RONDA: An Intimate Portrait of a Southern Street Prostitute, volume one

She was a sweet girl from a nice family and an ordinary neighborhood...


Now Ronda, at age 26, lives in a world of tricks, vice cops, and a heavy narcotics addiction...


And she invites us into her life in this world.


Ronda is not just any streetwalker.  She is a fascinating (and multi-faceted) character, and almost everyone who comes into contact with her seems drawn to her.


The author included.


It was during a period when documentary writer and photographer George Mitchell was recovering from an emotional illness, that he met Ronda—in the same way that most men meet her—as a "date."  It was their only such encounter, but one that stuck in Mitchell’s memory, primarily because minutes after she had received her money, this lovely young woman with a little-girl innocence about her casually sat on the floor in front of him and shot drugs into her arm.


Two years later, in 1984, after meeting her again under different circumstances, he approached Ronda with a rather extraordinary proposition: Would she be willing to allow him to document her life, as she lived it, for a year?  The story would be whatever happened.


She courageously said yes, and for many months, with a tape recorder in his hand and a camera over his shoulder, Mitchell became immersed in Ronda's life.  Her willingness to bring him (and future readers) into her world—and into her mind—proved remarkable.  Although Ronda and Mitchell lived only a mile apart, they lived in two very different worlds; and the project turned out to be an adventure for both of them. 


This unique and unforgettable book gives us Ronda’s story both in words and in Mitchell’s many striking photographs. The story of a junkie hooker while she is on the streets, it is often disturbing and sometimes horrifying, but also moving, and touching, and sometimes even comical.  This book will stick with you long after you’ve put it down.


(Volume One covers the period from August 1984 to March 1985. Volume Two will cover the rest of the year.)