yesterday I saw a guy scooping up fallen leaves from his yard and dumping them in his trashcan so they can go sit in a landfill what is wrong with people

We had a bigger turnout than I'd expected tbh, the vibes are truly shifting y'all

Anyone in Chattanooga who'd be interested in joining a three-month reading group (once a month, first Saturday, in the morning, Burlaep Coffee) working through this study of democratic socialism in America, shoot me a DM, should be fun!

It was a beautiful day to start work reviving the community food forest at Crabtree Farms, uncovered some hazelnut and serviceberry trees that had been planted a couple years ago but were overwhelmed with other stuff, laid out paths, mulched, and a good time was had by all:

Via @charlotteobserver.com: Church members flee as federal agents arrive at east Charlotte place of worship “Inside the church, women and children sobbed as they wondered whether their loved ones had been taken.” www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politic...

Genuinely curious under what metric someone like Pope Pius XI counts as a "globalist traitor" lol

Not that I need to put more books in my to-read queue BUT I'd really like to read a couple of good studies of the Spanish Civil War, interested in both high-level accounts and more particularly focused works, any recommendations out there?

How urban farms can make cities more livable and help feed America ino.to/1cZ2XhM

A selection of pieces, from multiple collections, made by the prolific New Mexican retablo painter José Raphael Aragon (1796 - 1862), just some really striking interpretations of traditional Christian iconography in a vernacular register:

Things rapidly started decaying when young men started making podcasts instead of starting metal bands

It's a busy week next week! Lots of wonderful opportunities to choose from- building, painting, learning, and planting:

Chattanooga folks, come check out this teach I'm helping facilitate next Saturday!

These are some crazy results from here in Georgia, expected the Democrats to win but not by this massive of a margin, dang

🌹🌹🌹 put your hands up in the air 🌹🌹🌹

It's wild to think but in the conservative evangelical world in which I grew up if people saw any difference between JD Vance's Catholic faith and his wife's Hinduism it would be that the latter was less dangerous as it was not a direct attempt to destroy Christianity, how things have changed!

Picked up a CD copy of this album- for free no less- at the Head of Sequatchie visitor center, part of the Cumberland Trail State Park, the other day and am just now getting around to listening to it, and dadgum it's so good

DHS posted a disturbing video today featuring a song that’s popular with Nazi creators

I spent my childhood in the magical part of East Tennessee around the northern head of the Sequatchie Valley, an area of complex karst topography, mountains, soaring sandstone bluffs, and deep caves, always a treat to drive up with the kids and revisit old stomping grounds

What we're up to in November and a brief recap of some fall happenings, it's a busy time of year for Chattanooga community agriculture!

New post by @jparkesallen.bsky.social on our new Substack newsletter, subscribe if you'd like regular updates and essays, some of which will be integrated with new video interviews and other material we plan on releasing soon!

For a long time I was wondering why there were so many trolls that would deliberately misinterpret things while replying, it was so lazy, then one day it struck me, at least some of those guys are probably just illiterate.

New essay of reflections based on my recent travels in the Chacoan world of northwestern New Mexico, feels like a fool's errand trying to capture this stuff but I've a compulsive need to try: jonathanparkesallen.substack.com/p/desert-med...

Found this album while browsing the extremely extensive catalog of Canyon Records offerings, it is excellent, had never listened to Caddo music before but does indeed sound like a cross between Plains traditions and that of the Muskogean speaking peoples canyonrecords.bandcamp.com/album/songs-...

My eight year old decided to start a diary today, his first entry was "October 18, attended democratic protest," which sounds like a Ruthkanda forever story but I promise is entirely true lol

Two to three thousand people turned out for the protest in Chattanooga this morning, lot of resist lib stuff but also a lot else, we had DSA contingent out, I wasn't the only one in a keffiyeh, and lots of iterations of "No King but Jesus"; my kids had a good time, loved all the funny costumes

This week’s Distro Highlight: We Are Still Here: An Anthology of Resilience, Grief, and Unshattered Hope from Gaza’s University Students edited by Zahid Pranjol & Jacob Norris We Are Still Here is an anthology of these voices—raw, unfiltered, and courageous.

If you study plants, you need this book. 🧵1/n

Picked this book up at Aztec Ruins National Monument a couple weeks back and started reading it the next day while hanging out in an early 18th century Navajo pueblito, just finished it this evening. Super rich and complex text, the fluidity of identity among the emergent Diné is especially striking

Big ol clump of Jerusalem artichoke tubers, all from one plant, pulled up while harvesting a bucket's worth today (from a single strip of one of the Jerusalem artichoke beds, they are insanely prolific plants!)

We're very lucky to have steam locomotive excursions run a few times a year on the short line railroad through our area, including a couple hundred yards from our house (this shot is from a friend's farm a couple miles down the line), no transportation technology will probably ever be so beautiful

In Chicago, four vehicles descended and eight ICE agents moved in to kidnap a child. She screams, “I’m 15,” as ICE yanks her from the car and kneels on her neck. This is not about immigration enforcement. It's about terrorizing Americans.

Had never helped put on a festival before and while we had a few snags- some of our vendors who had signed up didn't show, we got started a little too early, could have used a little more publicity- everyone had an excellent time, especially the kids

Picking peppers in the morning dew

After a hiatus in (remembering to) record and post our Friday sessions, we've gotten back on track with our recording and uploading to our YouTube channel, so if you miss a Friday Persian session you can follow along later! Have a look at this week's session:

Autumn flowers are just the best

From this week's Monday Ottoman Turkish manuscript reading group: our (so far) anonymous traveler describes cutting his hair and burying it (to avoid sorcery etc) on a river bank north of Damascus, which reminds him of the quite nice barbershop haircut he got in Damascus during his sojourn there:

Fantastic depiction of the Tophane Fountain- and activities around it- in Beyoğlu, built under Sultan Mahmud I in 1732, seen here as it appeared in the 1820s. Etching and aquatint with hand coloring by R.G. Reeve after a drawing (watercolor possibly) by the British artist William Page (V&A SP.443):

"[T]he initiative will provide free, global access to a constantly expanding body of classical and modern Persian texts. The project will also partner with institutions to help safeguard thousands of at-risk manuscripts and rare books from collections in India, Pakistan and beyond."

Homilies at our parish are not usually overtly political but this morning the priest giving the homily just straight up called out racism, ethnonationalism, antisemitism, nationalism, and all forms of dehumanizing ideology as contrary to Christ, really brought the fire today

I visited the apartment building ICE raided on Tuesday today. Story to come, but you can walk right in. Half of the apartments have no doors on them. Children's stuff abandoned in some flats. *Citizen* residents told me they were arrested and held for hours in zipties. This is America

Fall is just starting to come to the Cumberland Plateau, you love to see it

It was an especial pleasure to get to see so many petroglyphs while hiking in New Mexico- there are Native petroglyphs and other forms of rock art/communication here in the Southern Appalachians but with a handful of exceptions they're basically inaccessible, so cool to see so many in so many places

One half of our bi-monthly sessions- second and fourth Thursdays each month- will be via Zoom so there is an opportunity for folks outside of Chattanooga to participate!

Chacoan stonework is just incredible, often has what I can only describe as a sense of play in the way the facing veneer was arranged, often varying from one wall to another in the same section of a great house

New essay, my attempt to think about early modernity from a North American vantage point, in dialogue with the history of the wider early modern world, plus a reading of fossil fuel modernity as it relates to (imposes itself upon) the same landscape: jonathanparkesallen.substack.com/p/tracing-th...

One of the most infuriating things about having to deal with America's Dollar Store fascism is that there are so many other problems that ought to be demanding our attention, having to defeat a senile off-brand Franco just really should not be among them

Been thinking a lot about Byung-Chul Han's stuff on Eros vs. smoothness, particularly in writing. Idiosyncrasies invite and reward contemplation in a way that chatbots simply can't

Interesting that the US military, according to the conservative vision, ought to be made up of lithe muscular beardless young men whose bodies are available for their older male superiors to "put their hands on." Makes you think

I've known about and had wanted to visit Chaco Canyon for most of my life- grew up with a big National Geographic archive and subscription among other influences- but actually seeing the great houses within their landscape was just a whole other level, was not prepared for the emotional impact

Spent the last week camping in the deserts of northwest New Mexico, no computer, sporadic cell phone service, tried not to listen to the news for more than a couple minutes when I could pick up radio stations, would highly recommend