ronda dale

As 2020 rolled along I became occupied with an album project conceived out of the deep bummer of not being able to gather with friends. I had a lot of friends, played a lot of music. How sad not to be able to be with anyone, month after month after month. Mind you: I was all along ever-diverging from the point of view held by these friends. Nearly every single one of them. How is it a bad idea to go outside? Natural immunity is suddenly no longer a thing? How very odd.

So I make the album, call it Miss You, that takes up all the rest of 2020 and a bit beyond. By the time it releases in April 2021, the distance between my thinking and the thinking of almost everyone from my ‘old crowd’ is approaching gulf-size. After several surreal unpleasant experiences related to not towing the party line, I was starting to see that for self-protection I should probably keep my thoughts and decisions to myself.

I was never going to get this vaccination, for several reasons. I had no history of being against vaccines. The bewilderment I had been feeling grew deeper and deeper, my questions kept piling up, my news source kept offering what by now I was starting to call News by Press Release, and there was literally one person in my circles who was Not On The Page, same as me. Were there any other people anywhere having thoughts like mine on this Covid subject? Was there anywhere else I could find actual information? Were any governments anywhere going with a different approach besides lockdowns/wait for vaccines/everyone must comply? Was Ron DeSantis really some sociopathic ghoul down there in Florida, responsible for killing thousands with his disagreeing-with-[what had somehow become]-Democrat Covid policies? How is it anyway that this public health issue now has become political? Does me deciding not to be injected with this vaccine make me an ‘anti-vaxer’?

Then, in later September 2021, I received an email message from an old friend which said, “I won’t perform with you, Ronda, until you’re vaccinated.” I might write an entire book on what effect that simple sentence ended up having on my life course. I will spare us all from having to read such a thing but the synopsis is: that became the fulcrum upon which the Ronda Dale Ship began a ponderous 180.

The questions ramped up inside me. When did vaccine immunity become superior to natural immunity? You really think it’s fine and even good to force people to take an injection into their bodies? It’s fine and right they should lose their jobs, their livelihoods, be kicked out of the military? What again are the facts behind the extraordinary – and different from ever before – claim of asymptomatic transmission? How can it be true that there is absolutely nothing anyone can do to help themselves fight this virus, no treatments at all anywhere. How can it be justified that our beloved elderly family are better left alone to be sick and die without us by their side? WHAT IS GOING ON HERE???

Yes, things finally reached a point. A fire was lit inside me on the heels of that email, albeit slow to ignite. I guess it had to enter in personal like that, for me to be pushed to really look around and take in what was happening not only with me and friends but all around in my society, my culture, my country. I’d had a nice fun life up thru my mid-50’s, not paying close attention to the things people said or did – especially governments and people in power – thereby managing a lovely Live and Let Live vibe. That changed. My wonderings welled up and took on a searing quality. I had to look into this whole Covid thing, figure some stuff out for myself, get to the bottom of some of these questions.

next: Ronda’s WTF Studies