Sweat!

It is always good to get back to the high desert below the Sandias. I think when I left Washington the temperature was 94 and the humidity was 95. As I always say, it is the "land of sweat". We had a pretty good meeting in DC that was sponsored by the Natural Resources Defense Council. They brought together a lot of Latino leaders to discuss how to get more involvement from Latinos in the fight to save America's environment. It is kind of sad to see the reaction of some of the local enviro groups who seem threatened by the outreach. Hopefully they will think more about goals than their turf.

Now, after returning from the 'land of sweat' I am required to do something about my hair. It turns into a brillo pad in that climate. This is Gene Varoz and Renee Farfan. They are my barber and manicurist. I have been going to see Gene since my newsman days at Channel Seven. It is getting close to almost 35 years now since I first met Gene. There is a great story about him. I was working for Bruce King in his campaign for Governor in 1978. Bruce at the time sported the "Brylcreem Look." In other words his hair was plastered to his head with oily stuff, but the dry look was in. I convinced him and Alice that they should go see Gene Varoz to get a new style before the first big televised debate against Joe Skeen. Well, they did go see him and Bruce arrived in a howling rain storm that night at Channel 7 for the debate with a newspaper wrapped around his head. When he got inside and revealed his new 'do', everyone was blown away. The next day the late Ernie Mills said on his syndicated radio show the Bruce won the debate because of the hair job Gene had given him. So, Gene helped Bruce win the election, which was very close...only 2,000 votes or so as I recall. Anyway, when I was Mayor, all of Gene's clients, many you would know, held a celebrity roast for him and I declared it Gene Varoz day. Renee has been with Gene about 15 years I believe. She was just a teenager when she started. She still looks exactly the same too. Two kids and still very slender. These two people are really great.