James Rokop

Hello everyone. I am very excited that my family will be able to attend the reunion. The bios of others have inspired me to contribute and in true form it has taken me until now to compose this hopefully brief review of the last 20 years. Before I begin, I just want to say that I have been truly impressed and touched by the frankness and sensitivity portrayed in many of the bios; a comment on the insightfulness, compassion, and intelligence of those raised in Los Alamos.

The brief version. The following ingredients make up my current life: plenty of sunshine, farmer’s markets, road biking in the country; washing and folding little people clothes; shopping at IKEA and Costco; taking walks to parks; special trips to get ice cream; washing and folding clothes; wine tasting; tide pooling; plenty of dept; deciding which criminals are lying about their psychiatric symptoms; reconnecting with my wife; cleaning the house; making photo books; washing and folding clothes; going hot tubbing at the grandparents house; watching my girls do “gymnastics and dance routines in the living room;” plenty of hugs, kisses, and laughter; Dora, Diego, Hello Kitty; crying and boo-boos; popsicles; and did I mention washing and folding clothes?

The long version. Now the (yawn) resume section: BS Psychology-University of Utah; MA Clinical Psychology-San Francisco State University; Ph.D. Clinical Psychology-California School of Professional Psychology. My career path was set once I discovered I was no good at chemistry and a BS in Psychology is relatively worthless but paved my way into the pursuit of graduate studies. As far as my career, I am a licensed psychologist in Utah and California and have dedicated a majority of my career treating children and adolescents with a variety of psychiatric difficulties. I recently left my job as a psychologist for a private adolescent inpatient hospital outside of Salt Lake City when our family moved back to California to be closer to my wife’s family. Due to the timing of everything, the position that I secured in California is as a psychologist in a forensic setting (Vacaville Psychiatric Program) where I mainly assess mentally ill criminals. It has its perks (4 day work week, great benefits, good pay, fascinating clinical presentations-think Charles Manson) but the setting is awful and I am restricted to working with adults, many who have life sentences.

Now the (yeah) family section: The ending of a brief marriage (2 years) following a six year relationship in college/graduate school was a difficult time in my life (not a great source of pride) but led to greater maturity (sort of, depending on who you ask!), entry into my doctoral program, and quite a find in my wife Kristin. Together we finished graduate school in California and moved to Utah to complete internships in psychology (and yes there have been a lot of jokes about two psychologists being married and yes of course our kids will end up crazy, and why, by the way, did many LAHS grads end up psychologists, was it our parents?). We then decided to get jobs, buy a house (which we unfortunately still own), have kids and after 7 years in Utah, relocate back to California to live our version of the “dream” family life in Davis. We have been here since August 07 and aside from barely being able to afford the move, have really taken to the beautiful climate and progressive community. My pride and joy, and frequent source of both hilarity and exhaustion, are my daughters, Sophia-age 4 and Madeleine-age 2. “Madi” is a toe head (my wife) and Sophia is a brunette (me) yet Madi’s personality is like mine and Sophia has mom’s. Go figure. They bring a lot to our lives, make us realize what’s important, and give us something to smile about on a daily basis. Thanks for reading and I look forward to seeing everyone!