it is just too small. Another problems is the ever-expanding mono-crops, such as almond in California. To pollinate the almonds, nearly 2/3 of all honeybees in America are mobilized in a massive operation many call "midnight pimping" of bees as the big rigs carry bees during wee hours from eight corners of America to California to exchange, among others, germs. The almond growers will pay invariably around $300 per colony for pollination: the beekeepers do not have to produce honey, in fact, as they make lots of money through pollination. This is the topsy-turvy world we live in: no honey but lots of money. However, such midnight pimping of the honeybees can disperse germs all over America, an equal distribution of heretofore unknown bee pathogens, as a daycare center would through the congregation of our snot-green toddlers. Although making profits is good to certain extent, we should stop putting greed ahead of our survival. The grease will blind us soon. This kind of business model is unsustainable as we ourselves are chocking our own throats, unawares. This situation is what forced me to start keeping, rescuing, and relocating honeybees--so that we could inherit to the next generation a better environment than the one we have been dealt with, the kind soaked with insecticide, pesticide, and herbicide, all of which may in the long run lead to humanoid su***de. Let them bee. Yoon S*k Kim, Ph. (Circa 2015)
Samples of Community Service
2015 Poetry Reading for Professor Sharon Burris Creative Writing Class at Ardomore, OK. Using ITV, read Broken Mirrors and Other Selected Poems at her invitation on February 5, 2015.
2014 Initiator and Catalyst in Globalization of Murray State College. Partnering with Dr. James Utterback, President of Seminole State College, I was able to bring Dr. Jesson, a College President from Denmark, to initiate the first contact for Murray State College’s international partnership on October 27, 2014, at MSC Campus.
2014 Critical Expert Reviewer for The Oklahoma Journal of Undergraduate Research. Review undergraduate research for both Fine Arts and Humanities Sections. The OKJUR maintains a double-blind review process that aims to ensure the scholastic value of academic research by equitably verifying the content and methodological validity of all submissions. All submissions are evaluated by at least two Ph. reviewers in their respective areas of specilization.
2014 “Sustainable Beekeeping in Shawnee, Oklahoma” A PowerPoint Presentation to Members of NRCS at Gordon Cooper Technology Center on Ag Trade Day, Organized by The Shawnee Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Field Office and Noble Foundation, Held on July 21st, 2014.
2013 “Sustainable Environment and Oklahoma Beekeeping” A Powerpoint Presenation at the Oklahoma Statewide Women in Agriculture & Small Business Conference held at Moore Norman Technology Center, located on South Penn Avenue in Oklahoma City. August 9, 2013.
2013 “Starting Beekeeping in Shawnee, Oklahoma.” Multi-County Gardener’s Club, Oklahoma State University County Extension Office, Pottowattomie County, Shawnee, OK. September 18, 2013.
2011-Present Volunteer Food Server at the Annual South Rock Creek Thanksgiving Dinner, a community fundraising event for the South Rock Creek Elementary School where my wife teaches. Dinner served more than 3000 people on the Second Friday of November from 5:00 P. till 8:00 P. every year.
2011 Kids, Kows, & More Event (May 10, 2011) to promote the importance of sustainable environment in the region to elementary students in Shawnee area, I gave twenty-minute PowerPoint presentation on Honey Hunters of Nepal: I wanted to promote the importance of honeybees in the global environment.
2010 “Sustainable Shawnee Environment,” guest speaker with a PowerPoint presentation at Shawnee Kiwanis Club (Ocotber 12, 2010), focusing viability of sustainable environment around Shawnee area.
2010 “Sustainable Beekeeping,” a PowerPoint presentation at the Annual Meeting of Shawnee Master Gardeners’ Club, held at the Oklahoma State University Pottowattomie Extension Office (September 15, 2010), focusing on sustatinable global ecology and honeybees.
2010 “Keeping Bees without Chemicals,” a PowerPoint presentation at the Monthly Meeting of Shawnee Rotary Club on August 17th at the invitation of Dr. Timothy Barrick, President of Shawnee Rotary Club, focusing on sustainable environment.
2010 “Sustainable Beekeeping in Oklahoma,” a PowerPoint presentation at the 10th Annual “Spring Fling” organized by the McCloud Friends of the Library. Free and open to public to sharpen the importance of sustainable global environment.
2009 “Save the Honey Bee” Power-Point Talk, Windmill Homeowners Association. at Shawnee Police Department as an expert advisor regarding saving two bee colonies in a giant tree of a resident who wanted to exterminate them (June 1, 2009)
2007 Gave a PowerPoint Bee-Talk regarding how to protect oneself when attacked by Africanized Honey Bees (AHB aka “Killer Bees”), now confirmed in Oklahoma, in general, and in Pottawatomie County, in particular, at Legacy Park, a retirement center for senior citizens in Shawnee, OK. (June 7, 2007)
2004 Volunteer Academic Advising for Native American Youths in PLP (Pottawatomie Leadership Program): Counseled them for University Placement and Scholarships at the CPN Tribal Head Quarter, Shawnee, OK,
in Collaboration with Mr. Jeremy Finch, Director of Tribal Culture.
2002 An old hand in beekeeping, I also remove or relocate swarms, free of charge, as well as unwanted stinging insect colonies from Shawnee community. Last year I removed fourteen swarms and four feral nests.
2003 Bee Talk at South Rock Creek Elementary School
2001 Emergency Writing Center at St. Gregory's University (Grammar Hotline)
1996 Poetry Reading at Langston University’s Creative Writing Club
1999 Guest Speaker at Perkins High School, Perkins, Oklahoma
On Paradigm Shift
