An Interview with Sheriff Will Diaz – Part 1 – Why Black and White?

Rich Muniz: Hello, Sheriff.

Sheriff Will Diaz: Ah, my old friend and biographer Richard Muniz. It’s been a long time.

Rich Muniz: It has been Sheriff. I want to thank you for agreeing to meet with me and allowing me to conduct a series of interviews with you.

Sheriff Diaz: I should thank you. Life has gotten quiet and almost forty years has passed. So, I’ll be free then to discuss the events in New Mexico.

Muniz: I’ll be here. But a question, when you agreed to the interview, why didn’t you want me to print your title as “Senator.” After all, you were one.

Sheriff Diaz: Question asked. Question answered. I hated the job! These days I’m a private citizen. But since your readers need to know who I was, “Sheriff” will work. I did like doing it.

Muniz: Then how about “professor?”

Sheriff Diaz: Lecturing at the nation’s military academies and academic institutions doesn’t give me the creds for the title. So, definitely not.

Muniz: Well, thank you, Sheriff. But this first part of today’s interview has nothing to do with the cases you worked or the events in New Mexico.

Sheriff Diaz: I thought . . .

Muniz: I’m sorry, sir. I didn’t mean to mislead you. We will talk about that stuff eventually. Today, we’re talking about your clothing.

Sheriff Diaz: (Chuckles) I didn’t know you were writing a fluff piece for GQ magazine.

Muniz: Oh, no Sheriff. That’s not it. Recently, an editor was asking some of us writers about the colors of clothing a hero wears. We got into a discussion concerning your mode of dress over coffee. The puzzlement began when I told them you wore almost the same thing constantly.

Sheriff Diaz: I get it. What I call, “my Uniform.”

Muniz: Where did you ever get it. Black cowboy boots. Black or blue jeans. Black belt, white shirt, and a black leather or cloth vest.

Sheriff Diaz: Your readers must really be bored if they’re asking about why I dress the way I do.

Muniz: Well, I did just finish your adventures in the Gulf War.

Sheriff Diaz: I was dressing like this well before the Gulf War. Ask Terri or Jonesy.

Muniz: But where did you get it?

Sheriff Diaz: Well, Rich . . .

Muniz: That’s a deep subject, Sheriff.

Sheriff Diaz: And it full of water. I have no sense of style. You can blame my mother for that.

Muniz: Oh?

Sheriff Diaz: When I was a boy, she bought my clothes. Now, I ask you. Would you want to go to school in cowboy country dressed in pink pants?

Muniz: Pastor Morgan said they were Salmon color.

Sheriff Diaz: Did he also mention I loathed them. I mean here’s everyone else wearing jeans and I’m wearing that? She got her idea of what the hip young man wore from episodes of the Monkees! No, Rich. I was a bit of a freak in school. Why not cement it with clothes that made you look like an escapee from the circus. I hated it.

Muniz: So that’s why you started dressing like that?

Sheriff Diaz: Not exactly. My senior year, Dad gave us the 2nd cutting of hay. The idea was we’d bale it, sell it, and the money made from that cutting was ours to buy clothes with. We’d also have some spending money. Well, we sold it and we went to Alamosa to buy clothes. JC Penny’s always had the good stuff.

Muniz: I remember that store.

Sheriff Diaz: Me too. I used to drool over the Christmas Catalog when I was little.

Muniz: Me too. But please. Go on.

Sheriff Diaz: Anyway, we walked in. My mom went for the weird clothing rack. I walked straight to the jeans. I got five sets of black jeans, five black long sleeve turtle neck sweaters and black boots. I remember saying, I’m done.

Muniz: Where did you ever get a look like that?

Sheriff Diaz: Logan’s Run. I thought the look worn by the sandmen was slightly iconic. Too bad I couldn’t have found anything with a white stripe across the chest.

Muniz: Man, you would have looked like a freak. Come to think of it, you must have looked like one anyway.

Sheriff Diaz: I know. But I felt comfortable in it.

Muniz: So, where did this look come from?

Sheriff Diaz: I acquired it in my senior year of college.

Muniz: So, let me get this straight. You dressed in all black till your senior year in college?

Sheriff Diaz: Yes. I was Goth before Goth was ever cool. Minus the makeup of course.

Muniz: You still haven’t answered my question.

Sheriff Diaz: Ever heard of The Rook?

Muniz: Sorry, no.

Sheriff Diaz: I spent a lot of money at the Narrow Gauge Bookstore.

Muniz: I’m familiar with it. Corner of State and Main.

Sheriff Diaz: Same place. I walked in one day to get the latest issue of Starlog when I see this Graphic book on the Shelf. On the cover, this guy is standing in front of the wreck of George Pals Time Machine.

Muniz: Let me guess. He was wearing black cowboy boots, black jeans, white shirt, and a black vest.

Sheriff Diaz: Bingo.

Muniz: I guess your weren’t kidding when you said you have no sense of style.

Sheriff Diaz: None at all. I went and bought black vests and white shirts. And I’ve dressed that way to this day.

Muniz: But black is almost always associated with evil or death. That’s one of the first things they pointed out to me about you.

Sheriff Diaz: Well, stop and think about that. Do you recall a blurb your friend Joy Kidney wrote about the first book, The Cross and the Badge?

Muniz: What about it?

Sheriff Diaz: She wrote that Law Enforcement is one of the battlefields where the war between Good and Evil meet.

Muniz: You lost me.

Sheriff Diaz: I dress mostly in black, but I wear a white shirt. I’m walking the front lines of that battle in the way I dress.

Muniz: OK.

Sheriff Diaz: You’re not buying that. Okay. Try this. I liked the way the old-time cowboys looked in the old movies.

Muniz: Personally, I think it makes you look more like a head waiter at a restaurant.

Sheriff Diaz: You asked Jewell about this, didn’t you.

Muniz: Of course I did. Did you ever get any tips?

Sheriff Diaz: I’d call those bribes and run a person in for those. Let’s just say I like the look. Next topic please.

Muniz: Fine. Let’s start talking about the people in your life. Tell me about Jewell.

CONTINUED

Imagery (except for book cover) AI Generated.

---

If you’re a Veteran in crisis or concerned about one, connect with our caring, qualified Veterans Crisis Line responders for confidential help. Many of them are Veterans themselves. This service is private, free, and available 24/7.

Here’s how you can connect with a Veterans Crisis Line responder, anytime day or night:

• Call 988 and select 1.
• Text 838255.
• Start a confidential chat.
• If you have hearing loss, call TTY: 800-799-4889.

If you’re not a veteran or wish you can also take these actions:

• Call 911.
• Go to the nearest emergency room.
• Go directly to your nearest VA medical center. It doesn’t matter what your discharge status is or if you’re enrolled in VA health care. if not a veteran, go to your nearest hospital.
  Find your nearest VA medical center