Jonathan Parkes Allen
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jparkesallen.bsky.social
Jonathan Parkes Allen
@jparkesallen.bsky.social
historian of the Islamicate with @openiti.bsky.social; community food forest/garden organizer with @foodforestchatt.bsky.social. ☦ Christian, father, deep time delver. 🏴 anarcho-agrarian 🌻 upholder of Gustav Landauer thought. Signal @ jparkesallen.11
We had a bigger turnout than I'd expected tbh, the vibes are truly shifting y'all
Chattanooga folks, come check out this teach I'm helping facilitate next Saturday!
November 16, 2025 at 2:44 AM
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!
American Democratic Socialism
A sweeping, ambitious history of American democratic socialism from one of the world’s leading intellectual historians and social ethicists  “The moveme...
yalebooks.yale.edu
November 16, 2025 at 2:43 AM
Reposted by Jonathan Parkes Allen
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:
November 16, 2025 at 1:16 AM
Reposted by Jonathan Parkes Allen
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...
Church members flee as federal agents arrive at east Charlotte place of worship
Witnesses say one man was detained while doing yard work while his wife and child were inside.
www.charlotteobserver.com
November 16, 2025 at 1:50 AM
Genuinely curious under what metric someone like
Pope Pius XI counts as a "globalist traitor" lol
November 16, 2025 at 12:50 AM
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?
November 15, 2025 at 5:46 PM
Reposted by Jonathan Parkes Allen
How urban farms can make cities more livable and help feed America ino.to/1cZ2XhM
How urban farms can make cities more livable and help feed America
Urban gardens are extraordinarily powerful tools that can improve food security, lower temperatures, and create invaluable gathering spaces.
ino.to
November 15, 2025 at 1:08 AM
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:
November 14, 2025 at 11:20 PM
Reposted by Jonathan Parkes Allen
Things rapidly started decaying when young men started making podcasts instead of starting metal bands
November 11, 2025 at 12:42 AM
Reposted by Jonathan Parkes Allen
It's a busy week next week! Lots of wonderful opportunities to choose from- building, painting, learning, and planting:
November 8, 2025 at 12:00 AM
Chattanooga folks, come check out this teach I'm helping facilitate next Saturday!
November 7, 2025 at 11:56 PM
These are some crazy results from here in Georgia, expected the Democrats to win but not by this massive of a margin, dang
November 5, 2025 at 4:35 AM
🌹🌹🌹 put your hands up in the air 🌹🌹🌹
November 5, 2025 at 2:56 AM
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!
November 2, 2025 at 6:28 PM
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
November 1, 2025 at 6:04 PM
Reposted by Jonathan Parkes Allen
DHS posted a disturbing video today featuring a song that’s popular with Nazi creators
DHS Posts Video Featuring Song Popular With Nazi Creators
The agency denied making
gizmodo.com
October 24, 2025 at 12:30 AM
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
October 26, 2025 at 1:36 AM
Reposted by Jonathan Parkes Allen
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!
November Opportunities in Chattanooga Community Agriculture
Work Days, Education, and Updates from the Fall Thus Far
foodforestschattanooga.substack.com
October 24, 2025 at 7:09 PM
Reposted by Jonathan Parkes Allen
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!
From Damascus to Istanbul
The OpenITI Fall/Winter Ottoman Turkish Reading Group
openiti.substack.com
October 24, 2025 at 6:58 PM
Reposted by Jonathan Parkes Allen
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.
October 23, 2025 at 7:23 PM
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...
Desert Meditations
Three Vignettes from New Mexico
jonathanparkesallen.substack.com
October 22, 2025 at 3:23 AM
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-...
Songs of the Caddo: Ceremonial and Social Dance Music, by Lowell "Wimpy" Edmonds & Singers
14 track album
canyonrecords.bandcamp.com
October 19, 2025 at 4:27 AM
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
October 19, 2025 at 1:40 AM
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
October 18, 2025 at 6:40 PM
Reposted by Jonathan Parkes Allen
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.
October 13, 2025 at 1:12 AM