The Heart of florida
ABOUT HOF and OUR MISSION
NOVEMBER 11, 2021 was the HEART OF FLORIDA, not yet FEDERATED REPUBLICAN WOMEN’S, first official meeting, and over 60 enthusiastic women and a few gentlemen showed up. I will write this blog in the first person, and just tell you that beginning of this entire adventure in the political landscape was and is a “new” thing for me and I was unsure of myself and, if I am honest, frightened. But one of my favorite quotations is by John Wayne: “COURAGE IS BEING SCARED TO DEATH AND SADDLING UP ANYWAY”, so, I saddled up, and here we are.
When you Saddle up to do God’s Work, the first thing you do is gather up your posse. You want those you know you can trust to do the job and have your back. We had to have 10 members to become official and all of them said yes. They have become the Charter Members of the Heart of Florida and the Board as well, you will see their bios later.
Positivity is contagious, and we are all going to be a part of an overwhelming driving force that is bringing this group/movement to life. Excitement is also contagious, and the time to act is now. We aren’t going to be a ‘Club” that sits in a meeting, eats, drinks, chats, listens to a speaker once a month, gets worked up, then goes home until the next month. We are going to be WOMEN OF ACTION HERE and when they see us coming, they will either say, “Oh crap, or Thank God!!!”
Our Country is falling apart, crumbling from the inside out, as enemy has infiltrated over the years while we have been busy. It will take all of us together to fight, grass roots, as there is no time to waste. We will rise above as ordinary women doing extraordinary things. Starting here in our own community of DeLand, in Volusia County, Florida, right on up into the highest parts of our government, WE need to be heard.
“If you cannot do great things, do small things, great.” ~ Martin Luther King
OUR MISSION
*Election Integrity is of the utmost importance because without honest elections, anything else we gain will be wiped out.
*We need to protect the Constitution that this country was founded upon. It is neither outdated nor irrelevant.
*Cancel Cancel Culture.
*Find Local Businesses that share our ideals and collectively support them while creating a local/national/global parallel economy.
*Our committees are a starting point for this work.
*Each of us has a talent and a place and that is a thing of beauty.
*At each meeting we will have a Call for Action and before you leave you will have either emailed or texted Tallahassee, Washington, or maybe someone right here at home about an issue very important.
*We need to hold our leaders accountable either for their actions or their in-actions.
It takes courage to speak up in these times. One might be afraid of losing a friend, a neighbor, the love or support of a family member, or even their job.
"But we have something a little more to help with courage, something that has survived the test of time and has been a calling card for courage used by woman since ancient times." ~ John Wayne
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RED LIPSTICK
The Story of Red Lipstick
Red lipstick is so much more than a bold fashion statement, there is a long history behind this classic shade.
Red lipstick has symbolized:
- Social status
- Leadership
- Power
- Courage
- Defiance
- Strength
- Patriotism
Back to the Beginning
CLEOPATRA created her own lipstick by crushing ants and beetles, along with red ochre to get the pigment to dye the lip. The colorant was mixed with fish scales to add a luminous finish which I’m sure made the resulting smell quite appealing.
Fast forward to the 16th Century and attitudes changed toward red lipstick, the women that wore it were considered to “challenge God.” Queen Elizabeth I paired hers with a pale white face powder made with lead, which didn’t turn out well for her. The 1700’s saw lipstick become illegal and the “work of the devil” and even cause of a marriage annulment should a man find that his wife used the trickery of lipstick to lure him into marriage.
RED LIPSTICK
By the time we hit the 1800’s red lips fell from grace, and it became synonymous with ladies of ill repute. Queen Victoria even deemed wearing cosmetics impolite in general. Women who wore red lipstick were women of lower class and considered not part of high society.
In 1880 Guerlain is the first company to commercially produce red lipstick in a tube. French actress, Sarah Bernhardt, overwhelms society by swiping her lips IN PUBLIC, referring to it as “STYLO D’AMOR or “LOVE PEN.” With one swipe of the lips and some clout behind the red stain, that one act quickly lifted red lips into a better light once again.
Red Lipstick becomes the rage and a revolution for business women by 1910. Elizabeth Arden, opened the Red Door Salon on 5th Avenue in New York City, which was quite rare for a woman at that time.
In 1912, The Suffragettes took their fight for the right to vote to the streets wearing the shade Red Door Red designed by Arden. The designer handed tubes of this red lipstick to the women marching past her salon, intending this color to be a symbol of hope, power, strength and camaraderie for the women marching by.
* Side Note: One of the First Federated Republican Women Groups was founded by the Suffragettes in the 1920’s. We are direct descendant sisters of these courageous women!
RED LIPSTICK
THE RED RAGES ON AND HOLLYWOOD SHOWS IT OFF IN TECHNICOLOR
The red lip continues to rise in popularity over the following decades and Hollywood actresses make the Cupid’s Bow famous and the technicolor films increase its allure. Red lips were a declaration of independence and a show of disdain for the social norms of the times, along with short hair, shorter skirts and dances like the Charleston.
WAR STRIKES THE WORLD BUT RED STILL DOMINATES
World War II has inundated the world and red lipstick is now a symbol of patriotism here in the USA. The shade was used to recruit women to help do all types of work to support the war effort. The bathrooms of the munitions factories were stocked with red lipstick as it was considered to be a boost to a woman working morale to have her lips painted in red.
Adolph Hitler despised red lips and, surprisingly enough, was quite the lady’s man. Historic documentaries have shown how the women swooned all over him like he was a rock star. Women who visited him were told to abstain from wearing any shade of red on their lips. In defiance, American women and women throughout the world wore red lips as a badge of honor. Elizabeth Arden designed a shade called “VICTORY RED” for the women during this perilous and uncertain time. Still to this day, many women feel rebellious and empowered wearing red lipstick and when adding a pair of high heels to the mix: THEY ARE UNSTOPPABLE.
RED LIPSTICK = COURAGE
In 2005 cancer survivor, Geralyn Lucas, wrote a book when she was diagnosed at the age of 27 with cancer entitled, " Why I Wore Lipstick To My Mastectomy." To her, red lipstick was a shade that only courageous women wore, and it brought her comfort and strength to do so.
Red Lips boost confidence. It has been documented in an economic theory known as the Lipstick Effect, that in times of hardship, the luxury good of choice is lipstick. After 911 lipstick sales increased just as it did during WWII. Trends have come and gone, but red lipstick remains timeless, as does the need for a woman to feel comforted, strong, and at times powerful.
The Heart of florida
WHY WE NEED RED LIPSTICK
Why the history about red lipstick you might ask? Why is red lipstick so important? You may not even wear, own or care about lipstick. I'll encourage you to take a moment and consider the following. If you need some encouragement ladies, put on your Red lipstick, both symbolically and physically and prepare yourself for the battle ahead. During these harrowing times we find ourselves in and this turning point in which our country is now facing, turn to God. There’s a story in the Book of Exodus, Chapters 3 and 4 about the Call of Moses: God calls him to do His work and Moses makes all kinds of excuses as to why he cannot be the one, “I am not a good speaker.” He did have a stammer. “They won’t listen to me”, “It might be painful.” And every time God answered Moses, “It’s not about you, It’s about Me. I will make you shine. I just need you to put in the work.”
Not a whole lot has changed in the last 3500 years, we make excuses and things get in the way. We are just too busy. We have been asleep for the last 50 years or so and look what has happened to our schools, our communities, our families, our music, our country, our freedoms and our God given rights?
We are losing our country.
We now are faced with two choices. We can choose to dwell in the excuses and don’t engage in the fight for our liberties or we can take a stand knowing full well the weight of our shortcomings, our doubts, fears, sins and past shames and forge ahead.
PROVERBS 21:31 Is a great reminder: Man Prepares the Horse for the battled, but God delivers the Victory.
Ladies, be ready for God to deliver the victory as you stand strong in the fight with your RED LIPSTICK ON.
Heart OF Florida Board Members
Debbie Dunn President
Chris Bunnell Vice President
Leslie Whalen Third Vice President
Kris Chandler Parliamentarian
Belinda Huttman Corresponding Secretary
Julie Sadler Recording Secretary
Sandy Barker Co-Treasurer
Ginger McCormick Co-Treasurer
Melissa Thorne At Large