houseboy

This photo seems a little off for this blog. Last week I had the pleasure of lecturing in my dear friend Vika's class (hence why I missed last Thursday's class). He's currently teaching a course on Pacific Island History at San Francisco City College. I opened my lecture with this photo. It was taken in 1942 and is of a lunch with the actress Dorothy Lamour and her friends. If you look really closely at the center of the photo, someone's face has been deliberately scratched out. This person was her Filipino houseboy/chauffeur named Genaro. 

When doing a lecture like last week's, I like to open with this photo in order to talk about the presence/absence of Filipinos and other racialized minorities at large. It always seems to spark some interesting discussion about memory - what we choose to remember, what we choose to forget, what we choose to erase and what we choose to acknowledge. I don't know Genaro, but I sometimes wonder about who this person missing in the photo is. I like to think that my time spent conjuring up interesting stories about him helps to resurrect a little bit of his spirit (as haunting as it is).  

Warm-up
Lessons on the WOD

Random conversation with the gals sprinkled with minor harassment from Raz for engaging in such conversation.

Demo-ing the back squat for Tiffany (fathlete confession: I just wanted to show off how nice my a$$ is when I do the back squat. ha ha!)

CrossFit One World WOD: Schoolboy
Complete as many rounds as possible in 20 minutes of:
5 deadlifts 153#
1 rope climb (modified)

Joanne's Final Count - ten rounds + 5 deadlifts

Notes (to myself) about this workout: For more reasons than I care to share, today was just an off day. On days like this, I'm happy to be at the gym because it's my sanctuary. It's the one place I feel like I can let go and clear my head - even for that moment. I guess there's something refreshingly distracting about the gym that helps to balance out an off day like today.

Today's WOD was tough. It's official. I hate the deadlift. I think it's because deadlifts have to be heavy. There's no going light on the deadlift. Also, I tend to beat myself up on this lift because I feel like I should be way better at it. I have the lower body strength, but I need to know how to use it. Finally, because I'm one of the bigger gals at the gym, I always feel guilty when I don't lift what I think I should.

The rope climbs (even the modified ones) are tough, but are a great upper body exercise. I felt like I did better than previous WODs with rope climbs. At the same time, I still need to work on fully planking out. My issue is that the ropes make me feel exactly how HEAVY my butt is, and how much my butt just weighs me down. Therefore, when I land, I usually flop. I still need the practice, but at least I don't hate the climbs as much as I used to.