Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story.
A 24-year staffer with National Park Service, Petroglyph National Monument Superintendent Judith Cordova came to Albuquerque, N.M., from Grand Junction, Colo., where she was superintendent of Colorado National Monument. She is the only female Hispanic superintendent in the Park Service.
Judith Cordova: “We’re here. We’re here to stay. We’re the good guys. We take this responsibility quite seriously. We take a lot of shots. We’re trying to do the best we can.
“I worry about being considered an “affirmative action hire.” I hope I was hired for my experience and skills.
“There’s nobody who has ever walked in my shoes before. Sometimes you feel isolated; you’re a target.
“We need to take more responsibility in our lives, for our career choice. It’s not the job of the National Park Service to make you happy.”
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline We’re the good guys.
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