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

In Volume One, Ronda wrote for this book:


“I lived the first part of my life two miles or less from Ponce de Leon and Peachtree completely oblivious to the way of life of some of my neighbors, the street people (junkies,  prostitutes, winos, etc.). When I first met them I felt sorry for them and wanted to help somehow, but before I knew it I was one of them.”


By now Ronda has been one of them for as long as, or longer than, any other prostitute on the streets of Atlanta, and is known to be as heavily addicted to opiates as a junkie can be. Ronda is the most self-destructive person documentary author George Mitchell has ever known, but she is also intelligent and charming. She’s gutsy, rebellious, and a staunch defender of the underdog. And there is still a little-girl innocence about her.


In Volume Two Ronda’s life continues to unfold day by day through interviews and dialogue—usually actual, tape-recorded dialogue—and through Mitchell’s many arresting and full-of-feeling photographs throughout the book.


An important presence in the book is Melvin, Ronda’s boyfriend, who is eight years her junior; Ronda calls him “my son…best friend…my father…my brother…lover….. enemy ….   Ronda’s everything.” Also in Volume Two, Ronda’s mother becomes a major character, welcoming first Mitchell, and later both Ronda and Mitchell, into her home for some very emotional conversations.


Ronda is a multi-faceted young woman who alternately charms and infuriates Mitchell, gives him laughter and hope along with despair and, ultimately, fear for her life. Mitchell’s feelings for Ronda shift during the course of working on the book from giddy infatuation to a complex and close friendship. He also comes to feel that he cannot be only documentarian in the face of Ronda’s self-destruction, but must attempt to influence his subject as well.


In this captivating book, we enter, through Mitchell’s character, a subculture usually off limits to the rest of us. And we come to know one lively, fascinating, engaging and close-to-suicidal streetwalker, Ronda, intimately.


(Volume One covered the period from August 1984 to March 1985. Volume Two covers the period from March 1985 till August 1985. It is suggested that Volume One be read first.)