After retiring from teaching at Fort Lewis College, Kim and her husband Steve moved to the Arabian Peninsula where he was asked to become General Council of Abu Dhabi National Energy Company. He worked, and she played, and studied the culture —  well mostly played, she admits. At The Fort, among other courses, Kim taught East Asian History, and a comparative cultures class that looked at the philosophical underpinnings of Chinese, Western, and Native American civilizations.  The questions explored in that class, had to do with how culture informs peoples’ choices - in style, behavior, government, and values. This fit Kim’s interests perfectly. 

She’s had the good fortune to be able to explore culture throughout her adult life — when she and Steve lived in Singapore, she did her Masters degree in the Political Economy of the Asian Pacific region and traveled broadly, and when she lived in the United Arab Emirates, she took the opportunity to explore the ways Islamic and Arabic culture can be understood by Westerners. This culminated in a small film she made in which women in Durango were filmed asking questions of Arabic women in the Middle East, who were then filmed answering those questions.

Not limiting her interest in culture to foreign regions, almost all of Kim’s professional life beyond teaching at Fort Lewis College has been with underrepresented populations -11 years on the Navajo Reservation, 12 years as a legal assistant — first at Legal Aid and then in criminal defense law in San Francisco. She also worked with homeless people in a drug and alcohol reform program in Berkeley. She says: Great jobs, terrible retirement… that’s where Steve comes in…

Kim says she is honored to be asked to speak with the North Animas Village about her experiences after being diagnosed with Mild Cognative Impairment as a result of Alzheimers Disease in June 2022.