Frontier Girl: April Bojorquez

 April Bojorquez is one of those rare Phoenicians who was born here and decided to stay. Good thing. She's a veritable encyclopedia of interesting information, especially on the city's ancient history — she used to work at the Pueblo Grande Museum. By day, Bojorquez is the educational events coordinator for the Arizona Science Center, focusing especially on enhancing multicultural education. As the daughter of Mexican immigrants, her cultural experiences also filter into her second job as a curator for downtown Phoenix's monOrchid Gallery. As if that weren't enough, she also volunteers with Mujer, a community development group that works with Latina high school students, where she gets to share her knowledge of archaeology, anthropology, and Native American culture.

I arrived in Phoenix on April 26, 1981.

When I’m stuck in traffic, I usually just turn up the radio. (Depends on if I'm out of gas or not.) Normally there's something interesting on National Public Radio.

On Saturday night, you can find me at a dance party, riding bikes, or sleeping. By the time Saturday rolls around, I'm usually tired and like to try to take it easy.

My favorite thing about summer in Phoenix is that the sun stays out longer and the way the sun feels on my skin. I also like that you can find paleteros on the streets pushing their carts of ice cream. My favorite is the paleta de coco.

If I could redo my first kiss, I’d kiss a cute soccer player, maybe, but I would settle for the lead singer of Devotchka.

If I was mayor of Phoenix, I’d plant more trees in downtown Phoenix, fix the sidewalks and add bike lanes to encourage pedestrian/bicycle traffic. I would also make an effort to preserve historic sites and buildings in Phoenix that contribute to the city's unique identity and history. I would continue to promote the arts, especially First Fridays, and there would be paleteros and taquerias selling ice cream and tacos on every corner. Lastly, I would try to figure out a way for buses to run until 2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights.

In high school, I was the kid who had a really hard last name to pronounce. Hint: The "J" is pronounced as an "H."

In another life, I lived in the '50s during the civil rights movement as an Elvis groupie from Tennessee.

The fictional character I’m most like is a cross between the Energizer Bunny and Pippi Longstocking.

One thing I want to do before I die is build a national monument in Arizona.

The best thing about Phoenix is that it is an urban metropolis located in the Sonoran desert with a rich and diverse history that goes back about 2,000 years, with a burgeoning creative community. There are people whose families have been here since Phoenix was Mexico, and there are people who have just arrived from Wisconsin. Phoenix has a unique environmental panorama sprinkled with mountains and cactus and distinct architectural features ranging from the Tovrea Castle to the Burton Barr Library. It truly is a frontier city.