Neil M Kennedy

@nmkennedy.bsky.social

5114 Followers 1863 Following

Historian and archaeologist of the early modern Atlantic World, specializing in Bermuda, slavery and the slave trade, maritime history, maritime emancipation, Caribbean history, sensory history. Dept of History, Memorial University, Newfoundland.

Picture of a white signpost at road entrance to walking trail. Instead of Use Trail at own Risk, the sign now reads Use AI at own risk.
Photo of a large grey tabby cat named Captain Morgan, lying on his back on a sun-warmed stone, staring up at the sky, flowers all around him (chives and pinks).
Small tub of light greenish ice cream labelled Kelp from Growlers, Fogo Island.
Cover page of the 1975 book Chained on the Rock: Slavery in Bermuda, by Cyril Packwood, with a lurid green background and a stylized image of two individuals breaking a chain, superimposed on a map of Bermuda.
Early morning photo of gloomy skies and calmed down ocean, with the headland that encloses Joe Batt’s Arm in the near distance. On the horizon are uninhabited islands. Passing close to those islands, an iceberg is visible against the dark of the rock, the berg being the usual two peak variety.
Photo of a dessert, served in a hot glass, called a bangbelly. More or less bread pudding with salt pork, molasses, raisins and orange custard.
View of the protected cove, or tickle, on the Atlantic where the fishing community of Eastern Tickle existed for a century from mid—19th. No trace at all now, just bog and rock, and two fishermen in small boat checking their lobster pots along the shore.
A large grey tabby cat named Morgan sits in a window looking out into garden. A large German Shepherd named Mara sits identically next to him watching Morgan.
Fogo Island Inn from the east side, from Joe Batt’s Arm hiking trail.
View across the harbour showing community on far shore, Fogo Island Inn behind. In foreground is a fisherman’s platform with some antique steam winches still in place for pulling boats and nets out of the water. All kinds of them rusting away along the shore.
Photo across Little Harbour, Barr’d Island, with Fogo Island Inn across the way, the creation of local woman Zita Cobb who spent her career as an international telecommunications executive.
Photo from ferry showing a substantial iceberg a couple of miles off.
Section of a court action against a vessel, in which the brig is described: ".... is Twenty feet Six inches – her depth of hold is Eleven feet One inch, that she is Brig rigged with a standing Bowsprit; is square sterned: carvel built; has no galleries and woman head..."
Rectangular poster mounted on wall, image all in a gorgeous red monotone, of a vaguely feminine portrait from shoulders up, one eyebrow slightly raised, perhaps in judgement.
Photo of a flat bridge in Venice, a black dog leans against a railing, eyes fixed on a doorway to a small grocery store. In the background there is a gondolier and the patio of an osteria.
Large weird stone cross-eyed cherub face, looking perplexed, emerging oddly from an outside corner of a garden wall, tucked down an alley in near San Salute, Venice.
An artwork showing an iron collar with four long curved arms, a cowbell at each end, evoking the collars forced on fugitive slaves to make them legible to slave patrols, while a background soundtrack of bells unsettles.
Photo of Basilica San Marco, Venice, with water beginning to flood the square, bubbling up through the pavers, driven by the tide and high winds this afternoon.
John Beadle, Cuffed: Held in Check (2015). Three large figures in cardboard on a dark wall, their bodies bound by chains and collars impeding rest and fugitives, boundary lines of chain link fences mark the surfaces.
Woodcut in blacks and greys, with red highlights, showing three women holding a coffin aloft, their eyes sarcastic, angry, resistant, marriage as a prison, the state as gaoler.
Photo of three protest posters taped to floor in front of wall displaying numerous small framed works by Mohammed Joha, who works in France now.
Short video starts with an exasperated teenager before turning to show a large grey cat, named Captain Morgan, sitting imperiously on top of kitchen table, while a German Shepherd watches him with concern, the shaggy head of a Malamute mix is briefly visible, also watching the cat.
Photo from night water bus on Grand Canal with several palazzos of variously appearance from Byzantine to missingtine above which a bright green laser beam projects into the sky, somehow summoning world peace. Either ironically or post-ironically, it being hard to tell these days, the peace laser is repurposed military issue. Lasers into ploughshares.
Photo of a woman standing in middle of a Venetian “shrimp boat” style gondola (so named for the shape of the sternpost) oar at the ready as we pull up to a bar in Cannaregio quarter of Venice, the canal side busy with evening diners on a spectacularly beautiful day. Two youths’ sets of feet are visible behind, mine in front, and oar of an our guide can just be seen at stern as she takes us in to tie up next to a bright red gondola.
Photo of the ludicrous Rob Schneider grinning like a dumbfuck, with his arm around some dapper Italian man in a suit. Photo bears the date 1998, presumably the heady heights of Mr Schneider’s artistic oeuvre.
Photo from the gardens, looking over a reflecting pool and flowering beds, up to a palazzo with upper storey loggia.
Large marble head with an outsized expression, equal parts dismayed and irritated. #VaticanMuseum
Photo of information panel in Rome reading accurately but unhelpfully, “Historic pile of marbles”, placed before a stack of nondescript chunks of stone, unrevealing but impossible to discard, the act of interpretation having reached a futile juncture.
Street graffiti in Rome depicting a slice of watermelon, with the black seeds turned into black beetles(?)
Street graffiti titled “Fighting for Empire!” Portraying a bald man in a suit armed with a Roman gladius sword and holding a briefcase aloft, whilst shouting ambiguously.
Photo of departures board in Montreal, highlighting overnight flight to Rome.
Photo of a grey industrial looking carpet with a darker pattern of wiggly lines that look something heavy pulled through the mud.
Photo of back deck during snow storm, big Malamute mix is curled up, happy as Larry, covered in snow, while concerned German Shepherd monitors the perimeter.
Photo of actor Robert Mitchum.
Photo from a turquoise couch, showing a large lazy grey cat sprawled out on the back of the couch legs hanging down either side. A German Shepherd sits at the side, concerned he might roll off.
Photo of curling at the national Brier, two matches on for quarter-finals.
Photo of part of an 1827 letter to Rear Admiral Willoughby Lake, squadron commander Bermuda station, from a Royal Navy captain: "There wanted but this additional proof of the manner in which the Spirit of the Law was violated, and of the truth of my information, that by means of surreptitious Clearances, the slave trade from these Islands had been carried on to a considerable extent with the West Indies."
Short clip of two large dogs, one hairy one less so, play wrestling in deep snow, tiring quickly.
Short clip of two dogs in deep snow, one lying down as usual, and one German Shepherd leaps to catch a snowball.
Big Yoda the Malamute lying happily on a few feet of snow in our backyard, with his tongue sticking out as though to catch snow flakes.
Photo of fancy Italian marriage certificate, with lovely floral border, from City of Firenze.
Photo of the back of big Yoda fast asleep on a rust coloured couch.
A big hairy Alaskan Malamute named Yoda grins at the camera, eyes closed lazily, in his element.
One small black cat sits in a square of sunlight on living room floor, a large grey tabby cat rests his tummy nearby watching.
Photo of St John’s harbour, looking past a long line of moored fishing vessels, large Canadian navy vessel the Fredrick Rolette at far end, Coast Guard base across the harbour, and Signal Hill at far end across a calm expanse of flat water.
Photo of the white front paws of Yoda, an Alaskan malamute, all groomed and trimmed to show each great rounded toe.
Black and white photo of Fidel Castro browsing in the gift shop at Gander Airport, a couple of lackeys and such hovering nearby.
Fidel Castro tobogganing in the snow outside Gander Airport, Christmas Eve, 1972, looking a little concerned, with a few bodyguards in Cold War disguise (that is to say, very obvious) and some grinning locals.
A large grey tabby cat named Captain Morgan lies down inside a picture frame sitting on top of a dining table, head perched on the edge, peering down at the dogs.
Large hairy Alaskan Malamute mix lies outside at 6am in snowfall, his fur beginning to cover in snow, happy as Larry.
Photo of a winter park scene with two happy 8yo children hugging a big hairy dog sitting on a park bench.
A c1910s carved Scottish burl walnut sewing chest. The fabric bag has been replaced but rest is original.
Black and white photo from 1961 of a young man in white shirt and black tie, sleeves rolled up, posed sitting in a backwards facing chair.
Big hairy dog fast asleep on his back, paws all in the air, shaggy as anything.
Photo of a plate with a square of birthday cake, eleven layers in pride colours, jello layers separated by condensed milk layers. Has a bite out of one side as I am impatient. Took six hours to make.
Classic cartoon from Spy magazine, showing two crudely drawn figures, one an artist with dripping paintbrush asks a bespectacled other in a suit, “can I have a grant to finish my art?”, to the side we see the unfinished artwork which depicts the suited man with the words “fucking assho” below, awaiting two more letters.
Large hairy dog named Yoda reclines on an aquamarine couch, taking up nearly the whole length, with his great heed on two pillows.
Photo of a semi-floating L-shaped desk, painted an azure colour in a tough cabinet paint, with three square profile black metal legs.
Yoda snuggled into a duvet.
Big Yoda, a large hairy dog, lies on a duvet on an old green couch, on his own in dim light.