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Nate Bowling (نيت بولينج)

@natebowling@scholar.social

mastodon 4.6.6

Teaching & researching US Government and Comparative Politics at the American Community School, an embassy school in Abu Dhabi.

Maestro. Traveler. Sounder.

Host - Nerd Farmer Podcast, a civics and nerdery-centric interview show. Often on here hunting for show guests.

Author - Takes & Typos Newsletter

He/Him/Grumpy

1040 Followers

276 Following

17 Posts

Joined April 28, 2022

Personal:

https://www.natebowling.com/

Podcast:

https://nerdfarmpod.com/

Travelogue:

https://www.bowlingsabroad.com/

Newsletter:

https://buttondown.email/natebowling

Posts

Nate Bowling (نيت بولينج) @natebowling@scholar.social · Aug 05, 2026

Eli Cranor is a former college football quarterback turned Southern noir author. His book Broiler (2024) is social commentary about immigrant labor in the poultry industry wrapped in a crime novel. I really, really enjoy Cranor's writing and think you'd likely enjoy his book and this (spoiler free) conversation I recorded with him. https://nerdfarmpod.com/2026/08/02/on-broiler-a-crime-novel-and-social-commentary-eli-cranor-269/

Nate Bowling (نيت بولينج) @natebowling@scholar.social · Jul 29, 2026

My time in the US is coming to a close. I'm headed back to a deeply uncertain situation in the Gulf, given the war. But that somehow still feels more "normal" and less chaotic than it feels here.

Nate Bowling (نيت بولينج) @natebowling@scholar.social · Jul 24, 2026

I keep coming back to the ecological concept of "shifting baseline syndrome": each generation mistakes the world it inherits for the way things have always been. Anyone between the ages of 18 to 21 has spent their adolescence in a world in which options trading, sports betting, prediction markets, and crypto are commonplace activities. That's a drastic departure from recent norms and we're all worse off for it. Words by me. https://buttondown.com/natebowling/archive/everything-is-gambling-now/

Nate Bowling (نيت بولينج) @natebowling@scholar.social · Jul 20, 2026

Much to my chagrin, I spent much of the spring stuck in a drone war in the Middle East. Since then I've been thinking a lot about drones. Into my life walked @faineg@mstdn.social. They're a researcher and journalist on drone technology and policy. This is a conversation with them about our emerging drone century. https://open.spotify.com/episode/6A9LoVxLwiRlP5TioUxxhA?si=-xtZmnqCRBO1amIrq_4ugQ

Nate Bowling (نيت بولينج) @natebowling@scholar.social · Jul 14, 2026

I'm sometimes embarrassed it took a family tragedy to make me a disability advocate but it's better late than never. Clears throat: trim your damn bushes and hedges! Words by me. https://buttondown.com/natebowling/archive/one-less-obstacle/

Nate Bowling (نيت بولينج) @natebowling@scholar.social · Apr 29, 2026

Replying to @derek@social.coop

@derek@social.coop If only there was an institution with power supreme to that of the states that controlled its own currency and could help fund renewable projects like this in CT and in other states

Nate Bowling (نيت بولينج) @natebowling@scholar.social · Apr 06, 2026

Replying to @anne_twain@theblower.au

@anne_twain@theblower.au I think it would be grounds for removal for an executive in a functioning democracy. However, the US left that train station long ago.

Nate Bowling (نيت بولينج) @natebowling@scholar.social · Apr 06, 2026

I'm currently waiting out the war teaching remotely from Thailand. About half my students are still in Abu Dhabi, the remainder are as far west as California and as far east as Seoul.

Meanwhile, the messages from Washington are triumphant even braggadocious about victory.

But if we were winning, the embassy would be open and my students wouldn't be ducking out of class due to missile alerts.

Words by me.

https://buttondown.com/natebowling/archive/the-kings-speech/

Nate Bowling (نيت بولينج) @natebowling@scholar.social · Mar 29, 2026

This weekend the US or Israel bombed two universities in Iran.

In retaliation Tehran is threatening to strike US or Israeli schools in the region.

This is obviously sub-optimal for my school community and other American schools in the region.

Words by me.

https://buttondown.com/natebowling/archive/the-war-they-didn-t-plan-for/

Nate Bowling (نيت بولينج) @natebowling@scholar.social · Mar 01, 2026

This is a dispatch from here in Abu Dhabi about the fallout from another US war of choice.

https://buttondown.com/natebowling/archive/another-american-war-of-choice/

Nate Bowling (نيت بولينج) @natebowling@scholar.social · Nov 21, 2025

Replying to @Nshrubs@mstdn.social

@Nshrubs@mstdn.social It's an absolute no brainer and one of those things people somehow treat as unimaginable, even though lots of places are doing it successfully. It's kinda like universal healthcare in America.

Nate Bowling (نيت بولينج) @natebowling@scholar.social · Nov 21, 2025

Replying to @natebowling@scholar.social

Related. Me in 2023. https://www.natebowling.com/a-teachers-evolving-mind/2023/6/17/the-case-for-banning-phones-in-school

Nate Bowling (نيت بولينج) @natebowling@scholar.social · Nov 21, 2025

Replying to @natebowling@scholar.social

To be clear, this anecdote is meant to be read as a 1000% percent endorsement of the policy

Nate Bowling (نيت بولينج) @natebowling@scholar.social · Nov 21, 2025

My school instituted a phone free campus policy for students and by the end of the second week boys were huddled in circles during breaks showing and teaching each other close magic and card tricks.

Nate Bowling (نيت بولينج) @natebowling@scholar.social · Mar 12, 2024

Replying to @monkeyborg@triangletoot.party

@monkeyborg@triangletoot.party Scammy and scummy corporate behavior

Nate Bowling (نيت بولينج) @natebowling@scholar.social · Oct 22, 2023

Replying to @Rushkoff@social.coop

@Rushkoff Same. Did it today. Hadn't posted in over a year but held onto it for some reason.

Nate Bowling (نيت بولينج) @natebowling@scholar.social · Dec 17, 2022

Replying to @lauren@mastodon.laurenweinstein.org

@lauren@mastodon.laurenweinstein.org of course it is, but when is the last time someone with Musk's level of power was held accountable by the legal system in the US? The best hope for accountability on this is the EU and European regulators.

Nate Bowling (نيت بولينج)

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