9/11’s Afterlives, Lebanon’s Syria Street, the Texan ‘Klan Granny,’ and More

Hello, everyone.

It’s 2025, and we’re so back. Everyone at Inkstick hopes you had a good holiday season and a Happy New Year, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have to spoil whatever lingering joy there is with a steady stream of less-than-happy news.

First up, the Things That Go Boom podcast is back again for another season, and this one is as relevant as ever: It goes deep into the issues of separatism and insurrection. The first episode takes us to Quebec in 1970, when a militant French separatist group captured a minister, troops filled the streets, and all of Canada was on edge.

Speaking of history, I wrote a short dispatch from the past as well. In 1979, a 73-year-old Dallas woman with a long history of advocating white supremacy unsettled the North Texas city by calling for the first organized Ku Klux Klan rally in more than five decades. But it wouldn’t be until several weeks later that the “Klan Granny,” as much of the press dubbed her, would make her last stand — and only after she died.

That’s not all we’ve got at Inkstick. And if you’re not already, please follow us on Bluesky, LinkedIn, Threads, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

“What a Tipping Point Looks Like” by Things That Go Boom (Jan. 6)

The 1970 October Crisis rattled Canada. French separatists might not have been large in numbers, but they managed to drive the country to the brink. More than five decades later, the US might ask if it’s headed toward such a crisis itself.

Bluesky this. Link this.

“The Many Afterlives of the Sept. 11 Attacks” by Gabriel Colburn (Jan. 7)

Journalist Richard Beck’s sprawling new book, Homeland: The War on Terror in American Life, is an ambitious attempt to grapple with the complex legacy of the Sept. 11 attacks. Beck shows how the US was transformed by Sept. 11 — and how it stayed the same.

Bluesky this. Link this.

“In Iraq, Farmers are Losing their Fight for Survival” by Omar Hamed Beato (Jan. 8)

Decades of conflict and crumbling infrastructure have left Iraq’s farmers struggling as dwindling water supplies from Turkish and Iranian dams, combined with the looming threat of climate change, push the country’s agriculture to the brink.

Bluesky this. Link this.

“In Northern Lebanon, Separated by a Street Called Syria” by Nicholas Frakes (Jan. 9)

After the Syrian civil war broke out in 2011, the conflict fueled violence between the Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen neighborhoods of northern Lebanon’s Tripoli. Now that Bashar al-Assad has fled Syria and rebels have taken over the government in Damascus, what will it mean for the two Tripoli neighborhoods next door?

Bluesky this. Link this.

“Burying the Klan: A Texas White Supremacist’s Last Stand” by Patrick Strickland (Jan. 10)

Ku Klux Klan member Addie Barlow Frazier spent decades fighting desegregation in Dallas, a fact that often landed her name in newspapers. Her open white supremacy earned her a reputation for stirring up controversy — and she briefly carried that habit over into the afterlife.

Bluesky this. Link this.

From the desk of Patrick Strickland, managing editor of Inkstick Media.