About Jocelyn

Jocelyn Parkhurst, Ph.D. -- President and Executive Director of Changing Tides

I received my Ph.D. in Political Science at Washington State University in 2004. After teaching for 2 years at Soka University in Orange County, California, and then 1 year at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington, in 2006, I began a five year full time faculty run at Lewis-Clark State College in Idaho. Currently, while still teaching numerous online courses at a variety of online and ground based institutions, I am the President and Executive Director of a non-profit organization, Changing Tides, Inc., that seeks to connect at risk groups to education.

I have been lucky and privilged to find a wonderful husband, and we work to blend our two families into one. Much of what you will see on these pages reflects this effort and the positive outcomes, and struggles, that we experience.

I hope you enjoy!

MHELS Blog Week Two

Week two was a little more difficult than the first week. I did get four days of exercise in, but my goal is six. One day of rest is good for your body. I did some cardio (I have an elliptical I use), and I also did some weights. I worked to only do what felt right, trying not to overtax myself. I am still working to get my veggies in each day, but I do depend on the honey mustard or ranch dip!

MHELS Week One Blog

Week one was relatively easy to do. I love raw veggies, so I used a vairety of them to eat each day.  What I usually did was cut up several different kinds of veggies and keep them handy each day. I used either ranch or honey mustard dressing to dip them into.  I had broccoli, baby carrots, grape tomatoes, sliced cucumbers, snap peas, and cauliflower. I also had a salad a couple of days.

At the end of the week, I felt better in my head in that I was eating veggies. I also found that my bowl movements were more regular — maybe TMI, but for many people, this is a great improvement!

On to week two!

Butterfly

by Jo Torres

 

I was content

Within the confines of my new found freedom

To be strong

To move forward

To take care of everything.

 

Then the shell cracked.

I had grown beyond the walls that held me,

These walls of freedom.

I wanted more.

 

A warm wind woke desire.

A soft light beckoned through the cracks.

Intrigued, I struggled

And sought my escape.

 

You did not reach back for me,

You did not crack the shell and peel the pieces back.

You did not wipe the slime from my eyes

Nor knock the remnants off my skin.

 

You did so much more.

 

You cheered each struggle,

You showed me where pieces clung to my back,

You pointed to the way of escape.

Always letting me fight my way.

 

I emerged

Unfurling the wings of my beauty,

My true freedom.

Bathing in your light.

 

You are my sunshine.

Are you helping her or what?

We often find ourselves making comments about the people around us. Yet, few people actually tell a person to their face what’s up. Have we become such a self centered, don’t make waves, don’t be the loose nail society that we just don’t care about others anymore?

Absolutely, we don’t want to go around telling people everything we think of them. But when a group of people allow one individual to be so unhappy, so miserable, so stuck in a hole, never saying anything…that is wrong.

In my new family, there is one woman who has the potential to be a very strong person. Yet, everyone around her allows her to be unhappy and manipulative. In her unhappiness, she manipulates those around her with her anger, sadness, and psychological weaknesses. She often uses those who care for her like tools for her own benefit, rarely saying thank you or appreciating what they do. Instead, she will often make a snide comment about what they have done, or point out how it could have helped her better. She rarely takes on the responsibility of her children, calling on others to help her. Yet, she will turn around and use her children like tools in a game with those who care about them.

So, anyone who knows me knows that I am all about women. My politics is feminism. I’m not right or left, I’m feminist. I work to empower women to be the strongest, most capable person they can.

I saw what this woman was doing, and it made me so frustrated to see how everyone around her allowed her to stay unhappy and weak. I refused. At one point, she tried her manipulation on me, and I countered.

I told her that everyone around her allowed her to be unhappy and manipulative. I said that I could help her find the happiness within herself, but that I would not take her BS. I told her that she could be happy, but that she had to decide that. I never used an angry tone, but voiced this out of compassion.

Of course, she hasn’t appreciated yet what I’ve said, but a couple of people she forwarded the information to told me that they were glad that someone stood up and said something to her. I also spent a long time chanting for her true happiness, and I plan on continuing to work to encourage her to become happy.

So my point is, how many of you let women (or others) around you be unhappy because you’re scared to say something or don’t want to make waves? How many of us let people sit in a pit of darkness because we don’t want to hurt someone’s feelings? Are you really helping or keeping them sitting in a life of hell?