By Jim Barber
As captivated with assuaging the financial and social disparity in our communities as a lot as she is for creating, recording and performing music, Toronto singer/songwriter/filmmaker/educator Andrea Ramolo has harnessed the latter of those pursuits within the service of the previous, with the current launch of her newest single, ‘Citadel on the Avenue.’
A co-write with fellow Toronto musician and recording artist R. Grunwald, the track tells tales that ought to not simply tug on the heartstrings, however ought to increase each ire and voices to do one thing to make sure that the extra susceptible members of our cities, our cities and our nation have lives of dignity, hope and abundance.
Ramolo all the time understood that there have been unhoused folks dwelling tough on the streets of Toronto, and all the time felt deep compassion for his or her plight. However her concern and sympathy quickly grew to become motion, after which advocacy, main her to step out of the consolation zone of her life as an educator and musician and step into the world that the majority don’t see – the world of parents dwelling not solely on the margins of the cityscape, however on the margins of life itself.
“Throughout the pandemic, tent cities had been popping up. There have been totally different encampments round Toronto. There was one in a park that was very pricey to me; a park that I lived proper beside at one level in my music profession and life and the place I spent a whole lot of time. It’s known as the Dufferin Grove Park, near the Dufferin Mall close to School and Dufferin Streets. I might stroll and drive by there and it damage my coronary heart so unhealthy that so many individuals had been dwelling there, dwelling these despairing lives, thus far under the poverty line that the world made it in order that they couldn’t even have their naked requirements met and a roof over their head. What sort of dignity is that? However what actually form of shook me was after I first introduced over the Italian band Kalascima that I tour with now that first summer season [four years ago] and the park was nonetheless thriving; the encampment was full. I don’t even know what number of tents there have been, a minimum of 30 or 40 and doubtless extra,” she defined, as she talked from first-hand expertise with these people, in regards to the structural and political flaws in a system that appears to be okay with folks dwelling lives bereft of even the fundamentals.
“These Italian mates, who at the moment are like my household, like my brothers, I didn’t know them as nicely on the time, and so they seemed on the park as we had been driving by in our tour car to move out of town for a present. They usually had been like, ‘what is that this? How do you guys let your folks reside like this.’ That’s what they stated. Once they stated it to me that means, ‘how do you let your folks reside like this? Your neighbours,’ it put it right into a perspective the place I assumed, yeah, they’re proper. It’s our accountability. We will’t depend on the federal government to do something as a result of everyone knows the place that’s going to steer us. And plenty of of those persons are in that state of affairs due to insurance policies of the federal government – all ranges of presidency. They’re there due to inflation and unaffordable housing and groceries costing lots of of {dollars} per week to feed a household. And lack of funding for psychological well being and well being care. I’ve realized a lot from being out on the streets with them, which I did intensely for a few 12 months and a half, travelling with my new mates to numerous shelters, warming homes, group housing. What I’ve realized, and what I’ve seen is that it’s only a vicious cycle that’s seemingly by no means going to finish primarily based on these buildings that don’t appear to work. They only don’t work. There’s a lot pink tape.”
One story specifically, one which, sadly, is just not distinctive to Ramolo’s personal expertise attempting to mitigate and mediate among the squalor and deprivation of individuals she calls her ‘new mates’ nonetheless stokes the fireplace she has to boost consciousness, and encourage motion.
“I’ll always remember this one instance. I keep in mind after I first met Debbie, my buddy who has turn out to be actually like my adopted mum. She’s a fiery, charismatic Indigenous lady who I heard in her tent, yelling in ache. I used to be giving out sandwiches on my first outreach day and it was blistering chilly in December. Any individual had stolen her walker and he or she couldn’t rise up and her two cute chihuahua canines, had been dwelling along with her on this tent. She couldn’t stroll, she was mendacity in her personal stuff, her personal waste, for about 5 days. So I attempted to achieve out to some organizations to assist me and so they actually got here and simply gave me some rubber gloves and a few baggage the subsequent day. I put the gloves on and I used to be cleansing all of the soiled garments and napkins and diapers and the whole lot round her tent to clear a pathway so we may get her onto a stretcher and to a hospital. They usually had been simply watching me. Once I requested them to assist they stated, ‘oh no, we’re not allowed to the touch something.’ The Italian ‘Nonna’ in me was like “How do you assist for those who’re simply standing there? It’s a must to get your palms soiled.’ And that form of symbolizes what I’m attempting to say. With the intention to assist these folks, we’ve to get our palms soiled. Whether or not they’re affected by psychological well being points, or dependancy or bodily immobility, that is the way you assist folks. You present up, you contact them, you hug them, you do for them,” she stated.
“They want love. Most of them don’t have household, and in the event that they do have household, they don’t see them anymore. If you happen to befriend them, that is likely to be the one gentle of their life that helps them wish to carry on going. I’m not saying that I’m that for Debbie or anyone else. I’m simply saying that we’ve to be type to one another, as a result of that could possibly be my mom, your mom. That could possibly be any person’s sister. In reality, it IS any person’s mom and sister. We will’t perceive the complexities of what put folks on this state of affairs, however we will be type, we might help. However this nation is just not doing sufficient for the those that fall into these areas. They usually don’t have a voice for themselves as a result of no person listens to them. No person offers them the time of day. Be sincere, what number of occasions have all of us handed by these folks on the road and been afraid of them as a result of possibly their psychological well being is just not in test or whatnot, or they’ve simply smoked crack or are on fentanyl. These are the realities. These persons are battling dependancy and psychological well being points – that doesn’t imply they don’t deserve love.
“It doesn’t imply they don’t deserve a roof over their heads and a few scorching meals of their bellies and a few tenderness – some human care. Each human being on this earth deserves care, and who’re we to determine who will get care and who doesn’t? The world doesn’t work the identical means for everyone. Some folks can’t work. Some folks have main accidents or are coping with debilitating ache, or are bipolar or schizophrenic and have tried working however misplaced their jobs and don’t have a household community to handle them. So what, they simply deserve to finish up in a doorway nook sleeping in a sleeping bag for the remainder of their lives? No, they don’t. We’ve to be their household. Wouldn’t you need that for your self for those who had been in that state of affairs. I might. Just a little little bit of human decency goes a great distance.”
‘Citadel on the Avenue’ was created for a brand new documentary developed, produced and directed by Ramolo known as Tales from the Avenue. It was additionally primarily based on the tales of her new mates.
“The track was particularly written, nicely, for all of the characters, however particularly for Brent, who’s within the documentary. Brent is not with us, and he was very near me. He was such an angel of a human being. Everybody who met him was simply so touched by him. He was such a real, type man. And he simply had a tough go of it. He had throat most cancers, and he was withering away to nothing. On the finish of his life, Ryan [Donais], my buddy who runs Tiny Tiny Properties, he gifted him a tiny dwelling within the park. However then, after all, the federal government got here and took these away. However whereas they had been taking them away, Ryan advocated for him to get an house, like an actual house. I feel he simply managed to get sufficient funds collectively to get him that house. Brent was within the very late phases of his most cancers, and he solely bought to reside on this new house for about two months. So, it was too late to present him that dignity, to present him that primary human care. Why? Why are folks, aged folks, all folks, why are they dying on the road? Why are they sleeping on heating grates and in sleeping baggage. Are you able to image that for our mother and father? It’s simply so improper. It’s so unjust. Persons are sleeping out within the open, in the midst of downtown Toronto, and it’s onerous to see all of that, however it’s obligatory as a result of a whole lot of us, we shut our eyes to it. We faux it doesn’t exist. And it’s simple to not acknowledge the inequality of the world when your eyes are closed. However after they’re open folks notice there’s one thing terribly improper with our world. There are such a lot of horrible issues happening on the planet, and one particular person can’t repair all of them. However I do imagine in love and in human kindness. And I do imagine that each little factor that we do for an additional particular person creates waves and will probably make somebody’s day just a little brighter.”
Just like the Italian Nonna traits she inherited from her personal powerhouse of a Nonna, Ramolo has a remarkably very important wellspring of compassion, ardour, fiery righteousness and interior power. However she can also be deeply delicate, taking the whole lot into her coronary heart – the great, the unhealthy and the unjust. So she’s needed to study to mood her ardour with a wholesome dose of self-care. Simply as airline passengers are instructed to place the oxygen masks over their very own mouths first earlier than placing one on their youngsters, Ramolo is aware of to be only in her work elevating consciousness and creating sensible methods to assist her mates, she must be wholesome in thoughts, physique and spirit herself.
“It was onerous. Even speaking about it, it was a tough 12 months and a half. I needed to cease at one level going out to the streets as a lot as I used to be. Particularly on the actually, actually snowy mornings, I might exit early on a regular basis with blankets and sleeping baggage and heat meals, socks and no matter, that I all the time stored with me. I might discover folks nonetheless sleeping actually over vents proper within the coronary heart of downtown Toronto. However I needed to set some boundaries. There have been occasions when a few of my new mates had entry to my cellphone quantity, and there have been a whole lot of late night time calls. I realized alongside the way in which the right way to create boundaries for myself as a result of you possibly can’t assist different folks once you’re fully depleted.”
To buy and entry ‘Citadel on the Avenue,’ go to https://andrearamolo.bandcamp.com/observe/castle-on-the-street. Proceeds shall be directed to Haven, a males’s drop-in centre in Toronto. For extra details about this group, go to https://www.haventoronto.ca.
For extra data on Tiny Tiny Properties, go to https://tinytinyhomes.ca.
- Jim Barber is a veteran award-winning journalist and creator primarily based in Napanee, Ontario, Canada, who has been writing about music and musicians for greater than 30 years. In addition to his journalistic endeavours, he works as a communications and advertising specialist and is an avid volunteer in his group. Contact him at jimbarberwritingservices@gmail.com.
