An evening with Gary Gulman

Worth your time:

An entertaining narrative of the 1964 jewel heist from the American Museum of Natural History. The story involves robbers wearing velour jackets, pigeons nearly killing the robbers, and, unexpectedly, a Christian prison ministry.

This week I learned:

Nyack College’s undergraduate enrollment has dropped by about 23 percent compared with last fall. Its enrollment has been declining for several years, and we recently reported on the college’s financial straits. The college also told students it would once again delay the move from its old campus in Nyack, N.Y., to downtown Manhattan.

A court case you might not know about:

The British High Court ruled on Tuesday that a group of doctors can challenge the Royal College of Physicians (a physicians’ group like the American Medical Association) over the procedures it used to change its position on assisted suicide. The RCP has long opposed assisted suicide, like the AMA, but this year it changed its position to “neutral” on the issue even though a majority of its members oppose assisted suicide.

Culture I am consuming:

The book Promises in the Dark: Walking With Those in Need Without Losing Heart by Dr. Eric McLaughlin, a doctor in rural Burundi with the missions agency Serge. I spent time at the Burundi hospital with McLaughlin in 2017, and he and the team there are doing remarkable work as a lone hospital in a densely populated area. This book tells hard, discouraging stories, which you don’t often hear from missionaries who are trying to inspire churches and donors. But I appreciate his honesty so far in what I’ve read.

Email me with tips, story ideas, and feedback at ebelz@wng.org