{"id":592164,"date":"2018-06-14T07:00:43","date_gmt":"2018-06-14T13:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=592164"},"modified":"2018-06-13T14:36:53","modified_gmt":"2018-06-13T20:36:53","slug":"for-albuquerque-11-year-old-its-father-son-time-all-the-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2018\/06\/for-albuquerque-11-year-old-its-father-son-time-all-the-time\/","title":{"rendered":"For Albuquerque 11-year-old, &#8216;it&#8217;s father-son time all the time&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_592169\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-592169\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/dju_20180220_Lawrence_Cordova_039-771x546.jpg\" alt=\"Lawrance and Antonio Cordova\" width=\"771\" height=\"546\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/dju_20180220_Lawrence_Cordova_039-771x546.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/dju_20180220_Lawrence_Cordova_039-336x238.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/dju_20180220_Lawrence_Cordova_039-768x544.jpg 768w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/dju_20180220_Lawrence_Cordova_039-1170x829.jpg 1170w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/dju_20180220_Lawrence_Cordova_039.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Don Usner \/ Searchlight New Mexico<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lawrance Cordova, 11, with his father Antonio Cordova at their Albuquerque home.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><em>Editor&#8217;s note:\u00a0<\/em><i>To better understand the challenges and circumstances our children face, Searchlight New Mexico is spending a year visiting and profiling kids from every corner of the state.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>Lawrance Cordova has lived in a working-class neighborhood in northeast Albuquerque all 11 years of his life. His house is nondescript, save for a big sign in the front window featuring a picture of a loaded six-shooter and the ominous words: \u201cWarning: Anyone Found Here At Night Will Be Found Here In The Morning.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A few steps from the front door, a pair of black horns dries in the sun.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"module align-left half type-aside\">\n<h3>About this article<\/h3>\n<p>This article is part of\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/searchlightnm.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Searchlight New Mexico\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0year-long journalistic investigation into child well-being in New Mexico. Read the series, Raising New Mexico,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/series\/raising-new-mexico\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cIt was a goat,\u201d Lawrance offers.<\/p>\n<p>He is a shy kid, at least with strangers, but he lights up as he describes how he slaughtered the animal. \u201cI shot it in the head, and it just flopped down.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The way he puts it, it sounds less macabre than matter-of-fact. For Lawrance, harvesting animals for food is a family-bonding experience. The goat ended up as series of roasts, ribs and barbecue that helped feed his brothers, father and himself for many weeks.<\/p>\n<p>Lawrance loves spending time with his dad, Antonio, on the shooting range and on hunting trips. The boy has a stocky build and is strong for his age, but Antonio says he isn\u2019t quite old enough to shoot an elk.<\/p>\n<p>In the meantime, he comes along to the family\u2019s favorite hunting spot in Gallina, just north of Cuba, and helps set up the campsite and haul in the kill. He\u2019s got his own hunting bow and is working on his aim.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_592170\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-592170\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/dju_20180220_Lawrence_Cordova_015-771x554.jpg\" alt=\"Lawrance Cordova\" width=\"771\" height=\"554\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/dju_20180220_Lawrence_Cordova_015-771x554.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/dju_20180220_Lawrence_Cordova_015-336x242.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/dju_20180220_Lawrence_Cordova_015-768x552.jpg 768w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/dju_20180220_Lawrence_Cordova_015-1170x841.jpg 1170w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/dju_20180220_Lawrence_Cordova_015.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Don Usner \/ Searchlight New Mexico<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lawrance Cordova shows off his hunting bow.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Lawrance is into basketball, too, and spends time shooting hoops with his 16-year-old brother, Hector. \u201cMy younger brother\u2019s just three,\u201d Lawrance says, so he\u2019s no good on the family basketball team.<\/p>\n<p>Antonio is raising his kids by himself; their mother hasn\u2019t been around since Lawrance was 3. Antonio, who owns a \u00a0pest control business, works hard to make sure his boys have what they need. Most Sundays, he takes them to Mass at St. Bernadette Shrine to hone their moral compass.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor us, it\u2019s father-son time all the time,\u201d Antonio says, motioning to Lawrance. \u201cI\u2019m just working on teaching him to be respectful and teaching him family values.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Some of that registers well with Lawrance. But at Chelwood Elementary School, where he just completed fifth grade, his teacher had concerns. Roawn Lee, the principal, said he could sometimes be a bully, pushing and shoving, playing aggressively with the other kids. That behavior landed him in \u201cstructured recess,\u201d a separate, monitored space for youngsters to work on social skills while their classmates play outside.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Yet \u201cbully\u201d is too simplistic a label for Lawrance, who has a strong leadership streak, evidenced by his decision to run for student council president this past school year. In his application, he laid out his reason for seeking election:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think I could be a good person \u2026 I can also be a good role model. A new year a new Lawrance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The election ended in a dead tie between Lawrance and one of his classmates. Instead of holding a runoff , the students of Chelwood decided to make Lawrance and his opponent co-presidents.<\/p>\n<p>When he grows up, he wants to be a police officer or a Navy SEAL &#8212; both jobs that will allow him to help people. So he\u2019s told Lou Luna, a volunteer mentor at Youth Development Inc. (YDI) with whom he\u2019s worked for the past two years.<\/p>\n<p>Lawrance is a good kid, in Luna\u2019s considered opinion. The mentor, who raised four children of his own, is also quick to add he and the teachers at Chelwood have begun to see a change in Lawrance\u2019s behavior.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not a behavior that\u2019s ingrained and that he can\u2019t work out of,\u201d says Luna, who has arranged visits from city police officers, who occasionally drop in on their mentoring sessions to offer advice on leadership skills and r\u00e9sum\u00e9-building tips.<\/p>\n<p>In a couple months, Lawrance will be in middle school. He\u2019s excited for the change, if a little nervous.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s a smart kid,\u201d Antonio says. \u201cHe just doesn\u2019t use his brain right sometimes, and would rather goof off, so he gets a bad grade.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>If, after high school, Lawrance decides to join the U.S. Navy or enroll in the Albuquerque Police Academy, that would make his father proud. But he\u2019ll also be happy if Lawrance takes over the family pest control business.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lawrance Cordova loves spending time with his dad on the shooting range and on hunting trips.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":592169,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[234],"class_list":["post-592164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-children","series-raising-new-mexico"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=592164"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592164\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/592169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=592164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=592164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=592164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}