I received a phone call from my oldest daughter yesterday.  "Daddy," she asked, "did you know you're in a movie on Netflix called "Heroin Town"?

"I'm in a movie called 'Heroin Town'?

"Jake Evans just posted on facebook that he was watching "Heroin Town" on Netflix, and he saw his former middle school teacher juggling," she explained.

Jake Evans was a name I recognized immediately.  Not only was he a former student, but he was one of my top jugglers ever.  Not only that, he was my daughter Naomi's first boyfriend.  A dad never forgets someone like that.  But back to "Heroin Town"...

I actually knew of the movie, but had no idea I was in it, albeit for maybe ten seconds.  "Heroin Town" is a documentary about Willimantic, Connecticut, a small city where I've spent a fair amount of time thanks to my good friend, Pastor Fred Shapiro, who passed away last fall.  Back in 2003, the Hartford Chronicle ran an investigative report about the amount of drugs and prostitution happening in Willimantic, a city of less than 20,000 people.  "60 Minutes" picked up the story and ran a piece on their show.  Dan Rather led the investigation, and Willimantic was portrayed as the gates of hell itself.

After this episode was released, an independent film maker came to town and decided to make a documentary about what the city is really like.  While not denying the drug, prostitution and homelessness problems, he balanced the film with all the good things that happen there.  After Jo's call, I decided to check it out myself.  Early on, the movie shows a montage of their monthly 'third Thursday' street fair, and that's where I am shown  (minute 8 and twenty seconds, to be exact).  Not exactly Dustin Hoffman or Lawrence Olivier, but there I was, on Netflix.

But as I watched the documentary, it became about more than my own narcissism.  Pastor Fred actually plays a significant role in the movie.  He defends the town and its people.  Fred was always a champion of the down and out, and this came through loud and clear.  There were also several clips of him singing around town, including a version of  his signature song "Jesus is Victor" rewritten to question Dan Rather's  objectivity.  Classic Fred.  I miss my friend.

The movie went on to talk to people living in some local low income housing with the unfortunate name "Hotel Hooker".  Seriously.  In the mid 1800's it was an elegant hotel owned by the Hooker family.  Anyone who saw the unfortunateness of the name was too proper to point it out back then.  Now, 160 years later, it still bears this name.  Apparently, Dan Rather portrayed this building as a den of drugs and prostitution well deserving the name Hooker.  The producer of "Heroin Town" went into the Hotel Hooker to speak with the actual people who live there. 

Yes, they admit, there's drugs available among the people who call the hotel their home, but they point out that this is true in any neighborhood, which is what the hotel is for them.  But most of the residents are simply poor: disabled vets., recovering addicts, a young single Jehovah's Witness, the under employed.  In fact, I could pick out some members of Fred's congregation among the residents. He saw Jesus in the broken outcasts.  I miss my friend.

So, now that my cameo on Netflix has been made public on both Jake Evans' and my daughter's Facebook pages, I am hoping people will check it out.  (Remember, minute 8 and 20 seconds).  Perhaps friends and family who never knew Pastor Fred will see what a sweet man he was.  And the story of Willimantic is certainly worth learning from, too.