A break — sort of — from Northern Journal’s regularly scheduled programming
An update from Italy.
Cigarette smoke swirled in the crisp air and a bass line thudded as I walked up from a subway station and onto the street, where protestors waved flags symbolizing a Palestinian state.
A young activist stood with a microphone before a crowd of thousands, warning of rising fascism and how America was staging a counter revolution.
Sounds a little like Minneapolis.
In fact, this was Italy.
It was 48 hours after I’d arrived in Torino, the city of some 900,000 in the northwest part of the country. With my uncle, who lives here and covers European politics and social movements for his own news website, The Battleground, we’d headed out to observe what was billed as a protest against Italy’s right-wing government, against war and attacks on social liberties.
We watched what turned out to be tens of thousands of people marching through city streets, chanting in solidarity with Palestinians under close watch by police — who ultimately clashed violently with the protestors after we left.
A similar event played out in Milan, where crowds denounced news that a unit of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement would be helping with security at the Winter Olympics, which open in that city Friday evening.
I’m in Italy for the next few weeks to cover the Games, and to be honest: I was, and still am, kind of ambivalent about leaving the U.S. during what feels like an important time for journalism and democracy.
In the two days it took me to travel here, I spent a lot of time contemplating: Is anyone going to care about the Olympics, and my reporting on it, when protestors have been killed on the streets of Minneapolis, federal agents are arresting journalists and our president is threatening to take over Greenland?
Since landing in Italy, though, I’ve been struck by how much everyone here is talking, and thinking, about the same stuff — and how it’s clear that many of the big stories of this year's Olympics will connect back to current events that are inescapable for the Alaskan and American athletes racing in outfits bearing stars and stripes.
U.S. cross-country skiing superstar Jessie Diggins, who grew up in the Twin Cities area, earlier this week made news with a social media post that included a photo of her holding an American flag with a caption that read: “I do not stand for hate or violence or discrimination.”
“I get to decide who I’m racing for every single day, and how I want to live up to my values,” Diggins wrote. “I’m racing for an American people who stand for love, for acceptance, for compassion, honesty and respect for others.”
Diggins’ post reminded me why I keep investing time and energy in covering sports — and why I’m here reporting on what will be my fourth Winter Olympics: Sports are never just about sports; they’re also about the convergence of money, politics and power.
Over the next few weeks, you’ll still see some regularly scheduled Northern Journal programming — environmental coverage from correspondent Max Graham, and maybe a couple of non-Olympics pieces from me. There will also be a healthy dose of sports mixed in, though. If you have to tune that stuff out, I get it. But I hope you’ll join me for some of the ride.
Some extra notes if you’re wondering about Olympics coverage: I am in Italy as a freelancer and will be working with a number of outlets — namely the cross-country skiing website FasterSkier and our Devon Kershaw Show podcast, plus Alaska Public Media, the Anchorage Daily News and National Public Radio. I’ll publish/republish some of my stories here, but keep an eye on those other outlets if you’re a ski and/or Olympics obsessive and want to catch all the coverage.
Finally, if you really want to go deep, or just want a fun change from daily life, I’m going to be running an insiders’, subscribers-only WhatsApp group during the Olympics.
The idea here is to help cover my travel and accommodation expenses by giving people a firsthand look at what it’s like to be a reporter covering the Games — what I’m eating, how I’m traveling, which country has the flyest spandex racing suits. I’ll also be sharing quick sport-specific updates on cross-country skiing, which I’m following most closely.
It’s pay what you want, with a suggested $10 minimum contribution, but I’m not going to turn anyone away who can’t afford to pay. If you want in, make a contribution to @nat-herz on Venmo and email me — nat[at]northernjournal[dot]com — with your phone number on WhatsApp and I’ll add you to the group.
If you don’t have WhatsApp, it’s a really useful messaging app that’s worth downloading; if you don’t have Venmo, see if you can find a friend who does who will spot you.
As always, thanks for reading. Stay tuned for more stories and updates from the Northern Journal trail later in 2026.