When a museum becomes human

In my home office, I keep two large black and white photos taken in 1905. This was 40 years after the end of slavery in the United States.

One is of my maternal grandmother, Arie Lee Lewis Thomas. She is four years old, standing next to a table, wearing a frilly white dress, stockings, and lace-up black boots.

Her thick black hair is styled in a fashionable schoolgirl's bouffant. An only child, she will fulfil all the ambitions her parents had saved for her brother Lonnie, who died before he turned one.

College, work as a nurse and a teacher, marriage and four children, taxpayer, pillar of the church.

I only knew her as an old woman and I was barely out of diapers then.

The other photo is of her father, my great-grandfather, Matthew Lewis. He wears a suit, vest and tie, and he stares firmly at the camera. He was said to be a tough old soul - a landowner, business owner and railroad employee who didn't laugh easily.

Matthew Lewis died in 1955, years before my parents met, got married and had me.

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Philippines: Playing dead to survive Duterte's drug war

Manila, Philippines - He was left for dead for an hour, his bullet ridden body slumped face down in a dimly lit corner near Manila Bay, soaked in his own pool of blood dripping onto the concrete pavement. 

Police said that Francisco Santiago Jr and another man, George Huggins, were shot dead during an anti-drug operation in the early hours of September 13.

But, as reporters arrived at the scene of the police shooting, Santiago, who had been shot multiple times, started showing signs of life.

Stunned onlookers watched as his legs began twitching. Moments later, the 28-year-old sat upright, propping himself against a car and holding his bloodied arms in the air.

Police officers at the scene surrounded Santiago - pistols ready - before putting him in a car and taking him to the hospital.

Death toll rises as Philippines intensifies war on drugs

Speaking from his hospital bed last weekend, Santiago told Al Jazeera that his rise from the dead was not a miracle, but a tactic to stay alive.

He alleged p

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