On Friday morning I will get on the bus for a long trip to Washington D.C. to participate in the Women’s March.  I look forward to finding my voice after a long career as a journalist.

For 40 years I have refrained from voicing my opinions  on the stories I  covered as a journalist. I lived by a simple rule shared by thousands of journalists; find the truth and tell the truth –in a fair and unbiased fashion.

I left my position as a television news anchor and reporter in Duluth, Minnesota at the end of 2016.  I am  now eager to find my voice, develop my skills as a community activist and learn how to support the issues that I feel are essential to maintain our hard fought rights and freedoms.

On election night 2016 I reported in a fair and un-biased fashion the results of the presidential race while holding  back my personal feelings. Now for the first time in decades I am free to share with your that my heart was broken that night.  When I woke up the next morning I was praying that the outcome of the election was just a bad dream.  But the reality remains that Mr. Trump will be sworn in as our 45th President on the same day I will find myself on a bus with dozens of women traveling to our nation’s capitol.

A Trump presidency scares me, the current majority in congress scares me.  As a woman and a mom my fear is not for myself.  My fear is reserved for our future generations and my friends and family who are being threatened with the loss of health care.  I fear the loss of the right to  marry those we love and for our fragile environment  balancing on a razor’s edge.

Fear is a great motivator.  I will use it to find my voice.